It is the question we are asked most often – more often than any question about material, mesh size or pressure rating: How long will it take? It is usually in the very first message, even before the price.
An honest answer is: it depends on what you order. But that does not help anyone. So here is what actually determines the delivery time – and how you can tell in advance whether your strainer will arrive in weeks or in months.
At a glance
Catalogue goods
Witch hat and flat plate strainers, line blinds and strainer gaskets are standardised – the dimensions are fixed.
Engineered design
Basket, duplex and T-type strainers are built to your operating conditions. The steps cannot be skipped.
Spare parts
A replacement screen made to size or to sample needs neither a design proposal nor an inspection.
The biggest difference lies in whether a part comes from the catalogue or is designed for your plant.
Catalogue goods
Witch hat strainers, flat plate strainers, line blinds and strainer gaskets are standardised. You select the nominal size, pressure rating and mesh size; the dimensions are fixed. Here, the delivery time is short and predictable.
Engineered design
A basket strainer, duplex strainer or T-type strainer, on the other hand, is not a stock item. Every unit is made for a specific operating situation: medium, pressure, temperature, installation position, required certificates. Between order and dispatch there are several steps that cannot be skipped.
We calculate the wall thicknesses according to the code, define connections and face-to-face lengths and send you a drawing. Until you approve it, manufacturing is on hold – this is the step that is most often underestimated.
Plates and flanges in the right grade must be available. For 1.4571 in common thicknesses this is quick; for special alloys or large wall thicknesses it can take weeks.
Cutting, welding, strainer basket, add-on parts. This is the part people imagine as “build time” – and often not the longest one.
Pickling and passivation for stainless steel, priming and painting for carbon steel. Both need time to dry and are partly carried out externally.
Pressure test with report, certificates, operating instructions, declaration of conformity.
It takes place on the open unit while it can still be inspected and must be scheduled with the inspection body. This is not a matter of hours but of the next available appointment. If you need an inspection, say so in the enquiry – not only when you place the order.
It links a specific component to the heat from which it originates. This requires the material to pass through manufacturing together with its certificate from the very beginning. A 3.1 certificate cannot be issued retrospectively – if it is requested later, procurement starts again from scratch.
From DN500 upwards, plates and flanges are no longer stock items. The same applies to materials beyond the usual stainless steels. Here, procurement determines the date, not the workshop.
Say so straight away in the enquiry. Not every order can be accelerated – an inspection remains an inspection. But much can be arranged differently: ordering material early, agreeing the drawing in advance, arranging a partial delivery if only part of the plant is waiting.
Spare parts are almost always quick. A replacement screen made to size or to sample needs neither design nor inspection. Outside diameter, height, mesh size and material are enough – or a photo of the old part.
Tell us what is to be filtered and by when it must be in place. We will tell you what is possible – and what is not.
