Vibration Monitoring of Pumps

Introduction

Online vibration monitoring is usually needed for critical pumps—the ones whose failure can stop production, affect safety or environment, or cause very expensive downtime. It is especially useful for pumps that are hard to access, run 24/7, or have known failure risks like cavitation, imbalance, seal problems, or bearing issues

Pumps that should get Online Monitoring

Process-critical pumps, where an unexpected trip would stop a plant or unit.
Large vertical pumps, because they often need more thorough monitoring than small pumps.
Pumps in continuous service, especially in water/wastewater, power, petrochemical, and refinery applications.
Hard-to-access pumps, such as wet wells, galleries, or confined spaces.
Pumps with high consequence of failure, where downtime or product loss is costly.
Pumps with recurring vibration problems, such as cavitation, imbalance, looseness, coupling issues, or seal-related faults.

Typical Examples

Boiler feed pumps.
Cooling water pumps.
Circulating water pumps.
Charge pumps and transfer pumps in refineries and chemical plants.
Vertical turbine pumps in utilities and water systems.
Firewater pumps where reliability is critical.
Pumps that feed a single critical process line with no standby.

When Onine Monitoring is not necessary

Not every pump needs continuous online vibration monitoring. Smaller, low-cost, easily replaceable pumps with low consequence of failure can usually be handled with periodic route-based checks or basic preventive maintenance. For many plants, a tiered approach works best: continuous monitoring for critical pumps, periodic checks for important but non-critical pumps, and simple PM for low-risk pumps.