Recently significant attention has been given to the life cycle cost of owning a pump. Major components of the cost of ownership are initial cost, installation cost, operating cost, and maintenance cost. For nearly all applications it has been found that the initial cost is a very small percentage of the life cycle cost.

In most commercial and municipal applications, the cost of power is the largest component of the cost of ownership. This validates use of efficiency as the primary selection factor. Even though the cost is high, opportunities to significantly reduce the operating cost are limited because the efficiency of pumps and motors are near their theoretical maximums. Further reductions in this cost component will come from improvements in the process.

In process plants it has been found that under many circumstances the cost of unscheduled maintenance is the most significant cost of ownership. Although numerous papers have been presented on the subject of pump reliability, that literature addresses mechanical means of improving reliability only, and does provide an objective guide for the user. There has been little published on the subject of the best hydraulic fit to optimize reliability.