Preface

As with my first book on this subject the information contained within came from
various sources. Some of it came from my 50-year work history in the United States,
Canada, the Far East, and South America. Some of it came from conversations with
others who I consider to be experts in rotating equipment and knowledgeable in the
problems encountered with machinery installation.
I gathered a lot of information by attending technical conferences such as the
Texas A&M Pump Symposium and the Turbo Machinery Symposium in Houston,
TX. Bits and pieces were gathered in visits to engineering firms throughout the
world solving specific machinery and foundation problems. I have made some mis-
takes and learned from them.
During my working career, I had the opportunity to work for three epoxy grout
manufacturers and learned a lot from all of them.
I have not written every word in this book, and it is not my intent to plagiarize any
one, far from it. I want to give credit where credit is due. The problem is a lot of my
data came in the form of third- and fourth-generation copies and portions of maga-
zine articles written by others (names unknown) that were faxed or e-mailed to me.
The intent of this book, as with the first, is to put down in writing and in a logical
sequence of events, this collected knowledge so it can be used as a handy reference. I
have also added numerous pictures and illustrations to better show examples of foun-
dations, machinery support systems, anchor bolt, and grouting technology.
I once had a fellow tell me that he had 25 years of experience in machinery grout-
ing. After observing this individual’s approach to grouting for a few days, it was
obvious to me that he had about 3 weeks of experience, recycled over 1,300 times.
Unlike a fine wine, improper grouting and foundations procedures do not improve
with age. A bad grout job or foundation design is a bad grout job or foundation
design no matter what you try to do to it later. It’s like an egg, looks great on the out-
side, but you don’t know what the inside contains.
A proper machinery installation consists of four basic factors that will determine
if it will be successful and reliable over a long period of time. These are:
1. The load carrying capability of the soil the foundation will rest on.
2. The components of the foundation: mass, design, concrete mix, installation, and curing.
3. The anchor bolt and bolt design.
4. The grout.
Keep this thought in mind. The foundation and the grout hold the machine up
while the anchor bolts hold it down. The epoxy grout is not a super glue to stick
something to the foundation.