START OF TUTORIAL

Different types of pump systems

There are many types of centrifugal pump systems. Figure 1 shows a typical industrial pump system. There are
many variations on this including all kinds of equipment that can be hooked up to these systems that are not
shown. A pump after all is only a single component of a process although an important and vital one. The pumps’
role is to provide sufficient pressure to move the fluid through the system at the desired flow rate.

Figure 1

Back in the old days domestic water supply was simpler...aaah the good old days.
Goodnight John boy..
source: 712 designs

Domestic water systems take their water from various sources at different levels depending on the water
table and terrain contours.
Figure 1a
Source: The Ground Water Atlas of Colorado

The system in Figure 2 is a typical domestic water supply system that takes it's water from a shallow well (25
feet down max.) using an end suction centrifugal pump. A jet pump works well in this application (
seehttp://www.watertanks.com/category/43/) .

Figure 2

Figure 2a Typical jet pump.

For pricing and info see http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/Jet_Pump.html

For more details on the construction of jet pumps see this article: specialty pumps.

The system in Figure 3 is another typical domestic water supply system that takes it's water from a deep well
(200-300 feet) and uses a multi-stage submersible pump often called a turbine pump.
http://www.webtrol.com/waterwell%20homepage.html
Figure 3
Figure 3a
source: The Ground Water Atlas of Colorado
Figure 3b

Figure 3c Typical deep well submersible pump

Pressure, friction and flow

Figure 4

Pressure, friction and flow are three important characteristics of a pump system. Pressure is the driving force
responsible for the movement of the fluid. Friction is the force that slows down fluid particles. Flow rate is
the amount of volume that is displaced per unit time. The unit of flow in North America, at least in the pump
industry, is the US gallon per minute, USgpm. From now on I will just use gallons per minute or gpm. In the
metric system, flow is in liters per second (L/s) or meters cube per hour (m3/h).

Pressure is often expressed in pounds per square inch (psi) in the Imperial system and kiloPascals (kPa) in the
metric system. In the Imperial system of measurement, the unit psig or pounds per square inch gauge is used,
it means that the pressure measurement is relative to the local atmospheric pressure, so that 5 psig is 5 psi
above the local atmospheric pressure. In the metric system, the kPa unit scale is a scale of absolute pressure
measurement and there is no kPag, but many people use the kPa as a relative measurement to the local
atmosphere and don't bother to specify this. This is not a fault of the metric system but the way people use
it. The term pressure loss or pressure drop is often used, this refers to the decrease in pressure in the
system due to friction. In a pipe or tube that is at the same level, your garden hose for example, the pressure
is high at the tap and zero at the hose outlet, this decrease in pressure is due to friction and is the pressure
loss.

As an example of the use of pressure and flow units, the pressure available to domestic water systems varies
greatly depending on your location with respect to the water treatment plant. It can vary between 30 and 70
psi or more. The following table gives the expected flow rate that you would obtain for different pipe sizes
assuming the pipe or tube is kept at the same level as the connection to the main water pressure supply and has
a 100 feet of length.
The unit of friction is....Sorry, I think I need to wait 'til we get closer to the end to explain the reasoning
behind this unit.
Figure 5

Pressure provides the driving force to overcome friction and elevation difference. It's responsible for driving
the fluid through the system, the pump provides the pressure. Pressure is increased when fluid particles are
forced closer together. For example, in a fire extinguisher work or energy has been spent to pressurize the
liquid chemical within, that energy can be stored and used later. Is it possible to pressurize a liquid within a
container that is open? Yes. A good example is a syringe, as you push down on the plunger the pressure
increases, and the harder you have to push. There is enough friction as the fluid moves through the needle to
produce a great deal of pressure in the body of the syringe

Figure 6

If we apply this idea to the pump system of Figure 5, even though the discharge pipe end is open, it is possible
to have pressure at the pump discharge because there is sufficient friction in the system and elevation
difference.

