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Case study

A failing diaphragm pump, caught before it failed

Predictive maintenanceWaterBreweries & Beverage

A failing diaphragm pump caught before it failed — 540,000 L/day of loss prevented.

Carlsberg Canada

Published with Carlsberg Canada’s permission, with the source of every figure printed below (G7).

Photo slot · case-carlsberg-pump — pending the photography cull (§K.3 #27).

How it went.

Every study on this site runs the same four beats, in the same order.

  1. 01

    Alert

    Diaphragm pumps degrade before they fail, and the degradation is invisible to the naked eye.

  2. 02

    Cost

    540,000 L per day — Identified loss, and over $1,333/day in prevented cost.

  3. 03

    Fix

    Flow monitoring on the transfer line · Baseline and flow-signature tracking in the dashboard · SMS and email alerting on drift off baseline

  4. 04

    Restored

    A scheduled diaphragm replacement, no production impact

In full.

The problem

“Diaphragm pumps don’t fail all at once. They degrade. And when they degrade, the flow signature changes — subtle, gradual, invisible to the naked eye. But not to a sensor.”

What we installed

Flow monitoring on the transfer line, with the baseline and the flow signature tracked continuously in the dashboard, and alerting the moment the trace moved off baseline.

What the data showed

“We saw the pattern change on a Carlsberg transfer line. Flagged it. Maintenance found the diaphragm failing — not failed, failing. They replaced it. Scheduled. Orderly. No production impact.”

The number

540,000 L/day of identified loss. Over $1,333/day in prevented cost. Source: NB Power RFP 0770-25-S510, Reference 3.

What it buys you

“This is what monitoring buys you. Not the repair — the timing.”

What the data looked like.

Hover or arrow-key across the trace to read any interval. The flagged point is the one that started the conversation.

A failing diaphragm pump, caught before it failed
ESTABLISHED PEAKNormal strokePeak down, floor upSignature off baseline540,000 L/day at risk · >$1,333/day
TRANSFER LINE FLOW · ONE DAY · 30-MIN BUCKETS · DASHED = ESTABLISHED PEAK

The published totals are the §H.1 figures. The interval shape is a representative reconstruction and is flagged as such in the dataset; the measured series drops into the same file under G6 with no markup change (§K.3 #28).

What changed.

Before

A flow signature drifting, unnoticed, toward a shutdown

After

A scheduled diaphragm replacement, no production impact

540,000 L

per day

Identified loss, and over $1,333/day in prevented cost.

Source: NB Power RFP 0770-25-S510 FINAL, Reference 3 (§H.1 claim 2)

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