GlobalSpec has asked its users about the latest design trends and features related to Centrifugal Pumps. They have also shared their product applications and tips on how to buy and use these products.
See the entire survey
What are some of the applications you have used a centrifugal pump for?
124 answers
I have sold pumps for many central filter systems for both the filter feed and the clean side. I have sold many pumps for vacuum sewage systems that require the design conditions along with the correct NPSH. I selected many pumps for use on the oil spill clean up in the gulf. None were purchased due to unreasonable government rules. The most interesting application was for pumping water up a mountain at night with low price electric and have it flow back down during to day to produce higher priced electricity.
~Franklin H, Project Manager, Indianapolis, IN
Multi-staged for deep borehole pumping
Pumping abattoir effluent to fertilize crops
Boiler feed water
Refrigeration cooling tower water
Irrigation, both large and small scale from channels, dams, streams & wells
Flood water transfer to holding dams
Domestic tank filling & rainwater transfer
Domestic water pressure boosters
Firefighting installations
Coal wash plant
Machinery washdown in coalfields, agriculture, stock transport trucks
~Richard H, Proprietor pump supply & manufacturing business, Warwick, Australia
Applications: Self-priming pump with side liquid channel and star-shaped impeller, with excellent suction capacities even in unfavourable operating conditions such as the presence of air bubbles or lack of continuity in the sucked liquid. Used in domestic, agricultural civil and industrial installations. Constructional features of the pump: Cast iron pump body with brass pressure disc. Motor support and impeller completely made of brass, to avoid the risk of blockage. Carbon/ceramic mechanical seal. Stainless steel motor shaft.
~Jabir Shaikh, Marketing/Sales, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
We have designed and patented the InstaPrime™ dry prime centrifugal pump. Its patented impeller does not create turbulence like standard centrifugal pumps and because of this, uses half the HP and the wear life pumping abrasives is over 100 times better than standard centrifugal pumps. The vacuum priming system and vacuum pump is patented and uses less HP, is direct drive and does not pollute or cause noise. The pumps are smaller, sometimes less than half the size of similar performance pumps. The pumps are used for many applications including dewatering, flood control, sewage pumping, slurry pumping, sand pumping, wellpoint dewatering, manure pumping, pumping cranberries, and running multiple suction lines with one pump.
~Marketing/Sales, Minnetonka, MN
By profession I am an Irrigation Engineer and I know that centrifugal pumps are very crucial to lift water from lower areas to higher areas, so that the people in need of water to grow crops can get the water in required amount at required time by the help of centrifugal pump. Nowadays, the rain fall that we are expecting to grow crops is uncertain- this type of problem can be solved by having centrifugal pump.
~Boja M, Instructor, Adama, Ethiopia
All of our centrifugal pumps are either for Air Separation Plants (continuous duty), trailer off loading (intermittent duty), ground mounted trailer loading, LNG distribution for car and bus stations, and used as boost pumps for some of the large reciprocating pumps in enhanced oil recovery. Typical liquids pumped are LNG, LO2, LN2,LH2, LCO2, LN20 and LAR.
~Aaron S., Marketing/Sales, Santa Ana, CA
Many many applications in the chemical process industries. Transfer of material from one vessel/system at low pressure/low elevation to a system at higher pressure / elevation. Circulation of process liquids in system including heat exchange and/or reaction.
~Engineering, Process/Production, South Charleston, WV
Potable water supply (transfer / pressure booster), Drainage pumps, Dewatering pumps, chilled/condenser water pumps, fire protection system pumps (sprinkler/hose reels/hydrants/risers).
~Technical Support/Services, Singapore, Singapore
Irrigation, Flood/Storm Water Control, Sump/Sewage, Chemical Plant/Refinery, Municipal Water/Sewage Plant, Chilled Water/Condenser Water, Domestic Water Booster Systems
~Will S., Sales Manager, Pompano Beach, FL
Centrifugal pumps are used in agriculture, industrial activities. Centrifugal pumps are used to supply water in pits, urban, the industrial chain and activities.
