Are you worried about choosing the right submersible pump, this guide will comprehensively explain the knowledge points about submersible pumps.
In this article you will learn about submersible pump types, applications, features and maintenance and other related information, from the beginner to the expert, please read this ultimate guide.
What is a Submersible Pump?
Submersible pumps, as the name suggests, can be immersed in the water to work, submersible pumps and motors are generally integrated design, the shell has a sealing performance, can play a role in waterproof.
Submersible pumps belong to the same category of centrifugal pumps, both of which generate centrifugal force through the rotation of the impeller to discharge the fluid and thus transport it to the specified location.
Compared with traditional centrifugal pumps, it has significant advantages in high efficiency and energy saving.
Because it is operating underwater, with the help of the depth of the water, so that the inlet of the submersible pump has an initial hydrostatic pressure (can also become a positive flow pressure), transportation of fluids, submersible pumps, the role of the pump becomes to push the fluid discharged to the outlet, rather than suction of the fluid.
This step saves some of the energy and allows the submersible pump to have a higher efficiency than a conventional centrifugal pump.
How Does a Submersible Pump Work?
As mentioned above, submersible pumps are centrifugal pumps, so their working principle is basically similar to that of traditional centrifugal pumps.
Suction process
In this process, the electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.
Submersible pump motor starts, the motor drives the impeller to rotate, the impeller in the process of high-speed rotation, generating centrifugal force, the impeller center of the liquid pushed to the impeller around.
Pressurization process
As the centrifugal force throws the fluid around, the fluid flows along the internal volute of the pump body.
Due to the flow-guiding effect of the volute, the volute reduces the speed of the fluid and increases the pressure. At this time, the pump converts the kinetic energy of the liquid into pressure energy.
Discharge process
The pressurized fluid flows inside the volute to the outlet position of the pump, where the pump discharges the fluid at a higher pressure and then transports it above the liquid surface through the pipeline.
Pros and Cons of Submersible Pumps
The use of submersible pumps facilitates our life and production work, it greatly improves the efficiency, but submersible pumps also have some disadvantages that you need to know.
Completely understand everything about submersible pumps, which will be very helpful for your work and application scenarios.
Submersible Pump Advantages
Efficient: Because submersible pumps work underwater, which gives the submersible pump an initial hydrostatic pressure, unlike other centrifugal pumps, submersible pumps don’t suck in water but push the liquid, which provides a very high efficiency and reduces operating costs compared to normal centrifugal pumps.
Prevent cavitation: Submersible pumps operate submerged in water, with the pump body, impeller and other parts in full contact with the medium to prevent air from entering the pump body, thereby generating very little foam, which will greatly reduce the phenomenon of air pockets.
Saving space: Submersible pumps work in the water and do not need to occupy a large space to place the pump like other pumps, submersible pumps save valuable working space.
Noise: Submersible pumps work in the water, which absorbs and dampens most of the noise,making it almost silent.
Multi-purpose: Submersible pumps have many uses, people can use them in wells to provide water for daily use, but also in irrigation, sewage treatment, mining. Because submersible pumps can not only transport water, but also sewage, mud and other fluids.
Submersible Pump Disadvantages
Maintenance: Submersible pumps working underwater, it is difficult to detect and impossible to carry out preventive maintenance when its gaskets and other sealing parts leak.
Corrosion: Because there are corrosive substances in the water, the submersible pump works in water all year round, so corrosion will occur.
Cost: Submersible pumps are different relative to other pumps, the production materials need to have corrosion resistance, the motor also needs to be waterproof performance, the price may be more expensive than the general pump.
Conclusion: Any pump has its own shortcomings and advantages, want to choose the right pump, need to determine the use of the pump scene as well as working conditions, understand the shortcomings and advantages of the pump in order to better make the right choice. If you have to work underwater conditions, you may want to consider submersible pumps.
What is a Submersible Pump used for?
Submersible pumps have a variety of roles, it can not only transport water, but also stable slurry containing solid particles, in the daily water, dredging, and even mining and other industries, submersible pumps can efficiently complete the task.
