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Ruhrpumpen's Spotlight: August 2025

At Ruhrpumpen, we take pride in safeguarding critical energy infrastructure around the world. One of our latest milestones is supporting the fire protection system of one of the most important LNG export terminals in the United States.

Strategically located in southeast Texas with direct access to the Gulf of Mexico, this facility will export approximately 13.5 million metric tons of LNG annually—a capacity that helps fuel global energy needs while supplying enough energy to power more than 27,000 homes each year.

A Complete Fire Protection Solution

To ensure the highest level of safety, Ruhrpumpen is delivering a fully preassembled, ETL-certified pump house. At the heart of this system are two UL/FM-certified horizontal split case fire pumps (HSC 8x14x21E), each rated at 3,000 GPM. One unit is driven by an electric motor, while the other is powered by a high-performance diesel engine, guaranteeing redundancy and reliability. Supporting them is a CPP21 jockey pump rated at 60 GPM, designed to maintain system pressure and readiness at all times.

Meeting Unique Project Challenges

Every project comes with its own demands, and for this LNG terminal, the biggest challenge was meeting the customer’s requirement of 190 MPH wind load, Exposure Category C. Achieving this specification required close collaboration not only within Ruhrpumpen’s engineering team but also with our subvendor of panels, who modified the pump house panel structures to withstand such extreme conditions. This partnership ensured compliance without compromising quality, safety, or delivery timelines.

Built for Demanding Environments

This pump house goes far beyond standard configurations, integrating features that ensure operational continuity under extreme conditions, including:

• A double-walled diesel tank with flame arresters, overfill protection, and integrated alarms
• A roof hatch for safe and efficient pump and engine removal
• Full-length ice rakes for cold-weather readiness
• Seismic resistance and design for 190 MPH wind loads
• Integrated 5 kW unit heaters with thermostats for controlled internal climate
• An NFPA-13 compliant sprinkler system tailored for Extra Hazard Group 2 occupancy

Reliability You Can Trust

Engineered and manufactured to the strictest UL, FM, and ETL standards, this fire protection solution delivers more than equipment—it delivers peace of mind. With a system designed to perform in the harshest environments, Ruhrpumpen ensures that critical LNG operations remain protected, reliable, and resilient.

At Ruhrpumpen, powering safety is not just our mission—it’s our commitment to every customer, every project, and every community we serve.

At Ruhrpumpen, we believe that aligning technical capabilities with commercial strategy is key to delivering world-class pumping solutions. Recently, our North America Sales Team visited the Ruhrpumpen Systems factory as part of an initiative to strengthen collaboration between our commercial and engineering divisions.

During the visit, the team had the opportunity to tour the Systems production facility, gaining valuable insight into the design, integration, and assembly of our fire pre-packaged pumping systems. This hands-on experience helps our sales professionals better understand the technical differentiators that set Ruhrpumpen apart in the global market.

The visit served as a platform for exchanging ideas, enhancing product knowledge, and discussing how to better address the complex needs of our customers through tailored solutions. By reinforcing the connection between field sales and system engineering, we aim to elevate our value proposition and ensure our teams are aligned from initial proposal to final delivery.

We thank our Sales Team for their continued commitment and enthusiasm. Their close engagement with our manufacturing capabilities is a critical part of our strategy to drive innovation, customer satisfaction, and sustainable growth.

Ruhrpumpen's Fire Campus: Summer 2025

NFPA 20, Standard for the Installation of Stationary Pumps for Fire Protection, offers the latest provisions to help ensure fire pump readiness and reliability. This standard offers the requirements for the installation of stationary fire pumps used to provide water supply for fire protection.

Designers, engineers, contractors, and installers can look to this standard for the latest up-to-date requirements for fire pump design, electrical and mechanical construction, acceptance testing, operation, and more.

Expert Instruction in Fire Protection Systems for Your Team.

When your team is responsible for the installation, testing, and maintenance (ITM) of stationary fire pumps, it’s important that they’re up to date with the latest standards. And when you invest in team training, you can improve business performance, increase profits, and retain your most talented employees. This training on NFPA 20, Standard for the Installation of Stationary Pumps for Fire Protection, takes your team through the experience of designing, installing, and testing a fire pump.

