Werner Pumps has completed its first pressure testing unit sale into Nigeria, marking an important milestone in the company’s growing export activity. According to National Sales Manager, George Jolly, this also highlights a specialised capability currently gaining momentum within the business.
The unit, supplied to a customer operating in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, West Mark, is designed to hydro-test pipes and tube systems by pumping water through them to detect leaks or pressure losses. In industries where pipeline integrity is critical, pressure testing plays an important role in both operational safety and quality assurance.
According to Jolly at Werner Pumps, the project also reflects increasing demand for pressure testing systems across a range of industrial applications.
“Werner Pumps has always had the capability, but it’s not something we actively pushed in the past,” he says. “Now that we’re quoting more broadly and engaging with more specialised applications, we’re seeing real interest in pressure testing units.”
The Nigerian unit is a large electric pressure testing machine supplied on a skid-mounted platform. The system operates on a three-phase electrical setup and delivers 150 bar at 50 litres per minute.
Adapting industrial pressure washing technology for pressure testing
While pressure testing systems are often viewed as highly specialised equipment, Jolly explains that the underlying engineering is closely linked to Werner Pumps’ established pressure washer expertise.
“At its core, a pressure testing machine is essentially a pressure washer adapted for a different industrial purpose,” he says. “We build the pressure washer itself, then add a pressure testing kit that includes valves, gauges and monitoring equipment so the customer can safely pressure-test pipes and systems.”
The process itself is relatively straightforward. Water is pumped into a sealed pipe system until the required pressure level is reached. Once sealed, the system is monitored via a pressure gauge. If the pressure drops, it indicates a leak, crack or weakness somewhere in the pipeline.
Jolly says one of the advantages of Werner Pumps’ approach is the flexibility of its existing pressure washer range, which can be adapted for pressure testing applications depending on customer requirements.
“All our pressure washers can be adapted for pressure testing,” he explains. “Depending on the application, we can supply systems ranging from lower-pressure units of 150 bar right up to ultra-high-pressure configurations of 2000 bar.”
Werner Pumps has already sold several pressure testing units since beginning to market the capability more actively.
“It’s become clear that there’s a real market for this type of equipment,” says Jolly.
Growing export activity
For Werner Pumps, the Nigerian sale represents more than a once-off export order. It’s a reflection of growing awareness of the company’s broader manufacturing capability beyond its more widely known truck-mounted and jetting solutions.
“We’ve definitely started to see more interest from the rest of the continent in our equipment,” says Werner Pumps MD, Sebastian Werner. “We’ve sent units to several other countries and that’s always gratifying for me because it feels like a recognition of the quality we offer. We look forward to continuing to grow our exports and to making the market aware of our full range of offerings.”
“Over the past few years, we’ve put a lot of effort into building relationships and quoting consistently into African markets,” adds Jolly. “We’re now starting to see those efforts convert into real business.”