Sewage Pumps
Sewage usually contains solid particles or other debris, submersible pumps can efficiently handle these sewage containing solid particles, so submersible pumps can transport sewage and wastewater.
Water Supply
Submersible pumps can work in deeper wells, it can steadily pump well water and deliver it to your home for daily use.
Irrigation
In agriculture, submersible pumps can effectively alleviate the lack of water resources by extracting water from groundwater or reservoirs and delivering it to farmland or places that need irrigation.
Dredging
In dredging operations, submersible pumps can steadily extract solid-liquid mixtures such as gravel, mud, etc., from rivers or harbors and efficiently transport these slurries to the designated locations.
Mining
Submersible slurry pumps rely on strong wear resistance, can efficiently transport the slurry containing solid particles in the tailings to the designated location, and can also discharge wastewater in the mine.
10 Types of Submersible Pumps You Need To Know
1. Submersible Water Pump
Submersible water pumps generally transport clean water, e.g. for pumping underground water in municipal projects or for pumping water from reservoirs in agricultural irrigation, which does not contain solid particles.
2. Submersible Slurry Pump
Submersible slurry pumps are different from submersible pumps, submersible slurry pumps have extremely strong wear and corrosion resistance, and they can transport slurries containing gravel or industrial wastes. Application: mine waste, dredging sludge, cooling water from power plants.
3. Oil Filled Pump
In industrial production, oil filled pumps can help machinery and equipment to inject oil, ensuring that the equipment’s cooling and lubrication systems function properly.
4. Stainless steel Submersible Pump
Stainless steel submersible pumps are corrosion-resistant, oxidation-resistant performance characteristics, and can be transported with corrosive, solid particles such as impurities and other harsh slurries.
5. Booster Pump
Booster pumps can increase the pressure of the liquid during transportation to solve the situation of insufficient pressure, usually used in municipal water supply, fire water, mine drainage and other working conditions that require pressure boosting.
6. Grinder Pump
Grinding submersible pumps can crush impurities and larger solid particles in the liquid into smaller particles for smooth discharge. Applications: sewage treatment plants, or factories to transfer sewage or industrial wastewater.
7. Deep Well Submersible Pump
Deep well submersible pumps are used to pump water from deep wells for daily use or agricultural irrigation, etc. Well pumps have very good sealing performance.
8. Dry Pit Pump
Dry pit submersible pump can not have to be completely in the submerged liquid, it can be used wet and dry, the working range is more extensive, in the long-term operation process, do not have to worry about the water level is too low.
9. Submersible Sewage Pump
A sewage pump can transport sewage containing sludge and solid particles, usually in a sewage treatment plant or factory.
10. Dewatering Pump
Drainage pumps are mainly used for stagnant water drainage and are usually used in scenarios where drainage is required such as discharging stagnant water after flooding, construction site drainage, tunnel drainage, and so on.
What Maintenance is Required for Submersible Pump?
Submersible pumps will inevitably wear out during long-term operation. Regular inspection and maintenance will not only extend the service life of the pump, but also save more time and money and avoid substantial losses caused by inadequate inspection.
Routine Inspection
Users should strictly follow the maintenance manual of the pump, and should follow the monthly, quarterly, and yearly plan for inspection and maintenance. If you can do daily inspection, you can better extend the service life of the pump and stop the damage in time.
Cleaning
There are inevitably some impurities in the fluid, so the surface of the submersible pump will often have some debris. Removing these impurities regularly can effectively prevent corrosion of the pump.
Impeller Adjustment and Replacement
The impeller is the core component of the pump, and the staff should regularly check the wear of the impeller. Submersible pumps operate submerged in water with almost no cavitation, but the liquid they transport contains particles and even corrosive substances that can wear down the impeller. Therefore, maintenance personnel should adjust or replace the impeller in time to save maintenance costs.
Seal Replacement
Submersible pumps require extremely tight seals. Inspectors should regularly inspect and replace seals to ensure that the submersible pump can work properly.
