Reply With QuoteHead height is your limiting factor, not so much distance. The increased distance will have a small effect and reduce your suction height slightly, but if it is well under the max head height for the pump, then you will have no issues.
Wizard
I need to get a fire / water transfer pump for my property. It would mostly be used for transferring water out of the channel for a bit of irrigation purpose (may be hooked to a sprinkler system or just let to flood about 1 acre) and for priming my channel pump that is used for irrigating the gardens with.
The centrifugal fire pumps seem to have the best flow rates and better head pressures than trash / transfer pumps but have small tolerences for debris.
The channel is located across a road that I would have to draw from (have culvert under road which I could run the lines through). When required I would prefer to have the pump placed on my property and not by the channel. It would be sucking / pumping nearly horizontal.
The suction that pumps list is that a verticle height? and would they be able to suck horizontally 9 or 10 meters?
Is head pressure measured as verticle as well and would they be able to push further horizontally?
Super Moderator & CA manager
SubscriberHead height is your limiting factor, not so much distance. The increased distance will have a small effect and reduce your suction height slightly, but if it is well under the max head height for the pump, then you will have no issues.
If you need to contact me please email homestarrunnerau@gmail.com - thanks - Gav.
AT REST
"Suction head" is a theoretical maximum vertical distance the pump will lift water, but losses in a too small horizontal suction pipe will affect how well the pump works once it has a flow going. It's a good idea to have the suction height as low as possible, but if you have a big enough pipe it can be quite long. You will be best off with a "foot valve" and inlet strainer on the hose inlet, then fill it up from the pump end before cranking up the pump. 2 inch ID suction hose should do the job nicely.
Examples:
PVC Suction Delivery Hose 51mm 2" X 20M Grey Discharge Heavy Duty | eBay
Poly Foot Valve 50mm | eBay
OldBushie
We have a Honda Fire pump unit, and it was dead easy to lift water probably close to 20', and I suspect would do a lot more if asked to. We did it through a 2" intake hose, and we had going out through a 1" garden hose with a fire pump (?) twist type nozzle, a big red thing. This whole set-up probably cost us about $700 about 28 years ago. Would be much cheaper these days.
As BU said, a "Foot Valve" is the best way, as this negates having to prime it every time you use it. You could if need be leave this through the culvert, if you felt you had to put the pump away every time you used it.
Also, get some Flywire and wrap it around the foot valve, this will help keep the impeller clean from grit/dirt, and in better condition for a longer period of time. As well, get some plastic bottles and tie up the foot valve so it "floats" so to speak, in the top of the water course, and not in the mud. Just make sure the valve cant lay over on its side.
the out going pipe from the pump would that be a flexible hose or solid pipe, if flexible could you about 2 meters from the pump before it shut the pump off lift the hose to the same height as the channel so you keep a good stock of water in the pump for next time
AT REST
If you need to transfer large volumes then you need plenty of flow, which will (generally) be at the expense of head (pressure), if you want something that you can use for firefighting then you probably need to look towards a head of 70-80m (700/800kPa) as this is where most fog type nozzles are designed to work.
Both head and suction are for all intents vertical measurements. The maximum (theoretical) suction lift is ~10m, around 7.5m is generally accepted as maximum for a centrifugal pump, but if you are lifting anywhere that height then the pressure/flow from the pump will suffer badly.
Decide what the pump is primarily going to be used for, and go from there.
Martyn
1998 Defender
2008 Madigan
2010 Cape York
2012 Beadell, Bombs and other Blasts
2014 Centreing the Simpson
VKS-737 mob 7669
Master
The capacity of a pump is given as its flow rate at the max head ~ 7m at sea level with fresh water.
Horizontal distance has no effect with respect to the head but friction losses will effect the delivery pressure. The friction losses are a function of pressure and the diameter of the lines that you are using. Essentially, you want to have the largest diameter line you reasonably can in order to minimise your friction losses.
As for flow, a doubling of diameter = a x4 increase in flow capacity as a rule of thumb.
Your suction line will want to be something in the order of 100mm and your delivery line at least 64mm. In the event of using as a fire fighting pump, you will want to reduce the size of the attack line down to a 38mm or smaller line.
As for protecting the inlet, as recommended, float the inlet off the bottom of the damn. Use a one-way valve and sit in in a yabbie cage with wire covering it to keep large debris away.
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