Definition: The operating costs encompass all the costs that are incurred by a company from the on-going business operations. On the other side of the running costs are the investment costs, in other words, expenditures for a one-time investment. With respect to installation components, such as pumps, this is also called life-cycle costs. These include all expenditures that are incurred for a pump – from procurement up to disposal; hence, they also include operating costs as well as investment costs. How can operating costs be lowered? Condition monitoring tools can pay for themselves since they warn about damages at an early stage. This allows avoiding unscheduled installation stoppages, which are generally more expensive than the scheduled maintenance. But even higher than the costs for maintenance, corrective maintenance, wear, and spare parts are the energy costs, which constitute the largest portion of the operating costs of pumps. For this reason, the pump should not be overdimensioned, but correspond to the respective power demand. The use of a frequency converter can be worth it since it aligns the output of the pump with the demand and therefore helps to save energy costs. Finding the matching pump with low operating costs can be very easy: The PUMPselector helps plant operators to find the right transporting unit for every application by entering just a few operating parameters. In addition, the manufacturer-independent product range ensures neutrality. Back