Tech Talk

Recently I was asked for support at an open pit mine that was having trouble dewatering. The main challenge in short was that the inflow from springs and rainfall was exceeding their capacity to pump water from the pit floor and this was affecting mining operations. The first step was to tour the mine to get an overview of the … Read More

In the blog article, “Thermal Shock” I used the word ductility. This word is one of a handful of terms commonly used to describe the characteristics of metals and how they react to externally applied forces. Terms such as malleability, hardness, brittleness, toughness, abrasion resistant and impact resistant are commonly used when describing metals but not always completely understood. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN … Read More

Thank you to everyone who sent in questions to info@hevvypumps.com . We have taken one of the top questions and answered it below! Frequently asked Question: Should we install a vfd to control our pump? Background Variable frequency drives, or VFDs, do pretty much what their name suggests. They drive electric motors at variable frequencies providing significantly more control than … Read More

The Open Pipe Flow Measurement Method Over the years our team has been involved in countless pump start ups, many of which were field applications where instrumentation was non existent.  There is always an expectation of a specific flow rate or at least a minimum flow rate. Without a flow meter, how do you know if your pump is performing with … Read More

Our blog on “Total Discharge Recirculation” mentioned thermal shock as a destructive force that can damage or destroy pump components.  With how destructive this force can be, I thought it necessary to spend some time expanding upon this subject. What does thermal Shock mean in pumps? Wikipedia explains that thermal shock occurs when a thermal gradient causes different parts of an … Read More

Gain In-Depth Knowledge on Discharge Recirculation In previous blogs we have defined Cavitation and reviewed Discharge Cavitation.  In this blog I would like to discuss a specific type of discharge recirculation known simply as “Total Discharge Recirculation” or “TDR” for short.  All forms of pump recirculation, as the term denotes, evolve some portion of the liquid not following the desired path.  When referencing … Read More

Gain In-Depth Knowledge on Discharge Recirculation In our last blog we discussed cavitation singling out suction cavitation to illustrate the concept. In this blog, as promised, we will discuss discharge recirculation, also sometimes referred to as discharge cavitation.  The term discharge recirculation is often used interchangeably with the term discharge cavitation.  Although these two are clearly related they have a few distinct differences.  … Read More

What it is and how it works Cavitation is potentially the most destructive force at play within a pumping system, however it is the least understood issue by many pump operators. To quote Sun Tsu from the Art of War, “know thy enemy”. In this blog, we will discuss our enemy cavitation and how it relates to pump cavitation. This article … Read More

Gain In-Depth Knowledge on NPSHA In this blog we will discuss Velocity Head as it is the final component left of our 6 part NPSH blogs and the one we have avoided addressing previously. Reference books would describe velocity head as a basic concept of fluid engineering that represents the bulk motion, i.e. the kinetic energy, of the fluid. It can … Read More

Gain In-Depth Knowledge About Our Pumps & Industry In the last blog of this series we explained why a pump requires a positive inlet pressure and introduced the term NPSHR.  As promised, this blog we will investigate the counterpart of NPSHR, Net Positive Suction Head Available  (NPSHA). The pressure available at the pump inlet is a summary of multiple factors. These factors, all expressed in the same units (normally feet of … Read More