How choosing the right pressure booster can reduce long term maintenance costs

Author Lloyd Preston Calendar 23 April 2019
How choosing the right pressure booster can reduce long term maintenance costs

The role of the Building Services Consultant is often complicated by the need to satisfy multiple stakeholders with competing and sometimes conflicting requirements. However, one factor that is consistently important to all is price, whether that’s the purchase price of the equipment, important to client and contractor, or the ongoing maintenance costs, important to the facilities manager whose responsibility it is to manage the building in the long term.

In an attempt to satisfy all stakeholders involved in designing, building and maintaining buildings, consultants need to be specifying products that deliver the right balance of fit for purpose, compliance and value for money, and for the latter that’s value for money throughout the product lifecycle not just the initial purchase, as it’s clear that regular maintenance of machinery isn’t always top of the facilities manager’s list of priorities!

Built-in obsolescence may now be accepted within the consumer products world but when it comes to the products that help keep our factories, schools, hospitals and places of work functioning then the price of product failure is much higher. Facilities managers therefore should have strategies in place to ensure the smooth long term running of their buildings within an agreed budget. These could include preventative measures such as annual/bi-annual service agreements for electrical and mechanical products, predictive testing and inspection, product training programs and regular energy usage audits.

All of the above however should be supplemented through the specification of products that are designed to be have low maintenance costs, be reliable, and with longevity in mind.

For any business that relies on the supply of water, commercial booster sets and pumps that require little maintenance and that can run for long periods of time trouble-free are an absolute necessity. Thankfully there are a few indicators that will help you to select the right pressure booster to please both your client and the end user.

In a cold water booster set, the element(s) that work the hardest are naturally the pumps and so by specifying a product that features variable speed drives that modulate output according to demand and feature anti-seize technology to rotate the pumps when they’re not in use, you are selecting a smarter product that will ultimately reduce wear and tear and overall energy consumption.

The cost of servicing can also be greatly reduced by specifying products based around a modular design, this enables the pumps to be individually isolated, electrically and mechanically, making the product more easily accessible for routine maintenance or replacement, which in turn reduces cost and eliminates disruption. Other cost savings can be delivered by specifying products that don’t require special tools for disassembly and feature standard, readily available mechanical seals, as opposed to manufacturer specific seals which are usually more expensive and harder to source. And of course, products that come with a longer guarantee as standard will help reduce cost in the early years of the product’s life.

Building maintenance shouldn’t be a burden. It’s part and parcel of business, but future costs can be cut considerably by thinking ahead and specifying products that are specifically designed for the long run.

How Dutypoint can help you reduce maintenance costs

Dutypoint offers a comprehensive range of pressure boosters for every application from a large residential home to an industrial building, including the new VT range of cold water booster sets. For more details please visit www.dutypoint.com/vt

Dutypoint Product Selector is a free resource for consultants that will help you to select the right pressure booster for your specific project, to use it please visit www.dutypoint.com/product-selector or alternatively you can request a copy of our 2019 Selection Manual which features a product selector for each pressure booster range.