TESTING OFFSHORE FIRE PUMPS

With the development of North Sea production platforms, there has been increased demand for vertical turbine pumps for lifting seawater to deck level and providing additional pressure for firefighting and other duties. Over the past decade, the required capacity of such pumps has risen from about 550 cum/hr to as much as 2750 cum/hr, at heads in the 75 to 150 m range. The article describes the facilities and procedures at Peerless Pump Ltd for testing these pumps; the company's establishment is on the bank of a Thames creek, near Kew Gardens <Surrey>. The indoor facility can accommodate pumps of up to 400mm outer diam. in a borehole which, though tidal, floods with fresh water. The outdoor facility in the creek was enlarged and deepened in 1978 to cope with the higher capacity pumps, and worked well, but testing could only be done with the tide in, which was inconvenient for the longer types of test. This was overcome, after the creek bank had been incorporated <in 1981/82> in a flood protection scheme, by Peerless buying a 1930-built steel barge, adding a superstructure to give more depth of water inside, and sinking it so as to provide a 400-cum test tank which can be kept full at all times <regulations did not allow a truly permanent tank>. The test procedures used are described in some detail.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • World Pumps, 1984, p. 16 <Jan.> (2 pp., 6 phot.)
• Publication Date: 1984

Language

• English

Subject/Index Terms

• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00686955
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: British Maritime Technology
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 14 1995 12:00AM