During an interview on The Crownsmen Podcast, Don Toews was asked, “What brings new customers to Power Zone Equipment, cost savings or lead time? Or is it split 50/50”?
“A lot of times it’s lead time” he responded. “The real attraction is if you have an oilfield coming on and you will be producing oil in two months and your waiting a year for the (new) pump, well that ten months of time you can pay for a used one many times over. Then the issue is to get it there, and get it there on time” for the customer. “When we rebuild a pump we end up with a lot more hours in that pump. To take something apart and clean it up…that is time consuming. When building (pumps) new in the factory they don’t have to take it apart and they don’t have to clean things up. Put through their CNC machines and it is fast and efficient. They end up with not that many hours in it once it reaches final assembly.” Power Zone uses the standard of “would I be happy if I was the customer knowing what is inside of the rebuilt unit” for all their rebuilds.
Rebuilding pumps also comes down to the value. With smaller pumps Power Zone finds that it is not worth it anymore to rebuild. “You don’t try to rebuild a pump that brand new only cost $10,000, but a pump that is worth $250,000 new, we can save (customers) some money and we do” Don told the podcast. You will find many of these rebuilt units listed on our website such as this Rebuilt Byron Jackson 4x6x9D Horizontal Multi-Stage Centrifugal Pump or this used Sulzer Bingham 8x10x13B MSD Horizontal Multi-Stage Centrifugal pump that can be rebuilt for your upcoming project.
Don explained how steel mills have become a good opportunity for Power Zone as the mills use high-pressure pumps like this Ingersoll Rand 3x10DA-14 Centrifugal Pump which is able to pump at 718 GPM for descaling. Don told the podcast “You get this mass of red hot steel coming through, and it goes through a roller and there is a scale on top, so they shoot high-pressure water at it.”
One of the most memorable steel mill projects was rebuilding a pump for a customer in Serbia. “Their pump was down and they had a major crash and they needed one in a hurry so they shipped the pump to us (Colorado) and had it rebuilt. Because they were refurbishing the used pump lead time was 15 weeks instead of what could have been many months if trying to find new” Don told Jerrod.
Finally Don tried to set the record straight about the ongoing debate in the used equipment industry and what is actually considered rebuilt, reconditioned, or refurbished and what words should (or shouldn’t) be used.
“We have had that discussion and one person thinks refurbished is a higher grade than rebuilt, the next guy thinks exactly the opposite.” Don admits “I don’t know that I actually have answers, I do know that at times the (used equipment) industry has become tarnished because of “paint” overhauls, and that you have to go further than that.” Don then explained Power Zone’s rebuild method, “I don’t know the right word to use because the words mean different things to different people, but the bottom line if it’s done right the only difference between new and rebuilt is that you started out with molecules that were already solid instead of liquid (molten steel).”
You will find all of Power Zone Equipment’s Inventory, Resources, and additional News articles at powerzone.com
