Pumps and Pumping Equipments receives a steady stream of questions from plants where a high pressure pump has failed far earlier than expected—even though the datasheet, on paper, was absolutely correct. Rated pressure matched the requirement. Flow was within limits. Materials were approved. Yet seals failed, valves broke, or performance collapsed within months. This gap between selection and reality is one of the most misunderstood aspects of Selection vs Reality: Why High Pressure Pumps Fail Despite Correct Datasheets . Datasheets are static. Industrial plants are not. Pumps do not fail because engineers cannot read specifications; they fail because real operating conditions quietly drift away from what the datasheet assumed. This article examines that gap from a plant-floor perspective—how industrial pumps that appear correctly selected still fail in real service, what hidden variables datasheets do not capture, and how engineers, maintenance teams, buyers, and plant heads can...