When you're pumping corrosive materials, reliable pumps are
critical.
At Strattec Security Corporation, which uses chromate, chrome,
copper, nickel and zinc to electroplate and conversion coat
automotive locks and security devices, the critical success
factor is Versa-Matic Pump's Elima-Matic® valve technology:
two of Stattec's Elima-Matic pumps have been on line for nearly
two years without problem.
One Elima-Matic, which runs periodically for several hours
at a time, transfers highly corrosive chromate from one tank
to another. The other Elima-Matic runs 24-hours a day, six
days a week pumping waste water sludge resulting from Strattec's
electroplating and conversion coating processes.
"They've never leaked; we've never had them apart," says Dan
Kerlin, Strattec's planting and environmental supervisor.
"This type of service in these applications is highly unusual."
With 20 years of industry experience, Dan credits the Elima-Matic's
longevity to "the combination" of design, materials and anti-stalling,
non-icing, lubrication-free valve technology.
"The bolt design of the Polypropylene Elima-Matic is superior,"
he says. "In addition, the Elima-Matic stroke is even, which
makes it run more uniformly with less wear on the pump and
diaphragms."
No
Stalls
Based in Milwaukee, Strattec is a publicly held company whose
customers include the nation's Big Three automakers and Masterlock.
Primarily used in batching and recirculation, its pumping
operation features about two dozen half-inch, one-inch, one-and-a-quarter-inch,
two-inch and three-inch Versa-Matic pumps as well as other
brands that have been retrofitted with Versa-Matic's Elima-Matic
air valves.
To improve the cost and efficiency of its pumping operations,
Strattec switched to Air-Operated Double Diaphragm (AODD)
pumps about three years ago. "The parts are less expensive
and labor time is reduced because you can service them very
quickly," Dan says.
But with other AODD pumps, there were problems with icing
and stalling, which caused the company's wastewater tanks
of corrosive-based materials to overflow. "We had ice build-up
every day," Dan explains. "To prevent stalling we had to periodically
switch pumps or hose them down to melt the ice."
The John Pfeiffer of Cortec, Inc., Versa-Matic's Wisconsin
distributor introduced Dan to the E2, the two-inch pump with
the Elima-Matic air valve.
"From then on, we started buying Versa-Matic," Dan says. "We
particularly like the Polypropylene version with the bolt
design. We've also incorporated Elima-Matic centers on other
pumps with great success. It's been years since a stall."
