Sentrimax does not publish a fixed price for decanter centrifuge repair because cost depends on bowl diameter, wear severity, parts required, and the welding or machining scope found during inspection. Sentrimax quotes every job individually after a 75-point inspection, itemising parts, labor and pricing together in one quotation package.
Why there’s no fixed price for centrifuge repair
Two decanter centrifuges of the same model and bowl diameter can need completely different repairs. One may need bearings, a balance and a test run. The other may need a new scroll, machined shaft journals, and a rebuilt gearbox. A rate card can’t capture that difference — only a teardown and inspection can. That is why Sentrimax quotes every job after inspection rather than from a model number over the phone.
This page is about the variables that move a quote up or down, and what a proper quotation package should contain, so you know what you’re looking at when one arrives.
What “no published price” does not mean
Not publishing a rate card isn’t the same as being unable to give you a number. It means the number comes after the machine has been opened up rather than before. A shop that quotes a flat price from a model name over the phone is either padding the estimate to cover the unknown, or guessing low and planning to add scope once the machine is in pieces. Neither is a favor to you. An inspection-first quote takes slightly longer to arrive, but it’s tied to what’s actually wrong with your specific unit.
What drives the cost of a decanter centrifuge repair
| Cost factor | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Bowl diameter and machine size | Larger units (toward the 43″ end of the range Sentrimax services) have more material to machine, more surface area to balance, and heavier components to move through the shop. |
| Severity of wear on the bowl and scroll | Surface polishing and hard-surfacing cost less than replacing eroded scroll flights or a pitted bowl body. |
| Bearing and seal condition | Found during teardown; bearings running past their tolerance often take seals, housings and shaft journals with them. |
| Gearbox condition | Planetary, CYCLO and hydraulic backdrive gearboxes each have their own parts and rebuild scope once opened up. |
| Welding and machining scope | MIG, TIG or laser welding, brazing, hard surfacing and precision machining to OEM tolerances all add shop time proportional to the damage found. |
| Parts sourcing route | A part built new or reverse-engineered in Sentrimax’s own machine shop is priced differently than one built from readily available stock. |
| Balancing scope | Every job includes dynamic balancing; the time required depends on how much rotating mass was touched during repair. |
| Shipping and logistics | Delivery runs through a dedicated broker network; distance and cross-border movement between the US and Canada are part of the total job. |
Parts built to meet or exceed OEM specification
Whatever the sourcing route, Sentrimax’s repair parts packages are built to meet or exceed OEM specifications. That standard is a cost input in itself — it’s a different job than fitting the cheapest available part, and the quote should say which standard was used.
The three factors that usually move a quote the most
Of the variables above, three tend to swing a quote more than the others. Wear severity is the biggest: a machine that’s been run past the point of visible symptoms often has damage that’s spread from the original wear part into the shaft, housing or gearbox, which multiplies the scope. Parts sourcing route is second — a part that has to be machined new or reverse-engineered in Sentrimax’s own shop takes materially more shop time than a part pulled from stock. Welding and machining scope is third, since every additional weld repair or precision-machined surface adds hours proportional to the damage rather than to the size of the machine.
Bowl diameter and machine size matter, but usually less than people expect. A small 8″ unit with severe internal damage can cost more to put right than a much larger 43″ unit that only needs bearings and a balance. Size sets the ceiling on how much material there is to work with; wear severity determines how much of that ceiling gets used.
What the quotation package itemises
By the time Sentrimax prices a job, the centrifuge has already been through disassembly and a 75-point inspection. The quotation package that comes back documents the following, together, including an estimated delivery time alongside the price — see Quels sont les facteurs qui déterminent le délai de réparation d'une centrifugeuse ? for how that figure is built from the same findings:
- Un rapport d'inspection complet
- Un périmètre de travail défini
- The required parts list
- Photographies annotées des résultats
- Tarification
- Délai de livraison estimé
See what a centrifuge repair quote should include for a line-by-line breakdown of this package, and use it as a checklist against any vendor’s quote, not only Sentrimax’s. Both pages sit under the main centre de services de réparation de centrifugeuses décanteuses.
How the inspection turns into a number
The pricing in a Sentrimax quote isn’t a guess layered on top of a visual check. It follows from what a centrifuge inspection actually involves: documentation and ID-tagging, third-party oil analysis, full disassembly with steam cleaning and polishing of critical surfaces, and a licensed technician’s 75-point measurement of every critical precision fit. The pricing reflects exactly what that inspection found, not a category of failure.
