Watson-Marlow Bredel pumps transfer abrasive high-viscosity fluids at Farécla

A Bredel 40 hose pump from Watson-Marlow is the latest arrival at Farécla Products, a world-class manufacturer of cutting compounds and finishing products, where it is being used on a mobile platform to serve filling lines.

The pump joins existing Bredel 65 and Bredel 100 pumps on site that are being deployed to transfer a number of extremely abrasive, highly viscous products.

Based at Ware in Hertfordshire, UK, Farécla Products develops and manufactures surface finishing solutions.

According to Richard Buxcey, Farécla’s plant and maintenance manager, the company has been using Bredel pumps for nearly two decades.

‘Although nearly all of our products are abrasive, some are very abrasive and we’ve found that only the Bredel range can overcome the challenges presented by both viscosity and abrasion,’ Buxcey says.

Farécla uses Bredel pumps on all of its main filling lines including the paste line, bottle line, and tube filling line.

‘The pumps help us transfer the compounds and polishes from overhead hoppers and IBCs into actual product hoppers on the filling lines,’ Buxcey adds.

The latest investment, a Bredel 40 hose pump, is mounted on a portable trolley to introduce a greater degree of flexibility into Farécla’s small filling line activities.

Although used intermittently, between 1,000 and 2000L/h are pumped, topping up hoppers with various non-abrasive retail products.

Other Bredel pumps on site, however, face far more challenging applications.

The company’s two Bredel 65 and two Bredel 100 pumps are used for transferring highly abrasive surface cutting compounds that can easily strip paintwork to bare metal in a matter of moments in combination with viscosities that can exceed 90,000cP.

‘Despite the highly abrasive nature of these challenging cutting compounds, we often get over a year of life from a single hose. Furthermore, the pumps are very quick. Depending on viscosity we can easily empty a five-tonne container in 30 minutes,’ says Buxcey.

The two Bredel 100 hose pumps are used to transfer Farécla’s most abrasive and viscous products.

Both pumps transfer the ‘fluid’ from overhead vats into a hopper where it is dosed into 5L tubs or tins.

The two Bredel 65 pumps are used in the same way but for the smaller line, which fills 250 or 500mL bottles.

All of the pumps run intermittently and are activated using ultrasonic level sensors on the filling lines.