What is friction in a pump system

Friction is always present, even in fluids, it is the force that resists the movement of objects.
Figure 7

When you move a solid on a hard surface, there is friction between the object and the surface. If you put
wheels on it, there will be less friction. In the case of moving fluids such as water, there is even less friction
but it can become significant for long pipes. Friction can also be high for short pipes which have a high flow
rate and small diameter as in the syringe example.

In fluids, friction occurs between fluid layers that are traveling at different velocities within the pipe. There
is a natural tendency for the fluid velocity to be higher in the center of the pipe than near the wall of the pipe.
Friction will also be high for viscous fluids and fluids with suspended particles.

Figure 8
Another cause of friction is the interaction of the fluid with the pipe wall, the rougher the pipe, the higher
the friction.

Friction depends on:

- average velocity of the fluid within the pipe see this calculator for velocity based on flow rate
- viscosity
- pipe surface roughness

An increase in any one of these parameters will increase friction.

The amount of energy required to overcome the total friction energy within the system has to be supplied by
the pump if you want to achieve the required flow rate. In industrial systems, friction is not normally a large
part of a pump's energy output. For typical systems, it is around 25% of the total. If it becomes much higher
then you should examine the system to see if the pipes are too small. However all pump systems are different,
in some systems the friction energy may represent 100% of the pump's energy. This is what makes pump
systems interesting, there is a million and one applications for them. In household systems, friction can be a
greater proportion of the pump energy output, maybe up to 50% of the total because small pipes produce
higher friction than larger pipes for the same average fluid velocity in the pipe (see the friction chart later in
this tutorial).

What is friction in a pump system (cont.)

Another cause of friction is all the fittings (elbows, tees, y's, etc) required to get the fluid from point A to B.
Each one has a particular effect on the fluid streamlines. For example in the case of the elbow, the fluid
particles that are closest to the tight inner radius of the elbow lift off from the pipe surface forming small
vortices that consume energy. This energy loss is small for one elbow but if you have several elbows and other
fittings the total can become significant. Generally speaking they rarely represent more then 30% of the total
friction due to the overall pipe length.

Figure 9

Energy and head in pump systems

Energy and head are two terms that are often used in pump systems. We use energy to describe the movement
of liquids in pump systems because it is easier than any other method. There are four forms of energy in pump
systems: pressure, elevation, friction and velocity.

Pressure is produced at the bottom of the reservoir because the liquid fills up the container completely and its
weight produces a force that is distributed over a surface which is pressure. This type of pressure is called
static pressure. Pressure energy is the energy that builds up when liquid or gas particles are moved slightly
closer to each other and as a result they push outwards in their environment. A good example is a fire
extinguisher, work was done to get the liquid into the container and then to pressurize it. Once the container
is closed the pressure energy is available for later use.

Elevation energy is the energy that is available to a liquid when it is at a certain height. If you let it discharge
it can drive something useful like a turbine producing electricity.

Friction energy is the energy that is lost to the environment due to the movement of the liquid through pipes
and fittings in the system.

Velocity energy is the energy that moving objects have. When a baseball is thrown by a pitcher he gives it
velocity energy also called kinetic energy. When water comes out of a garden hose, it has velocity energy.

Figure 9a
In the figure above we see a tank full of water, a tube full of water and a cyclist at the top of a hill. The tank
produces pressure at the bottom and so does the tube. The cyclist has elevation energy which he will be using
as soon as he moves.

As we open the valve at the tank bottom the fluid leaves the tank with a certain velocity, in this case pressure
energy is converted to velocity energy. The same thing happens with the tube. In the case of the cyclist, the
elevation energy is gradually converted to velocity energy.

The three forms of energy: elevation, pressure and velocity interact with each other in liquids. For solid
objects there is no pressure energy because they don’t extend outwards like liquids filling up all the available
space and therefore they are not subject to the same kind of pressure changes.

The energy that the pump must supply is the friction energy plus the elevation energy.

PUMP ENERGY = FRICTION ENERGY + ELEVATION ENERGY

Figure 9b

You are probably thinking where is the velocity energy in all this. Well if the liquid comes out of the system at
high velocity then we would have to consider it but this is not a typical situation and we can neglect this for
the systems discussed in this article.
The last word on this topic, it is actually the velocity energy difference that we would need to consider. In
figure 9c the velocities at point 1 and point 2 are the result of the position of the fluid particles at points 1
and 2 and the action of the pump. The difference between these two velocity energies is an energy deficiency
that the pump must supply but as you can see the velocities of these two points will be quite small.