What the inspection stage catches before it becomes a bigger cost
A meaningful share of what ends up in a repair scope is damage that spread from an original, smaller problem. A worn bearing left running produces heat and vibration that can, over time, affect the shaft journal it rides on. A seal that starts leaking can let process fluid reach places it shouldn’t, accelerating corrosion in components that would otherwise have been fine. The 75-point inspection exists to catch this kind of secondary damage while it’s still moderate, which is one more reason the cost of a repair tends to track how long a symptom was tolerated before the unit was sent in, more than it tracks the machine’s age or brand.
When cost pushes the decision toward replacement
Sometimes the honest answer to a cost question isn’t a repair price at all — it’s whether repair is still the right call. If wear has reached structural components rather than wear parts, Faut-il réparer ou remplacer une centrifugeuse décanteuse ? Faut-il la réparer ou la remplacer ? becomes the more useful question, and Sentrimax can quote refurbished and new equipment alongside the repair option.
Getting an accurate quote faster
An itemised quote depends on accurate inputs. Before contacting Sentrimax, have the following ready:
- Bowl diameter and machine type (decanter, tricanter or disc stack)
- Brand and model, where known
- A description of the symptoms that prompted the repair (vibration, reduced output, noise, oil condition)
- Whether the unit can ship for inspection, or whether a field assessment is needed first
None of this replaces the inspection itself, but it lets Sentrimax triage the unit correctly on arrival and start the 75-point process without delay. The more specific the symptom description, the more useful the initial conversation is before teardown even begins.
Comparing quotes across vendors
If you’re gathering more than one quote, compare the documentation behind the number, not just the total. A quote built from a completed inspection, with a defined scope of work, an itemised parts list and photographs of the actual findings, is a fundamentally different document than a phone estimate. Two quotes that look far apart on price often aren’t quoting the same scope of work at all — one may include full precision machining and balancing, the other may only cover the parts a technician could see without disassembly.
Ask what standard the parts are built to
A lower price is sometimes explained entirely by a lower parts standard. Ask directly whether replacement parts are built to meet or exceed OEM specification, and whether balancing is verified to a stated ISO G tolerance. Those two answers explain more of the price difference between quotes than almost anything else.
Budgeting for a repair before you have a quote
Plant maintenance budgets often need a placeholder number well before a specific failure occurs. Rather than asking Sentrimax for a hypothetical figure, the more useful exercise is building a maintenance history for each unit: how many times has it been repaired, what did those repairs involve, and how severe was the wear each time. A machine with a history of bearing and seal work is a different budgeting problem than one that has needed scroll and gearbox work. Past inspection reports, if you’ve kept them, are the best budgeting input available — better than a generic industry figure, because they reflect your specific machine’s duty cycle.
If this is the first time a given unit has come in for repair, an initial inspection establishes that baseline. It’s also worth discussing with Sentrimax at the time of inspection whether the findings suggest this will be a recurring cost or a one-time event, since that shapes whether ongoing repair or eventual replacement is the more sensible plan.
Get an itemised quote instead of an estimate
A number without an inspection behind it isn’t a quote — it’s a guess. Sentrimax builds every price from documented findings, so you’re approving a scope of work you can see, not a figure you have to trust.
Foire aux questions
What information does Sentrimax need to produce an accurate quote?
Bowl diameter, machine type, brand and model where known, and a description of the symptoms prompting the repair. An accurate itemised quote follows a 75-point inspection, since precision fits and internal wear can't be measured from a description alone.
Why do two centrifuges of the same model cost different amounts to repair?
Operating environment and maintenance history matter as much as the model. A unit running abrasive slurry wears differently than one on a benign duty cycle, and the parts, welding and machining scope a teardown reveals is what the quote actually prices.
Does the quoted price include both parts and labor?
Yes. Sentrimax's quotation package documents the scope of work, the required parts list and pricing together, alongside the inspection report and photographs that justify them, rather than pricing labor and parts as separate unexplained line items.
Does cost differ between decanter, tricanter and disc stack centrifuges?
Machine type and bowl diameter change the number of precision parts and the machining and balancing time involved, which is one of several inputs into the itemised quote. There's no single multiplier between machine types; it depends on what the inspection finds.
Can Sentrimax quote a repair without seeing the machine?
A rough scope discussion can start over the phone or through the contact form, but an accurate, itemised quote follows the 75-point inspection, since critical precision fits can only be measured after disassembly.
Why do two vendor quotes for the same centrifuge look so different?
They're often not pricing the same scope of work. Compare the inspection report, parts list and parts standard behind each number rather than the total alone; a lower quote frequently reflects a lower parts or balancing standard rather than a better deal.
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