When choosing a rental pump, ask yourself the following question: Would you have a general practitioner perform your open-heart surgery? Hopefully, your answer would be no. While there is a place and purpose for general rental companies, your choice in a rental pump provider depends largely upon what you need to accomplish with your rental pump. We will start there.
What Are You Trying To Do?
If you need to get water out of your basement, you might pick up a little pump from your local hardware store or general rental source. You can read through the directions and have things dry in a relatively reasonable amount of time, with little risk of electrocuting yourself or short-circuiting your house.
However, if you are handling raw sewage, moving industrial waste, ballasting a barge or providing temporary fire suppression, for example, your interests would be best served by calling a pumping specialist. But, what qualifications identify a pump supplier as a "specialist"? Here are some questions you can ask.
What Types of Pumps Do You Carry?
You will need to know what types of pumps your potential vendor is carrying. In this instance, "type" refers to the many varieties of pumps that are available, including electric and hydraulic submersible pumps, wet-priming gas-powered dewatering pumps, automatic self-priming centrifugal pumps, diaphragm pumps, rotary lobe pumps, etc.
In addition to understanding the different types of pumps available, you may have an idea of what you are attempting to do. Have you hit water already? If so, where? What is the urgency? What is your location? How rapid is the flow? What is your discharge point? It is in your best interest to gather as much information as possible, including the flow, lift, etc., prior to approaching a rental pump provider; however, a good rental pump provider will walk you through a list of questions to determine your application needs.
What Pumping Experience Do You Have?
Reverting to the generalist versus specialist analogy, the longer a rental source has been in the pumping business, the greater the acquired and practical knowledge of its nuances and equipment capabilities. As in any major transaction, such as a pump rental, you should expect more knowledge from your contact at the rental counter. This includes application and equipment knowledge. Have they worked with the material you are trying to move? What is their experience in your particular industry? If they are not the equipment manufacturer, what is their knowledge of the equipment? Have they been trained to use it? Will they train you to use it?
How Will You Determine My Application Needs? Will You Provide Me With Options?
Again, emergencies are different than planned projects. If you are planning a project, your potential pump rental source should initiate a job walk. The job walk allows the pumping specialist to evaluate the entire job site and take notes on head and flow requirements, elevations, soil composition, suction and discharge areas, obstacles, space availability and any other unique circumstances. These components play a major role in determining the mathematics of the pumping solution and the composition of the solution blueprint.
When a pumping specialist visits your job site, they take on the role of information gatherer. As such, they should be able to provide you with more than one option for achieving your desired goal.
Will You Incorporate Technology That Will Make My Job Easier?
These days, temporary pumps do have many of the same features as permanent solutions, including automatic starting using variable frequency drives and digital controllers tied into float or level sensors; maintenance timers; remote starting; auto-dialing; SCADA integration, etc. Not only do these types of add-ons make your rental solution easier to operate, but they also help to promote operational efficiency and extend the life of the rental equipment. In addition, technology is being further incorporated to include anti-theft and positioning software. Be sure to consider these types of components that may make your jobsite safer and more efficient.
How Frequently Do You Service Your Rental Equipment? Is Service Available for Rental Contracts?
Good pump rental companies keep a maintenance log for their equipment. That log contains the service dates and procedures for the equipment. Keep in mind that the age of the equipment does not necessarily indicate its condition. If you are looking for a long-term rental, consider asking to see the service records for the equipment you will be receiving.
What Is the Availability of Your Rental Equipment and Service?
Simply stated, you are asking how long you will have to wait for equipment delivery. If you are being proactive, perhaps the wait time is not an issue. However, if you are in reactive mode, time is of the essence. Is your local provider a 24/7 source? Can you call in the middle of the night and expect delivery within an hour or two, or will you have to wait until equipment arrives from elsewhere? If your equipment needs to be serviced, how long can you expect to wait to see a technician? How long will you have to wait for replacement equipment if the technician determines there has been a major equipment malfunction?
Do You Have an Inventory of Parts to Service the Equipment My Job Will Require?
You are probably considering renting a pump because you cannot keep working (or cannot work safely) without one. That being said, downtime once your rental unit arrives means loss of productivity. Even in a perfect world, with a perfectly applied solution, equipment breaks. It is a good idea to ask if your rental source has the parts necessary to keep your operation afloat.
Are You a Turnkey Service Provider?
Are you a one-stop-shopper, or do you prefer to use many companies for one job? There are pump rental companies that are total solution providers. They will walk through your application, recommend a solution, prepare a bid specification, assemble the solution on-site (including any necessary high density polyethylene pipe fusion) and test and operate the equipment. If necessary, turnkey providers will also provide a pump watch and offer maintenance for contracted fees.
At a Minimum
When you are renting pumping equipment, you should expect-at a minimum-competence and confidence from your contact. Emergencies may dictate who you call on for assistance; however, proactive planning will help you separate the specialists from the generalists and enable you to be confident that your vendor will be responsive and provide a reliable solution.
Pumps & Systems, May 2009
