When hydraulic pumps on farm machinery break down, they can cause a major upset. They’re a vital component on all types of harvesters and other agricultural machines, and a failure can put these out of action for a costly period. With often long lead times for replacement parts, a reliable repair service that takes a few weeks is an alternative for farmers. The economic rationale of a repair versus a new pump, and getting the machine back to work quickly, is clear, and as the unit is refurbished rather than scrapped, the environment also benefits.
Moller International from Denmark premiered a unique hydraulic pump repair service at Agritechnica in November 2019. Hydraulic pump repair is a highly complex task requiring test and diagnostics equipment, and specially trained technicians on call 24 hours a day; these are all part of the new solution, which was developed by fellow Danish business AVN Hydraulic.
“We have teamed up with Moller International at Agritechnica as we identified a market need in the agricultural sector for our repair service,” the managing director of AVN Group, Ole Krabbe, said. “The disruption when a pump breaks down on a farm can be similar to other areas where we operate, like the marine and offshore sectors, so we decided farmers needed to be able to benefit from the service – and the good news is we can tackle any brand of hydraulic pump.”
Poor servicing leads to pump failure
Krabbe said a common reason for hydraulic pumps breaking down was contaminated oil due to poor servicing, particularly in machines that work close to the ground and are exposed to harsh environments, where particles or chemicals can get into the system.
“You can’t underestimate the need to regularly change hydraulic oil and oil filters,” he added. “We have an oil lab that can test the quality of the oil and advise the customer as to the cause of damage. Often particles like copper, which can destroy the pump, are detected in the oil, and this is an important lesson to farmers.”
The hydraulic pump repair service can handle pumps with outputs up to 1,200 lit/min.
“We can cope with high-capacity pumps as we serve industries that use them,” Krabbe said. “A good example are the pumps used in the system we developed for closing the roof on Denmark’s largest football stadium, which seats 40,000 people.
“It’s the Danish mentality that’s really behind the development of the new hydraulic pump repair service,” he added. “We’re a small country which means we’ve a long history of relying on ourselves, and teamwork plays a major role.
“Danish people are curious and don’t give up. We even have an untranslatable phrase we use every day that says roughly ‘give some extra effort and attempt to make it work’.”
For more information visit: www.mollerint.dk.