~Cuong Pham, Design Engineer, Haiduong city, Vietnamese
We design display fountains for malls, commercial centres and high end residential. We use centrifugal pumps for feature displays and circulation of water.
~John L, Sales Coordinator, Toronto, Canada
Aquaculture, Irrigation, Drainage, Sewage, Stormwater, processing, swimming pools, restaurant live fish tanks, cleaning, household water supply, etc...
~Kevin A, Service Manager and Sales, Ashfield, Australia
Condensate, circulating water, feedwater, service water, heater drains, condensate transfer, condensate booster, and feedwater booster pumps.
~Bill K, Engineering Consultant, Stoughton, MA
A) Diesel Generating sets cooling system.
B) For industrial use - Liquid / fluid transportation,
C) system pressurization ( room, vessel etc. )
~Arvind K, Engineering Consultant, Pune, India
Waste Water Treatment Plant
Potable Water System
Non Potable Water System
Grey Water System
Hot water and Steam condensate System
~Richard S, Facilities Manager, El Gorah, Egypt
Wastewater pumping from one tank to another; Trade Waste discharge to sewer; Treated Water transfer across long distance.
~Rica S, Process Engineer, Sydney, Australia
Power plant service water, closed contact cooling water, lube oil pumps, sewage pumps, sump pumps, storm water removal.
~William S, Project Manager, Maryville, TN
Water Transfer Pumps, Booster Pumps, Slurry / Storm water, Pressurization / Circulation purposes etc
~Engineering, Consulting, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Circulating water systems, closed cycle cooling water systems, boiler feedwater system, chilled water systems.
~Brian S, Process Engineer, Maple Grove, MN
Bulk water transfer scheme, a distance of about 360km pipe line with diameter ranging from 1000mm-1400mm.
~Engineering, Process/Production, AS Above, Botswana
In large diameter hand dug well and large diameter drilled shallow water well for water supply system.
~Engineering, Other, St Catherinens, Canada
Work with our PIPE-FLO customers to help troubleshoot problems with pumps and pumping systems.
~General Corporate Mgmt, Lacey, WA
Transfer liquid products, such as: beer, milk, juice, flavors etc, make the CIP system
~Project Management, Guangzhou, China
Ethylenege Glycol, Dowtherm, Therminol, PET RESIN, Cooling Water and some other chemicals.
~Guha Prasad Swaminathan, Maintenance Manager, Lopburi, Thailand
Cooling tower circulation pumps, chilled water pumps, hot water pumps off large boilers.
~Marketing/Sales, Stafford Springs, CT
Pumping water, and water-based compounds in a process environment--bottling industry.
~Maintenance Sup, Olympia, WA
As an integral component for a fuel filtration and optimization processing device.
~Bill M, Marketing/Sales, Fort Myers, FL
Chemical fluids pumping like sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, caustic soda, etc..
~Marketing/Sales, Lima 3, Peru
Irrigation, Water Transfer, Cooling Towers, Hot Water Circulation, Pressure boosting.
~Marketing/Sales, Houston, TX
Turbochargers; liquid chemical handling; air blowers; HVAC; consumer products.
~Chris F, Research & Development, Raleigh, NC
Petroleum, water, drilling mud, LPG, lube oil, diesel, gasoline, sewage,etc...
~Gilvan C., Engineer, Salvador, Brazil
Slurry Pump Process, Dewatering Industrial/Mining Sites, Sewage Pump Stations
~Chad N, Technical Sales, Timmins Ontario, Canada
Mine Dewatering, Sewage Bypass, Construction site dewatering, Fuel Transfer.
~Engineering, Design, Cirencester, Great Britain
Boiler feed. condensate (primary and secondary) service/auxiliary water.
~Engineering, Design, Newark, NJ
Machine and repair work contingent upon my inspection and written report.
~Engineering, Other, Monte Vista, CO
Oil and Gas Pipelines, Hydrocarbon Processing, Water, Power Generation
~Purchaser, Portland, OR
Well fluid, crude, condensate, produced water, water applications.