Now what about head? Head is actually a way to simplify the use of energy. To use energy we need to know the
weight of the object displaced.

Elevation energy E.E. is the weight of the object W times the distance d:

EE = W x d

Friction energy FE is the force of friction F times the distance the liquid is displaced or the pipe length l:

FE = F x l

Head is defined as energy divided by weight or the amount of energy used to displace a object divided by its
weight. For elevation energy, the elevation head EH is:

EH = W x d / W = d

For friction energy, the friction head FH is the friction energy divided by the weight of liquid displaced:

FH = FE/W = F x l / W (see Figure 9b)

The friction force F is in pounds and W the weight is also in pounds so that the unit of friction head is feet.
This represents the amount of energy that the pump has to provide to overcome friction.
I know you are thinking this doesn’t make sense, how can feet represent energy?

If I attach a tube to the discharge side of a pump, the liquid will rise in the tube to a height that exactly
balances the pressure at the pump discharge. Part of the height of liquid in the tube is due to the elevation
height required (elevation head) and the other is the friction head and as you can see both are expressed in
feet and this is how you can measure them.
Figure 9c

Static head

Webster’s dictionary definition of head is: “a body of water kept in reserve at a height”.

It is expressed in terms of feet in the Imperial system and meters in the metric system. Because of its height
and weight the fluid produces pressure at the low point. The higher the reservoir, the higher the pressure.
The amount of pressure at the bottom of a reservoir is independent of its shape, for the same liquid level, the
pressure at the bottom will be the same. This is important since in complex piping systems it will always be
possible to know the pressure at the bottom if we know the height. To find out how to calculate pressure from
height go to the end of this article.

When a pump is used to displace a liquid to a higher level it is usually located at the low point or close to it. The
head of the reservoir which is called static head will produce pressure on the pump that will have to be
overcome once the pump is started.

To distinguish between the pressure energy produced by the discharge tank and suction tank, the head on the
discharge side is called the discharge static head and on the suction side the suction static head.
Usually the liquid is displaced from a suction tank to a discharge tank. The suction tank fluid provides pressure
energy to the pump suction which helps the pump. We want to know how much pressure energy the pump itself
must supply so therefore we subtract the pressure energy provided by the suction head. The static head is
then the difference in height of the discharge tank fluid surface minus the suction tank fluid surface. Static
head is sometimes called total static head to indicate that the pressure energy available on both sides of the
pump has been considered.

Since there is a difference in height between the suction and discharge flanges or connections of a pump by
convention it was agreed that the static head would be measured with respect to the suction flange elevation.
If the discharge pipe end is open to atmosphere then the static head is measured with respect to the pipe end.

Sometimes the discharge pipe end is submerged, then the static head will be the difference in elevation
between the discharge tank fluid surface and the suction tank fluid surface. Since the fluid in the system is a
continuous medium and all fluid particles are connected via pressure, the fluid particles that are located at the
surface of the discharge tank will contribute to the pressure built up at the pump discharge. Therefore the
discharge surface elevation is the height that must be considered for static head. Avoid the mistake of using
the discharge pipe end as the elevation for calculating static head if the pipe end is submerged.
Note: if the discharge pipe end is submerged, then a check valve on the pump discharge is required to avoid
backflow when the pump is stopped.

The static head can be changed by raising the surface of the discharge tank (assuming the pipe end is
submerged) or suction tank or both. All of these changes will influence the flow rate.

To correctly determine the static head follow the liquid particles from start to finish, the start is almost
always at the liquid surface of the suction tank, this is called the inlet elevation. The end will occur where you
encounter an environment with a fixed pressure such as the open atmosphere, this point is the discharge
elevation end or outlet elevation. The difference between the two elevations is the static head. The static
head can be negative because the outlet elevation can be lower than the inlet elevation.

