About four weeks ago our swimming pool pump quit. I don’t know the exact date, but our pool guy, Randy, left us a note. We didn’t see the note, so a week later on his weekly visit I was home and he let me know about the pump. The motor was frozen and couldn’t be […]
Horizontal or Vertical?
In selecting a pump for a given application there is sometimes the option of choosing either a vertical or a horizontal shaft pump arrangement. For instance, in a process plant certain product transfer applications might be performed by a can-type vertical pump, or a vertical in-line pump, or a horizontal process pump. Large capacity cooling […]
My first WEFTEC
This week I had my first WEFTEC experience. I live in LA and WEFTEC was held at the LA Convention Center, so I drove on over to see the exhibits. I thought I’d walk through and see everything in one day. Wrong. A person could physically walk through every aisle in each of the three […]
Hypermiling
With fuel prices creeping up again I thought it appropriate to share some of my experiences with hypermiling. “Hypermiling” is a method of increasing your car’s gas mileage by making changes in the way you drive. It can also include changes in the way you maintain your car, including tire pressures, fuel grade, and oil […]
Specific Speed – Does it Matter?
To the pump engineer or pump manufacturer specific speed is terrifically important. To the specifying engineer or user – maybe, maybe not. The term specific speed comes up frequently in pump literature, in technical papers and is always covered in pump text books. It is frequently heard in pump technical banter and if one doesn’t […]
Is there any confusion about NPSH?
Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH) is perhaps the most misunderstood concept in pumping technology. The main source of confusion stems from multiple uses of the term in different but related contexts. One usage of the term NPSH is to denote the suction performance characteristic of the pump itself, independent of the system into which it […]