Price the hire in measurement families and setup changes, not asset count alone. Ten similar pumps may be quicker than three unlike machines requiring different sensors, ranges or new baselines. Apply repeatable, reference-only or new baseline once to each family. This makes route time, file preparation and accessories specific to the survey.
VIBXPERT II equipment hire becomes useful for mixed-asset vibration surveys when the survey can preserve comparability across unlike machines. The planner’s problem is not simply covering pumps, fans, motors and gearboxes in one period. It is deciding which readings may be compared, which need their own reference context, and which should remain separate because the machine, duty or measurement position has changed.
That makes a mixed-asset survey different from a finite route-completion exercise. Completion asks whether every nominated point was visited. Comparability asks whether two collected records still answer the same question. A full route can contain weak comparisons if a standby fan is compared with a loaded fan, a post-overhaul pump with its pre-overhaul file, or a relocated measurement point with an earlier named point.
Build comparison families before the route
Put assets into comparison families, not merely operating areas. A family might contain duty-equivalent pump trains, fans with the same speed range, or gearboxes with a shared reference arrangement. An individual machine can sit outside every family when its configuration, operating state or history makes a like-for-like comparison unavailable.
For each proposed family, state:
- the machines and locations that may be compared;
- the operating state required for that comparison;
- the fixed measurement position or naming reference;
- the earlier record, baseline or condition change that gives the comparison meaning; and
- the condition that breaks the family, such as a rebuild, altered drive speed, changed mounting point or inaccessible location.
This is a planning classification, not a condition judgement. It prevents a route sheet from implying equivalence simply because assets share a broad label such as motor or fan.
Separate collection capability from equivalence
The VIBXPERT II portable analyser is a portable FFT data collector and signal analyser. PRUFTECHNIK’s current VIBXPERT II information lists route-based collection, vibration analysis, data logging and visual inspection. This supports mixed-asset route work but does not make unlike points comparable.
The instrument name does not make records comparable by itself. Comparability rests on the measurement position, machine state and reference information attached to each collection. Put required sensors, software and access to historic files in a site-owned requirements checklist. They cannot be inferred from the analyser or from a list of asset classes.
Price setup changes before route points
Give each planned point a comparison status before the hire period. This makes the record honest when a mixed site cannot offer identical conditions.
- Directly comparable: the point, operating state and reference context match the intended comparison.
- Contextual comparison: a useful earlier record exists, but a known change in duty, configuration or access has to travel with the result.
- New reference: the record establishes a stated starting point after changed work or a changed asset condition.
- Standalone observation: collection may still be useful, but there is no agreed equivalent record against which to read it.
The labels guide later review without assigning alarm limits or maintenance priority. They are particularly valuable when several types of rotating equipment share one hire window but have different operating patterns and histories.
Use a worked mixed-asset estimate
A comparison family is only useful if its rule stays with the collected file. An asset tag alone may not show that the point was moved after a guard change, that the machine was operating on standby duty, or that a replacement motor altered the relevant reference. Add the family name and comparison status to the route record before collection, then preserve any exception beside the file reference.
This avoids a common mixed-asset error: treating a tidy folder of readings as a common baseline. A baseline belongs to the stated machine condition and position, not to the folder or the calendar date. Where a result has only contextual value, the reviewer should see the changed duty or access condition before placing it beside an earlier result.
The planner can also use this record to keep unrelated assets apart. A gearbox observation may be retained as a standalone point while similar fan positions form a direct-comparison family. Both can belong in the same hire period without being forced into the same later conclusion.
Price the bounded collection campaign
The condition-monitoring equipment hire range identifies VIBXPERT II as a literal hire item. The commercial purpose here is to price the bounded mixed-asset campaign, while the site-owned route sheet continues to control points, operating states and escalation.
Let the route sheet govern the hire
A mixed-asset campaign needs a finite hire window and a stable point sheet. At handback, reconcile machines and operating states rather than file count; omitted or substituted points stay open against their machine rows.
Secure VIBXPERT II hire from Aquip and request a quotation for the planned dates and known accessories.
The final route sheet should assign each machine its measurement point, operating state and intended observation. It should also mark where a field reading stops and the site’s authorised escalation process begins. Mixed assets may require different sensors, point orientations, speed references or collection conditions; those differences belong on the relevant machine row rather than in an assumed common setup.
Give each planned reading a stable point identifier and define how an unavailable or unsafe point will be recorded. A nearby substitute point should remain distinct unless the site has already established its comparison basis.
Do not let a common instrument turn mixed assets into one generic route. End with the machine-by-machine sheet: each measurement belongs to a stated machine question and escalation begins at the boundary recorded for that asset.
At handback, reconcile completed points against that sheet rather than against the number of files produced. An omitted point, changed operating state or substituted location remains an exception for the responsible reviewer, even when the hire period itself ended on schedule. Keep that exception with the affected machine row until an authorised reviewer closes it.