New Plunger Coating Increases Operational Performance

Major operators in North America performed field case studies for a new coated plunger. During this time pump repair data was collected from Harbison-Fischer’s pump tracker system, while the field operator captured well conditions and parameters through their well tracker system. A total of 28 wells known for premature spray metal plunger failures, due to severe abrasive wear created by high solids concentration have run the new coated plunger since January of 2018. Interestingly, the results show that on average the coated plunger’s run time exceeds that of a standard spray metal plunger by 140%. Within the twenty-eight wells that have tested the coated plunger, twenty exhibited run time improvements ranging from 50% to 1,300%. Standardized laboratory dry wear test shows the new coated plunger being eighteen times more wear resistant than a standard spray metal plunger, which supports the field test results shown in this paper.