All positive displacement pumps work by first expanding a cavity between the casing and one or more moving parts to create a partial vacuum, so atmospheric pressure can force liquid into the pumping chamber through the inlet port

Flange standards used on Viking pumps have been in place for over a century so EVERYONE should be experts on this now…right? It turns out not so much. There are various standards and various design differences in each standard. AND the standards have evolved over the years, leading some to use obsolete terms which only compounds the confusion. The following should help clear up some of this confusion as well as give you a resource to help answer questions for others.

A major producer of chocolate confections in the eastern United States had been operating many Viking pumps on a variety of confectionary liquids for decades.

Many of these gear pumps have shaft packing, an extremely reliable means of preventing leaks, but which require some level of “controlled leakage” to cool and lubricate the packing. In a time of stricter FDA standards, food processors are now seeking new solutions to eliminate leakage, as it can create a slip and fall hazard and, furthermore, waste valuable product.

A gentleman once contacted me to let me know that he’d cracked a head, an impressive, but not entirely unheard-of feat.  When I asked how this had happened he admitted “well, I was wailing on it pretty hard”; I appreciated his honesty.  What followed was a 30-minute conversation full of mis-assumptions and confusion.  At the conclusion I discovered that he was not talking about a head (as in the end plate of a gear pump) but rather a head (as in the top of a snare drum).  An internet search for “head” had landed him on our site by mistake.

Industrial gear pumps have many uses in a wide array of market applications—ranging from food processing to pouring asphalt. A growing area in need of specialized gear pumps is in the oil and gas industry, particularly with regards to the removal of water from natural gas via dehydration. Viking Pump entered this market to support customers striving to deliver high-quality product 24/7 to their end users in the face of rising global natural gas consumption. This increasing demand is expected to continue through 2040, due to population growth, coal displacement by cleaner energy, fracking, etc.