Biggest pumproom in history

In 2016 Fairbanks Nijhuis delivered a pump room for the Ma'aden Phosphate Company Wa'al Al Shamal in Saudi Arabia. The pump chamber provides for the extinguishing water supply for a phosphate mine in Al Khabra, about 50 kilometers north east of Turaif and 13 kilometers north of the processing facilities at Umm Wu'al. It is a huge site with an area of 38 km².

Fairbanks Nijhuis was responsible for the design and manufacturing of the pumps, the assembly of pump sets and the pump room, inspection, testing and installation of the pump sets and also the supervision of the installation of the pump chambers on site. At first, it was the clients intention to buy four separate pumps. We then presented a complete solution: a prefabricated pump room. By building the pump sets into a pump room, we took our client a lot of work from their hands. Otherwise, the engineering and assembly of the pump room would have been done by themselves and on site.

This is the largest pump room ever built in Fairbanks Nijhuis’ history. The pumping chamber consists of four precast segments that were sent separately to the customers location. On site, the segments were combined and all parts were connected again. The pump contains four firewater pumps - three diesel driven and one electric driven - and two jockey pumps. The latter are booster pumps to keep the fire-fighting system going. The pump chamber is designed according to customer specifications in conjunction with the relevant international regulations NFPA20 and FM.