Flow rate depends on elevation difference or static head

For identical systems, the flow rate will vary with the static head. If the pipe end elevation is high, the flow
rate will be low (see Figure 10). Compare this to a cyclist on a hill with a slight upward slope, his velocity will be
moderate and correspond to the amount of energy he can supply to overcome the friction of the wheels on the
road and the change in elevation.
Figure 10

See this video for the effect of static head and friction .

If the liquid surface of the suction tank is at the same elevation as the discharge end of the pipe then the
static head will be zero and the flow rate will be limited by the friction in the system. This is equivalent to a
cyclist on a flat road, his velocity depends on the amount of friction between the wheels and the road and the
air resistance (see Figure 11).

Figure 11

In Figure 12, the discharge pipe end is raised vertically until the flow stops, the pump cannot raise the fluid
higher than this point and the discharge pressure is at its maximum. Similarly the cyclist applies maximum
force to the pedals without getting anywhere.
Figure 12

If the discharge pipe end is lower than the liquid surface of the suction tank then the static head will be
negative and the flow rate high (see Figure 13). If the negative static head is large then it is possible that a
pump is not required since the energy provided by this difference in elevation may be sufficient to move the
fluid through the system without the use of a pump as in the case of a siphon (see pump system glossary). By
analogy, as the cyclist comes down the hill he looses his stored elevation energy which is transformed
progressively into velocity energy. The lower he is on the slope, the faster he goes.

Figure 13
Pumps are most often rated in terms of head and flow. In Figure 12, the discharge pipe end is raised to a
height at which the flow stops, this is the head of the pump at zero flow. We measure this difference in
height in feet (see Figure 13a). Head varies depending on flow rate, but in this case since there is no flow and
hence no friction, the head of the pump is THE MAXIMUM HEIGHT THAT THE FLUID CAN BE LIFTED TO
WITH RESPECT TO THE SURFACE OF THE SUCTION TANK. Since there is no flow the head (also called
total head) that the pump produces is equal to the static head.

Figure 13a

In this situation the pump will deliver its maximum pressure. If the pipe end is lowered as in Figure 10, the
pump flow will increase and the head (also known as total head) will decrease to a value that corresponds to the
flow. Why? Let's start from the point of zero flow with the pipe end at its maximum elevation, the pipe end is
lowered so that flow begins. If there is flow there must be friction, the friction energy is subtracted (because
it is lost) from the maximum total head and the total head is reduced. At the same time the static head is
reduced which further reduces the total head.
When you buy a pump you don’t specify the maximum total head that the pump can deliver since this occurs at
zero flow. You instead specify the total head that occurs at your required flow rate. This head will depend on
the maximum height you need to reach with respect to the suction tank fluid surface and the friction loss in
your system.

For example, if your pump is supplying a bathtub on the 2nd floor, you will need enough head to reach that
level, that will be your static head, plus an additional amount to overcome the friction loss through the pipes
and fittings. Assuming that you want to fill the bath as quickly as possible, then the taps on the bath will be
fully open and will offer very little resistance or friction loss. If you want to supply a shower head for this
bathtub then you will need a pump with more head for the same flow rate because the shower head is higher
and offers more resistance than the bathtub taps.

Luckily, there are many sizes and models of centrifugal pumps and you cannot expect to purchase a pump that
matches exactly the head you require at the desired flow. You will probably have to purchase a pump that
provides slightly more head and flow than you require and you will adjust the flow with the use of appropriate
valves.

Note: you can get more head from a pump by increasing it’s speed or it’s impeller diameter or both. In practice,
home owners cannot make these changes and to obtain a higher total head, a new pump must be purchased.

Flow rate depends on friction

For identical systems, the flow rate will vary with the size and diameter of the discharge pipe. A system with a
discharge pipe that is generously sized will have a high flow rate. This is what happens when you put a large
pipe on a tank to be emptied, it drains very fast.
Figure 14

The smaller the pipe, the less the flow. How does the pump adjust itself to the diameter of the pipe, after all
it does not know what size pipe will be installed? The pump you install is designed to produce a certain average
flow for systems that have their pipes sized accordingly. The impeller size and its speed predispose the pump
to supply the liquid at a certain flow rate. If you attempt to push that same flow through a small pipe the
discharge pressure will increase and the flow will decrease. Similarly if you try to empty a tank with a small
tube, it will take a long time to drain (see Figure 15).