Lubrication
During the operation of the submersible pump, the lubricating oil should remain clean and be able to transport lubricating oil smoothly into the pump. The inspector should regularly check the oil level and oil quality.
Motor Inspection
The motor may be one of the most expensive parts of the whole submersible pump, you should pay attention to whether there is any abnormal vibration or unknown noise in the pump body when it is running, if there is any abnormality, the inspector should promptly shut down and inspect.
Submersible Pump Design and Components
Submersible Pump Design
Submerged slurry pumps are centrifugal slurry pumps that have been designed to be sealed and can work submerged in water, which can not only handle liquids such as sewage, but can also be used in complex slurries like industrial wastewater, and have extremely strong resistance to abrasion and corrosion.
Main components of submersible pumps
Motor
The motor of the pump is one of the main components. The submersible pump uses a sealed motor that can operate underwater, and its main function is to drive the impeller to rotate and make the submersible pump run.
Casing
Have a strong pump casing is very necessary, the pump casing is to carry the pump body parts of the container, when the submersible slurry pump in a complex environment, the strong pump casing can resist corrosion and liquid in the large particles of collision caused by the damage.
Impeller
The role of the impeller is crucial, the impeller is the key component of the slurry flow, through the impeller rotation, generating centrifugal force, which increases the pressure and transports the liquid, the material of the impeller is usually a high-chromium alloy or rubber, can correspond to the complex abrasive, corrosive and other slurry environment.
Mechanical Seals
For submersible pumps, sealing performance has a decisive role, strong sealing can make the submerged pump can be stable and continuous work in the water, so as to ensure that the work can run efficiently.
How To Choose a Submersible Pump?
1. What type of fluid do you need to transport? What is the suspended solids content?
It is first necessary to determine the type of fluid and the concentration and size of suspended particles in the fluid, such as in the following scenario:
- Clear water: Clear water generally includes water from reservoirs, rainwater, etc., and does not have large suspended particles or a small content of suspended solid particles.
- Sewage: Sewage plants have a large number of impurities and suspended particles, and even corrosive substances, at this time it is necessary to special design of submersible slurry pumps to transport.
- Industrial wastewater: industrial wastewater generally contains a large number of solid particles, and corrosive, which requires submersible slurry pumps have strong corrosion resistance, abrasion resistance.
- Mining tailings wastewater: Mining tailings in the wastewater contains a large number of metal elements and acidic substances, and contains a large number of sand and other solids in suspension, this time, corrosion-resistant submersible slurry pump is an excellent choice.
- Dredging: During dredging, the water contains a large amount of sand, gravel and silt. Submersible pumps with a crushing device can smoothly suck in the mud and discharge it to the designated location during operation.
2. What are your performance requirements for the pump?
The performance and power of your pump is also an important factor in selecting a submersible pump, which involves the head and flow rate of the pump. For example, your demand is 235m³/H, at this point you can determine the basic selection based on the pump performance graph provided by the submersible slurry pump manufacturer.
3. How far do you need to pump? At what depth does the submersible pump need to operate?
Submersible pump installation depth and pumping distance is one of the key factors in the selection of submersible pumps, pumping the length of the distance and the depth of the dive will affect the degree of energy loss when conveying, in the process of conveying, the liquid needs to overcome the friction of the pipeline, the longer the distance, the longer the pump will need to be stronger performance.
4. Submersible pump installation environment and post maintenance
When choosing a submersible pump, you need to determine the environment in which it will be installed, which needs to be communicated to the pump manufacturer in advance so that the engineers can modify the design of the submersible pump in order to prevent the complex working environment from affecting the stability of the pump.
Determine the use of submersible pump conditions also facilitate the efficiency of the later engineers to maintain and reduce unnecessary losses.
5. Power Options
To make sure that the power supply connected to the submersible pump will not be a problem, you also have to determine the voltage of the power supply, 220V, 380V or higher.Having a stable power supply, the submersible pump can work continuously for a long time.
Submersible pump selection is a complex task, in addition to pay attention to the above points, but also consider the cost, production materials, economy and other issues, timely search for submersible slurry pump experts to help you plan the program is your necessary options.