Key topics:

• Differentiating between fire pump types, applications, and characteristics
• Requirements for fire pump performance based on unit sizing, water supply, power supply, and additional factors
• Identifying and applying the requirements for the installation of fire pumps and peripheral equipment and construction and protection of fire pump enclosures
• The criteria for determining the appropriate components and system layout for a fire pump assembly
• Defining important terms and design considerations and referencing considerations for special project situations, such as high-rise buildings
• Locating and applying requirements for finalizing a fire pump installation, including acceptability testing, inspections, and documentation

NFPA 20 training can benefit anyone who makes decisions about stationary fire pumps and needs to be informed of the latest information for their work, including:

• Engineers, Designers, and Architects: To identify the appropriate fire pump to adequately supply water to a building’s sprinkler systems and the requirements for protecting it.
• Fire Marshals and Insurers: To increase knowledge of requirements and code compliance relating to fire, including plans review, acceptance testing and inspections, and ongoing ITM.
• Installers, Fire Protection Contractors, Sprinkler System Fitters, Sprinkler Technicians, and Project Managers: To learn requirements for installing fire pumps.

Find more information about our fire systems clicking here.

Ruhrpumpen's Fire Campus

NFPA actively supports National Electrical Safety Month, an annual campaign sponsored by Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI), which raises awareness of potential home electrical hazards, the importance of electrical fire safety, and ensures the safety of electrical and non-electrical workers, each May. This year's campaign will focus on e-mobility, lithium-ion battery safety, and disaster safety.  

For 2025, the campaign focuses on e-mobility, lithium-ion battery safety, and disaster safety. It provides resources on how to safely purchase, use, and recycle lithium-ion batteries, which are commonly found in devices like cell phones, laptops, and electric scooters. Additionally, it offers guidance on avoiding electrical hazards during natural disasters:

Statistics

• In 2019 – 2023 electrical distribution or lighting equipment, such as wiring, lighting, cords, and plugs, was involved in the ignition of an estimated average of 31,647 reported home structure fires per year. These incidents caused an estimated average 425 civilian deaths, 1,279 civilian injuries, and $1.6B in direct property damage annually.
• Electrical distribution or lighting equipment ranked first in direct property damage, and third among the type of equipment involved in the number of home fires, home fire deaths and home fire injuries.
• Electrical wiring equipment was involved in the ignition of 4 percent of all home fires and 6 percent of the deaths in those fires.
• Cords or plugs were involved in the ignition of 1 percent of home structure fires but six percent of the deaths in those fires. Most of these fires were associated with extension cords.

Safety Tips 

• Have all electrical work done by a qualified electrician. 

• When buying or remodeling a home, have it inspected by a qualified private inspector or in accordance with local requirements. 

• Only use one heat-producing appliance (such as a coffee maker, toaster, space heater, etc.) plugged into a receptacle outlet at a time. 

• Major appliances (refrigerators, dryers, washers, stoves, etc.) should be plugged directly into a wall receptacle outlet. Extensions cords and plug strips should not be used. 

• Check electrical cords to make sure they are not running across doorways or under carpets. Extension cords are intended for temporary use. 
  
  
  Call a qualified electrician or your landlord if you have:

• Frequent problems with blowing fuses or tripping circuit breakers. 

• A tingling feeling when you touch an electrical appliance. 

• Discolored or warm wall outlets. 

• A burning or rubbery smell coming from an appliance. 

• Flickering or dimming lights. 

• Sparks from an outlet. 

Following these tips can help reduce the rate of fire accidents around the globe, especially the risk of electrical fire incidents in residential and industrial facilities.

Ruhrpumpen's Spotlight

Having a domestic supply of refined oil products can be highly advantageous for a country. It reduces reliance on foreign energy sources, supports job creation, attracts international investment, and enables the export of oil—generating a valuable source of foreign revenue.

Fire safety encompasses a range of practices designed to minimize fire-related damage. These measures aim to prevent fires from starting and to control their spread and impact if they do occur. Fire safety protocols may be integrated during building design and construction or applied to existing structures. They also include training and resources provided to occupants. Common threats to fire safety are known as fire hazards.

In industrial settings such as refineries, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) frequently references multiple safety standards during inspections. One key regulation is 29 CFR 1910.106, which governs the handling, storage, and use of flammable and combustible liquids—specifically those with a flash point below 200°F. This standard is largely based on the National Fire Protection Association’s NFPA 30: Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code. It addresses critical safety concerns such as facility design and construction, ventilation, ignition source control, and proper storage to mitigate the risks of explosion and fire.

Split Case Fire Pump	Pre-Packaged Systems

When emergencies occur, it’s better to be prepared. In case that happens, you want to be able to rely on the efficiency of your firefighting equipment to ensure the adequate water supply at required pressure. Ruhrpumpen is a world leading specialist in the design and manufacture of fire protection pump packages. Our durable fire water pumps offer a reliable solution to refineries around the world.