~Shyam R, Project Manager, Hyderabad, India
Water supply, sewage water, oil transfer and multiphase pumping.
~Engineering, Consulting, Caracas, Venezuela
Filtration, circulation, lubrication, priming, chemical process.
~Michael W, Development Engineer, Quincy, IL
We have used centrifugal pumps for pumping river water, sewage.
~Marketing/Sales, Catonsville, MD
Power, water, oil and gas chemical, mining slurry applications.
~Engineering, Design, Melbourne, Australia
Marine sea water cooling, fire fighting system, ballast system.
~Engineering, Other, Portsaid, Egypt
Power plant: feedwater, condensate, cooling water, circulating.
~Pal K, Engineering Consultant, Budapest, Hungary
Mostly centrifugal chemical fluids and cooling tower pumps.
~Moshe B, Workshop Manager -Maitenance Dep., Haifa, Israel
Transfer pump applications in ground water treatment systems.
~Engineering, Design, Millbury, MA
Transfer the material from one location to another location.
~Maintenance/Facilities Management, Jubbel, Saudi Arabia
Heating systems, milk transfer, water systems, chillers.
~Patrick G, General Management, Preston, ID
Large Irrigation schemes and Open Pit Mining dewatering
~Technical Support/Services, Ndola, Zambia
Pump Chemicals
Pump Water
Circulate up to 5,000 GPM
~Sales & Service, Crossville, IL
For pumping corrosive liquids for different processes.
~Maintenance/Facilities Management, KURNOOL, India
Medical concentrate mixing, consistent pressure/flow.
~Technical Support, Baden, PA
Fire pump, wastewater application, and water utility.
~Engineering, Design, Keeler, CA
Primer, boiler feed, water injection, fuel transfer.
~Marketing/Sales, Edmonton, Canada
In transferring our raw materials to our vaporizer.
~Engineering, Other, Balanga, Philippines
Sea water, Boiler feed water, lube oil, LPG pumping.
~Maintenance/Facilities Management, Arzew, Algeria
Water and waste supply to domestic and municipals.
~Akinro I. Olajide, Project Manager, Akure, Nigeria
Pumping water and sea, for growing algae in it.
~Technical Support/Services, Andebu, Norway
water supply
irrigation
fire pumps
hot oil
~Engineering, Design, LONSDALE, Australia
Oil and gas industries, bulk chemical terminal.
~Emung Mustopa Haz, Project Manager, Jakarta, Indonesia
Pumping hydrocarbons and water in the refinery.
~Maintenance/Facilities Management, Mombasa, Kenya
HVAC, Industrial processes, Hydraulics etc...
~Brian G, Maintenance, Langley, Canada
Mining site for tailing or slurry transport.
~Andrea Ma, Manufacturer, Shijiazhuang, China
Chemicals (many composition), water, BFW, etc..
~Santosh Gupta, Engineer, Mumbai, India
Mainline crude oil pumps
Boosters
Transfer
~Randal, Technical Support, Odessa, TX
Pumping seawater from bay or sea water wells.
~Robert V, Research & Development, Amagansett, NY
Chilled and condenser water. Heating water.
~Engineering, Consulting, Surrey Hills, Australia
Cargo product, water pumps, fire fighting.
~Harvey J, OIC Bay and River Barges operation., Angono, Rizal, Philippines
Oil and water pumps and gas compressors.
~Engineering, Design, Coventry, United Kingdom
Water distribution systems - sewer systems
~Engineering, Consulting, Ramrod Key, FL
Sewage Pumping
TSE pumping
Water supply
~Engineering, Design, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
Pumping neat cement to plug old oil wells.
~Ken G, Contractor, Petrolia, Canada
Trucking and the oil drilling industries.
~Marketing/Sales, Houston, TX
Hot and cold FDA beverage fluid transfer.
~Research & Development, Brooklyn, NY
To move liquid from one point to another.
~Marketing/Sales, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Brewery, environmental monitoring wells.
~Jan S, Engineering Consultant, Oakland, CA
Pump water and natural gas condensate.