Conclusion
In today’s society and work, the use of submersible pumps is getting higher and higher, and its wide range of work makes its market share extremely large, from the daily supply of water to the mining industry, submersible pumps touch every aspect of the people. If you have questions about submersible pumps, please contact Kingda experts for answers.
Submersible Pumps FAQS
What is the Typical Cost of a Submersible Pump?
This is a matter of uncertainty, as the entire cost of a submersible pump needs to be determined based on the scenario of use, with submersible pumps working in the range of submersible deep well pumps for water supply to submersible slurry pumps used in the mining industry, where there is a large spread in price. For a more accurate quote, please contact a Kingda expert.
How Much Horsepower is Needed for a Submersible Pump?
Submersible pump horsepower is not the better, the flow rate and head is one of the key factors to determine the horsepower of submersible pump, according to your actual needs, you can determine the final horsepower through the pump manufacturer.
How many years is the life expectancy of a submersible pump?
If the submersible pump can be regularly maintained and replaced with wear parts, the general working life will be about 10 years, or even up to 15 years.
The life of the submersible pump needs to be based on the working conditions when the pump is running and whether it can be maintained on a regular basis to decide, a good working environment and regular inspection, generally will greatly extend the working life.
How long can the submersible pump run continuously?
Submersible pumps are professionally designed and tested to run continuously for 24 hours. Read the manufacturer’s operating manual to determine the maximum run time for a single run, which will also help to extend the life of the submersible pump.
Submersible pump VS centrifugal pump
Submersible pumps also belong to a kind of centrifugal pumps, it is the same as centrifugal pumps, through the impeller rotation to produce centrifugal force, so as to promote the flow of liquid, but submersible pumps can operate in water, the working range is more extensive.
What is Stage in Submersible Pump?
The stages refers to the number of impellers in a submersible pump. A single-stage pump has only one impeller, while a multi-stage pump has multiple impellers.
Each impeller can provide a portion of the head, so a multi-stage submersible pump can deliver a longer head, and the head is much larger than that of a single-stage submersible pump.
How to Calculate Stages in Submersible Pump?
The number of impellers of a submersible pump represents the number of stages. Each impeller has a single-stage head.
Given the total head and single-stage head of a submersible pump
Note:
1. The single-stage head is not a fixed value. For detailed values, consult the pump manufacturer.
2. Pipeline friction loss and elbow loss must also be considered in the actual calculation process.
Why Submersible Pump Trip?
There are two main situations in which a submersible pump trips.
1. The submersible pump trips just after starting, which may be due to unstable voltage of the pump, blockage of the water pump, foreign matter in the pipe or leakage of the cable.
2. The pump trips after running for a period of time, which may be due to overloading of the submersible pump, causing the motor to overheat, or the resistance of the transported medium is too large, causing the water pump to overload.
Can Submersible Pumps Run Dry?
Submersible pumps cannot run dry, as dry running will accelerate the damage of the submersible pump.
1. When the submersible pump runs dry, without water cooling, the motor will heat up too quickly and burn the motor.
2. The high temperature caused by the dry running of the submersible pump will cause the pump cavity to deform or even crack.
3. Dry running of a submersible pump will cause damage to the sealing components and eventually lead to leakage of the pump.
How Deep Should a Submersible Pump be in a Well?
Different types of submersible pumps have different submersible depths.
Small household submersible pumps: 5-50 m
Heavy industrial submersible pumps: 50-300 m
Special application submersible pumps: 300-1000 m
Which Motor is Used in Submersible Pump?
Submersible pumps generally use sealed motors, which can run in water for a long time. The motor and pump body of the submersible pump are designed as an integrated unit, avoiding leakage at the connection between the motor and the pump body.
Does A Submersible Pump Need A Pressure Tank?
Whether a submersible pump needs a pressure tank depends on your needs. The pressure tank can store water and maintain constant water pressure, avoiding frequent pump starts and reducing damage to the submersible pump.
If you need constant water pressure and stable water flow, you need to be equipped with a pressure tank.