Our latest fire pump package is getting ready to be shipped to South America, to the South Cone! Three new diesel fire water pumps (ZW 12x10x24) and a jockey pump (VSSE 15-12) manufactured in 2 pump houses are ready to be shipped. The ZW pump is a horizontal, single stage, axially split case centrifugal pump designed and built according to the Hydraulic Institute (HI) standard (BB1 type).

Find more information about our fire pumps and systems clicking here

Ruhrpumpen's Fire Campus: April 2025

When designing a sprinkler system one of the first decisions a designer has to make is what type of sprinkler system should be installed. Types of sprinkler systems permissible by NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, are wet, dry, preaction, and deluge. Other types of extinguishing systems, such as clean agent or water mist, are addressed by other standards. When selecting the appropriate sprinkler system type it is important to first understand the differences between the systems and then to understand how these differences can be beneficial, or detrimental, under certain conditions. Selecting the wrong system type can be costly.

Wet Pipe Systems

Wet pipe sprinkler systems are the most common. In this system the sprinkler piping is constantly filled with water. When the temperature at the ceiling gets hot enough the glass bulb or fusible link in a sprinkler will break. Since the system is already filled with water, water is free to flow out of that sprinkler head. Contrary to what Hollywood would have you think, not all sprinkler heads will operate at once in this type of system. The temperature around that specific sprinkler head needs to be high enough to break the glass bulb or fusible link that is holding water back. Once that happens, water will immediately start flowing from only that head.

Wet pipe sprinkler systems are the most reliable and cost effective. Therefore, they should be the first type considered when selecting a sprinkler system. However, there are times when a wet pipe sprinkler system may not be appropriate. One of the major factors in determining if a wet pipe system can be used is the temperature of the space to be protected. Will all areas of the building where the sprinkler piping is

located be conditioned to at least 40OF (4OC) or greater? If the answer is yes, then there is no risk for the water in the piping to freeze and a wet system is the preferred method. However, if the answer is no, an additional study may need to be done to determine if an engineer can prove that although the temperature could drop below 40OF (4OC) it will never drop low enough for the water to freeze. If the temperature of the space cannot be guaranteed to eliminate the risk of freezing water, then a different system type should be chosen.

Source: NFPA 

Dry Pipe Systems

Dry pipe systems are very similar to wet pipe systems with one major difference. The pipe is not constantly filled with water. Instead, the water is held behind a dry pipe valve usually some distance away from where the sprinklers are located. Like a wet pipe system, when the temperature at the ceiling becomes hot enough, the glass bulb or fusible link of the sprinkler breaks. However, in this case, water isn’t immediately available because the pipe is not water filled. Instead, air is released from the now open sprinkler head. This creates a drop in pressure causing the dry pipe valve to open and water to fill the system. Water will then flow from the open sprinkler head. Since there is a delay between sprinkler operation and water flow, the size of dry pipe systems is limited. The size limitation is intended to minimize the amount of time water delivery is delayed.

Source: NFPA

A dry pipe system is a great option for unconditioned spaces, or locations where the temperature of the space cannot be guaranteed to be high enough to prevent water in the system from freezing. It is important to note that a least the portion of the building where the water comes in and the dry pipe valve is located will need to have temperatures hot enough to prevent freezing.

Preaction Systems

Of all the sprinkler system types perhaps the most complicated is the preaction system. There are three different types of preaction systems, a non-interlock system, a single interlock system, and a double interlock system. The main difference between preaction systems and wet and dry pipe systems is that a specific event (or events) must happen before water is released into the system. This might sound similar to a dry pipe system, but the differences lie in what event triggers the release of the water:

· For a non-interlock system: the operation of detection devices OR automatic sprinklers

· For a single interlock system: the operation of detection devices

· For a double interlock system: the operation of detection devices AND automatic sprinklers

Source: NFPA

Deluge Systems

Deluge systems are similar to preaction systems in that they use another type of detection for operation. However, the biggest difference is that deluge systems use open sprinklers or nozzles. Instead of getting water flow from individual heads that have operated, once water fills the system, water will flow from every sprinkler head. Much like a preaction system, a deluge valve will keep water from filling the system until the operation of another type of detection system, such as smoke detection. Once that detection system is activated, water not only fills the system but flows from the open sprinklers or nozzles.

Source: NFPA

Each system type has its own unique benefits. It is important to consider the pros and cons of each system type when selecting which sprinkler system is appropriate for your specific environment.