~Maintenance/Facilities Management, Couva, Trinidad and Tobago
Domestic water pumps for hospital use.
~John Gorman, Faculty/Staff, Albany, Albany
Production lines cooling water pumping.
~Engineering, Other, Cairo, Egypt
Fire pumps, water pumps, and trash pumps.
~Project Management, Clayton, NY
RO water and waste water distribution.
~Corning, NY
Water, wastewater, chemicals, slurries.
~Troy Z, Marketing/Sales, Denver, CO
Water Supply and Sanitation Projects.
~Wadehra VK, Engineering Consultant, Chandigarh, India
Slurry pumping, short & long distance.
~Engineering, Design, Auckland, New Zealand
1. Booster System
2. Water Transfer
~Cheng Hoe Goh, General Management, Singapore, Singapore
Dewater sunken ships, boats, barges.
~Project Management, Mattapoisett, MA
Protection and Electric consumption
~Imran Khan, Engineer, Dubai, Uae
Cooling water, reflux, process feed.
~Engineering, Design, Gajraula, India
Various uses around dairy farms.
~General Corporate Mgmt, Bellevue, WA
Pumping of water and waste water.
~Engineering Consultant, New Delhi, India
Mining, agriculture, irrigation.
~Dick T, Engineer, Nelson, New Zealand
Air conditioning water chillers.
~Technical Support/Services, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Water supply
Irrigation purpose
~Engineering, Design, Doha, Qatar
Water pumps and chemical dosing
~Engineering, Design, Vigo, Spain
Transferring the liquefied gases.
~Anton Levin, FEA spcialist, Ekb, Russia
Pumping water and waste water.
~Bradley D, Facilities Manager, Laurel, MD
Juices, beer, water, chemicals.
~Romy D, Process Engineer, Las Piñas, Philippines
Water systems, slurry systems.
~Hector J, Engineering Consultant, Sydney, Australia
Pulp stock
boiler feed water
~Ken T, Red Seal Journeyman Millwright, Prince Albert, Canada
Water features and transport.
~Engineering, Design, Somers, MT
Pumping mine water solutions.
~Scott B, Engineering Consultant, Bozeman, MT
Booster pumping, dewatering
~Arnold E, Marketing/Sales, Quezon City, Philippines
Pipeline precommissioning
~United Kingdom
Wastewater and chemicals
~Steve H, Engineer, Aiken, SC
Gas plant and Refinery.
~IONEL DUTU, Faculty/Staff, PLOIESTI, RO
Cooling
heating loop
~Maintenance/Facilities Management, Irving, TX
Water treatment plant
~ENG S, Engineering Consultant, RIYAD, SAUDIA
Pumping water or air.
~Technical Support/Services, Hilaard, Netherlands
Aquaculture systems
~Research & Development, HIRTSHALS, Denmark
Water & Wastewater
~Engineering, Design, Apopka, FL
Convared and plows
~General Corporate Mgmt, Stevensville, Canada
Transfer crude oil
~Purchaser, CAIRO, Egypt
Water lifting pump.
~Ahmed G, Engineer, Alex, Egypt
Pumping liquids.
~Engineer, Genk, Belgium
Oil Distribution
~Engineering, Consulting, Inverness, Scotland
Power, Oil & Gas
~Wayne W, Quality Control, Easley, SC
HVAC Hydronics
~Paul N, Stationary Engineer, Antioch, CA
Gravel pumping
~Robert L, Alluvial Consultant, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Pumps packages
~Engineering, Design, Grand Island, NY
Charging pump
~John S, Sales Engineer, Quincy, IL
Water supply
~Hoang Xuan Niem, Managing Director, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet nam
Flygth pumps
~Engineering, Process/Production, Bamako, Mali
Agriculture
~Engineering, Process/Production, Dhaka, Bangladesh
HVAC System
~Uzzal Mistri, Engineer, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Process
~Cleaf Ng, Marketing/Sales, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Please share with us any “non-standard” applications that a centrifugal pump has been used for.
30 answers
Keeping Shamu's water free of metallic particulates.
