FAQ’s

Quality replacement products since 1996, first to introduce many replacement components and the largest independent supplier backed by dedicated in house engineers and technical staff.

Vacair Superstore is part of the Superstore group, based in the Group Head Office in Leeds, with customer facilities, including a huge warehouse, the largest inventory of replacement parts, a showroom and state of the art workshop, a technical office and highly experience sales team.

We have full OEM experience, technical know how and an understanding of all pumping technology, applications and processes. We have OEM trained staff and are quality assured to ISO standard. So you can buy with confidence.

We have technical knowledge of what elements and compounds are best suited for vacuum pump vanes – understanding of the physics involved in vane material and pump components during running, how they react to heat, how to reduce noise and correct compound expansion properties.

Our senior management even worked in the spares department for the former and only officially appointed Becker agent in the UK, dealing directly with the German factory, enabling us to trace our roots in the industry back to 1964.

ISO, efficiencies and desire for continual improving the customer experience using established industry best practices lead by our MCIPS management.

Our prices are often over 60% cheaper than pump OEM prices on the majority of our products.

On our own products we offer our Price Promise, were we will not be beaten on price.

Email, phone, trade counter or using our contact page www.vacair-superstore.com/contact Rather than have an eshop, or an auction site eshop we prefer direct contact.

Ordering online blindly is all well and good on some products, but who are these people and what do they know about the products and applications, and more importantly what quality are you buying and what support do you get ? If your production is at a standstill can you risk ordering from a faceless entity?

We have established technical sales personnel to deal with your requirement, to ask and investigate the reasons for your need, and this ensures you get the correct, suitable product the first time, and we offer technical support on all your pump issues, not only through our parts department team, but also through our OEM trained service engineers.
You can not buy that support on line. You can even order at our trade counter.

We have several ways to pay, whether credit or debit cards, bank transfer or a credit account facility, subject to status.

Your card details are extremely confidential and are not kept electronically, nor do we use any cloud based or offline provider to store your confidential data.

You can even come to our trade counter and pay directly.

Simply put, we have the largest inventory of replacement products anywhere in the world! At any given time we stock over £500,000 worth of stock, ready to be despatched immediately.

We stock vacuum pump vanes, filters and parts, for the latest pump models as well as old pump models too. Hard to find part can be our speciality.

We hold blocks of carbon ready to manufacture any specific requirement you have should we not have an obscure size of vane you require.

Knowing its likely your requirement is an emergency we can offer same day, next day, or collection services. For deliveries we use either our own delivery system or professional express couriers, selected after many years of experience.
Vacair Superstore offers, vanes, filters, parts and much more. We have service and workshop engineers to support you. We are able to repair your pump in our state of the art workshop in our head office, where we offer a free no obligation quotation. We can loan or hire you a pump whilst yours is in for repair.

We have a good stock of new pumps as well as stocks of used/refurbished and warrantied pumps.

One of our sister companies Vacuum Pumps UK, is the appointed main agent for one of Europe’s leading Vacuum Pump Manufacturers, DVP, where we supply a huge range of pumps to individual pumps to users, as well as high quantity pump orders to machinery manufacturers.

Whilst we are the leader in the supply of vacuum pump vanes, we are also much much more.

It is important to note that pump units naturally run hot, some hotter than others, especially when the pumps units are compressing air. Most pump contain cooling pipes, direct drive fans and even radiators to combat the heat that is generated and radiate it outwards to atmosphere.

Check inlet and outlet filters to ensure they are clean and free from obstruction.

Is the ambient temperature higher than usual?
For instance in summer months and the unit is drawing in naturally warmer ambient air so as a consequence the pump unit will naturally run hotter.

Has the pump unit been placed in part against a wall or other solid barrier?
This can lead to the integral fan on many units not being able to draw cool air in and along the pump.

Does the pump have mechanical pick up?
Pump units are built and designed to have fine tolerances, and over time due to some factors like bearing wear along with other issues these tolerances can become eroded. This can then lead to mechanical pick up where the rotor can start to touch the pump body or side plates. This not only generates heat but can make the pump very noisy. Needless to say mechanical pick up within units can lead to expensive repairs or even be fatal for the pump itself. If you fear mechanical pick up, stop the pump immediately and call our technical department for assistance.

Check inlet and outlet filters to ensure they are clean and free from obstruction.

Is the pump still working?

Yes- Uncouple the pipes from the unit and gauge test the unit directly at port. This ensures that the unit is producing a vacuum and there isn’t something as simple as a split pipe further inline where vacuum is being lost.

No – Is the pump free to turn by hand?

Yes – Check the electrical supply to the pump is uninterrupted. Check no overloads have been tripped or power disconnected in some way?

Test the motor with an electrical meter to ensure no phases are down and that the motor is actually working properly.

No – Has the pump seized?

Pumps can seize for a number of reason. If you cannot turn the pump by hand (turn it from the motor fan) this means the unit more than likely needs workshop attention.

Pumps can operate at quite high noise levels in many instances, 80db can be common. New technology units such as claw pumps can make more noise than conventional rotor vane pumps, although manufacturers are working hard to negate this.

Pump units are built and designed to have fine tolerances, and over time due to factors like bearing wearing and other factors these tolerances can become eroded. This can then lead to mechanical pick up where the rotor can start to touch the pump body or side plates. This not only generates heat but can make the pump very noisy. Needless to say mechanical pick up within units can lead to expensive repairs or even be fatal for the pump itself. If you fear mechanical pick up, stop the pump immediately and call our technical department for assistance.

Vane wear – Over time carbon graphite pump vanes wear not only along their leading edge but also along their surface as they slide in and out of their rotor slots hundreds of times per minute. This wear can lead to vane “chatter” where vanes become loose in the rotor slot and so produce noise as they slap the rotor slot during exit an entry of the rotor slot. Check the vanes for wear on height and for scalping across their face.

Over time the pump units performance will naturally decline. Periodical checks of pump vane wear is an essential part of pump maintenance and should be part of a regular pump health check. Vanes that wear significantly can break during operation which can lead to full pump refurbishments and can even make units uneconomical to repair.

It is also good practice to check inlet and outlet filters. These should be cleaned with compressed air and replaced when necessary.

Check inlet and outlet filters to ensure they are clean and free from obstruction.
Yes – Uncouple the pipes from the unit and gauge test the unit directly at port. This ensures that the unit is producing a vacuum and there isn’t something as simple as a split pipe further inline where vacuum is being lost.

No – Is the pump free to turn by hand?

Yes – Check the electrical supply to the pump is uninterrupted. Check no overloads have been tripped or power disconnected in some way?

Test the motor with an electrical meter to ensure no phases are down and that the motor is actually working properly.

No – Has the pump seized?

Pumps can seize for a number of reason. If you cannot turn the pump by hand (turn it from the motor fan) this means the unit more than likely needs workshop attention.