~Purchaser, Portland, OR
If you use centrifugal pumps with mechanical seal to pump slurry, the sand solid particles will destroy seal. Meanwhile, slurry pumps are very expensive. Some of the Vietnamese engineers use inline centrifugal pumps to pump slurry. Result is very good. Mechanical seal of that type of pumps is in the top of flow. Sand particles often move in lower layers of flow.
~Hoang Xuan Niem, Managing Director, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet nam
I think that there are no non-standard applications. Someone has already tried it. It may not have worked. Centrifugal pumps have been used from the deepest well, to 2000 SSU and at high temperatures.
~Franklin H, Project Manager, Indianapolis, IN
Froth pumping applications where the air content was greater than 1.8 times that of the fluid pump.
~Hector J, Engineering Consultant, Sydney, Australia
We use centrifugal pumps from EBARA to recirculate wastewater + dissolved air in our DAF systems.
~Rica S, Process Engineer, Sydney, Australia
There has been some large centrifugal pumps used in government applications on Oxygen barges.
~Aaron S., Marketing/Sales, Santa Ana, CA
I utilized it in pumping bunker fuel and it works same performance with external gear pump.
~Harvey J, OIC Bay and River Barges operation., Angono, Rizal, Philippines
Maintaining pressure on a Fire Protection system while pulling out of a fresh water creek.
~Sales & Service, Crossville, IL
Serve as charging pump handling high viscosity crude oil or Betinite drilling mud.
~John S, Sales Engineer, Quincy, IL
Blower for evacuating corrosive/explosive process gas from a process chamber.
~Chris F, Research & Development, Raleigh, NC
Centrifugal pumps used to salvage sunken ship and use of hydraulic engine.
~Cuong Pham, Design Engineer, Haiduong city, Vietnamese
American pumps are usually non-standard to DIN or European make.
~Cleaf Ng, Marketing/Sales, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Customer wanted to use a pump for producing snow on a ski hill.
~Chad N, Technical Sales, Timmins Ontario, Canada
Mechanical losses and semi finished water passages.
~Wadehra VK, Engineering Consultant, Chandigarh, India
Chemical cleaning of internals in power boilers.
~William S, Project Manager, Maryville, TN
Pumping from in ground 60' deep sea water wells.
~Robert V, Research & Development, Amagansett, NY
Waste treatment, solid containing fluid handling.
~Engineering, Process/Production, South Charleston, WV
Different use for different Application.
~Imran Khan, Engineer, Dubai, Uae
Cleaning of bunker oil contaminated well.
~Jan S, Engineering Consultant, Oakland, CA
As a heater to heat fluid temperature.
~Troy Z, Marketing/Sales, Denver, CO
Molten sulphur pumping from the pit.
~Santosh Gupta, Engineer, Mumbai, India
Sand transportation of Sand,
~Arvind K, Engineering Consultant, Pune, India
Micrometric gap adjustment
~IONEL DUTU, Faculty/Staff, PLOIESTI, RO
Emergency flood prevention
~Richard S, Facilities Manager, El Gorah, Egypt
Pumping neat cement
~Ken G, Contractor, Petrolia, Canada
Mining, power, coal
~Andrea Ma, Manufacturer, Shijiazhuang, China
Pipeline trenching
~Gilvan C., Engineer, Salvador, Brazil
To run a diffuser
~Bradley D, Facilities Manager, Laurel, MD
Mechanical seal
~Uzzal Mistri, Engineer, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Water features
~Engineering, Design, Somers, MT
Do you know of any disastrous mistakes that occurred due to the incorrect usage of a centrifugal pump?
28 answers
I have installed centrifugal pumps station for one high rise building in HoChiMinh City. After a day of hard work, we started the pump and were very happy to see the pump running without any problems. We went out to have dinner. When we came back, we saw the pump with red suction and the PVC suction pipe had been destroyed (burned) completely. Our mistake was wrong choosing working point of pump. The water did not reach to reservoir in top of building.
~Hoang Xuan Niem, Managing Director, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet nam
We had one project in Thailand, where we used a much bigger pump than is really required, and we ended up having too much vibration along stainless steel pipeline, which eventually cracked and sprays recirculated water everywhere. No one was hurt, but it involved having to re-do some part of the piping system and include a huge (and expensive) VSD just to control the pump output.
~Rica S, Process Engineer, Sydney, Australia
Yes, not taking into account the different cSt values of your crude oil in a pipleline. The same pump cannot always pump 300 cSt oil on one day and be expected to pump 750 cSt oil the next. Know your cSt before you buy 104 pumps.
~Purchaser, Portland, OR
Running a pump outside its design parameters can lead to equipment damage, personal injury or even death - particularly when operated below minimum continuous safe flow (or worse, against a closed valve) for extended periods.
~Troy Z, Marketing/Sales, Denver, CO
Cavitation - the pump had two duties which required two impeller speeds, however the owner continued to run the pump at the high speed for both the rated duty and the lesser duty which caused the pump to cavitate.
~Hector J, Engineering Consultant, Sydney, Australia
Pump selected did not have proper shaft seals for use with drilling mud which lead to premature failure. Also, incorrect direction of pump rotation caused pump drive shaft to fail.
~John S, Sales Engineer, Quincy, IL
Too tight adjustments on packing gland, it produce heavy smoke on packings that get attention to terminal people, if possible do not use flux packing use teplon..
~Harvey J, OIC Bay and River Barges operation., Angono, Rizal, Philippines
Pump does not provide sufficient head and no water flows at the end of the pipe. This is after the completion of the $300 000.00 dollar dual sewage pump station.
~Chad N, Technical Sales, Timmins Ontario, Canada
When your competitor beats your bid, but install a smaller pump. The customer calls because the system does not work. Then the costumer pays more in the long run.
~Patrick G, General Management, Preston, ID
Yes, sometimes the user of the pump is not servicing with the required time and also they are not using the appropriate spare parts during maintenance.
~Boja M, Instructor, Adama, Ethiopia
Once a Bronze impeller was installed, when SS steel was requested, the use was ammonia service, the impeller did not last.
~Sales & Service, Crossville, IL
Overloaded engines, abnormal corrosion rates, suction head, broken shafts and impellers due to debris suction.
~Gilvan C., Engineer, Salvador, Brazil
Wrong pump used in removing condenset from condenser of steam turbine. The condenser was total destroyed.
~Arvind K, Engineering Consultant, Pune, India
Running the pump out of its curve and fragging the bearings and destroying the impeller with cavitation.
~Bradley D, Facilities Manager, Laurel, MD
Yes, there have been oxygen fires because customers did not hook a purge up correctly.
~Aaron S., Marketing/Sales, Santa Ana, CA
Wrong installation of the balancing drum causes the impeller to crash the casing.
~Ahmed G, Engineer, Alex, Egypt
Usually whetted parts material recommended not compatible to fluid handle.
~Cleaf Ng, Marketing/Sales, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Loss of production, factory shut down, loss of life both - animal and human.
~Kevin A, Service Manager and Sales, Ashfield, Australia
You hook up the current the wrong way, the pump turns the wrong way.
~Scott B, Engineering Consultant, Bozeman, MT
Impeller and casing leaking because of air in the system.
~Engineering, Design, Grand Island, NY
Frequent damage and high cost of maintenance..
~Akinro I. Olajide, Project Manager, Akure, Nigeria
Pumps were aggressive, low efficiency.
~Cuong Pham, Design Engineer, Haiduong city, Vietnamese
Serious injury from electrocution.
~Richard S, Facilities Manager, El Gorah, Egypt
Selection of proper Head.
~Uzzal Mistri, Engineer, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Corrosion & cavitation.
~Cheng Hoe Goh, General Management, Singapore, Singapore
Running out of prime
~Jan S, Engineering Consultant, Oakland, CA
Over Design
~Paul N, Stationary Engineer, Antioch, CA
cavitation
~Robert V, Research & Development, Amagansett, NY