Later on in the tutorial, a chart will be presented giving the size of pipes for various flow rates. Or you
can jump to it right away and come back later.
Figure 15

If the pipe is short the friction will be low and the flow rate high (see Figure 16).

Figure 16

and when the discharge pipe is long, the friction will be high and the flow rate low (see Figure 17).
Figure 17

How does a centrifugal pump produce pressure

Fluid particles enter the pump at the suction flange or connection. They then turn 90 degrees into the impeller
and fill up the volume between each impeller vane. This animation shows what happens to the fluid particles
from that point forward.

Figure 19

A more detail look at a more realistic cross-section of a closed impeller pump can be seen in Figure 19a
Figure 19a

A centrifugal pump is a device whose primary purpose is to produce pressure by accelerating fluid particles to
a high velocity providing them with velocity energy. What is velocity energy? It's a way to express how the
velocity of objects can affect other objects, you for example. Have you ever been tackled in a football match?
The velocity at which the other player comes at you determines how hard you are hit. The mass of the player is
also an important factor. The combination of mass and velocity produces velocity (kinetic) energy. Another
example is catching a hard baseball pitch, ouch, there can be allot of velocity in a small fast moving baseball.
Fluid particles that move at high speed have velocity energy, just put your hand on the open end of a garden
hose.

The fluid particles in the pump are expelled from the tips of the impeller vanes at high velocity, then they slow
down as they get closer to the discharge connection, loosing some of their velocity energy. This decrease in
velocity energy increases pressure energy. Unlike friction which wastes energy, the decrease in velocity energy
serves to increase pressure energy, this is the principal of energy conservation in action. The same thing
happens to a cyclist that starts at the top of a hill, his speed gradually increases as he looses elevation. The
cyclist’s elevation energy was transformed into velocity energy, in the pump’s case the velocity energy is
transformed into pressure energy.

Try this experiment, find a plastic cup or other container that you can poke a small pinhole in the bottom. Fill it
with water and attach a string to it, and now you guessed it, start spinning it.
Figure 20

The faster you spin, the more water comes out the small hole, the water is pressurized inside the cup using
centrifugal force in a similar fashion to a centrifugal pump. In the case of a pump, the rotational motion of the
impeller projects fluid particles at high speed into the volume between the casing wall and the impeller tips.
Prior to leaving the pump, the fluid particles slow down to the velocity at the inlet of the discharge pipe (see
Figures 18 and 19) which will be the same velocity throughout the system if the pipe diameter does not change.

How does the flow rate change when the discharge pipe end elevation is changed or when there is an increase
or decrease in pipe friction? These changes cause the pressure at the pump outlet to increase when the flow
decreases, sounds backwards doesn’t it. Well it’s not and you will see why. How does the pump adjust to this
change in pressure? Or in other words, if the pressure changes due to outside factors, how does the pump
respond to this change.

Pressure is produced by the rotational speed of the impeller vanes. The speed is constant. The pump will
produce a certain discharge pressure corresponding to the particular conditions of the system (for example,
fluid viscosity, pipe size, elevation difference, etc.). If changing something in the system causes the flow to
decrease (for example closing a discharge valve), there will be an increase in pressure at the pump
discharge because there is no corresponding reduction in the impeller speed. The pump produces excess
velocity energy because it operates at constant speed, the excess velocity energy is transformed into pressure
energy and the pressure goes up.
All centrifugal pumps have a performance or characteristic curve that looks similar to the one shown in Figure
21 (assuming that the level in the suction tank remains constant), this shows how the discharge pressure varies
with the flow rate through the pump.

Figure 21

So that at 200 gpm, this pump produces 20 psig discharge pressure, and as the flow drops the pressure will
reach a maximum of 40 psig.

Note: his applies to centrifugal pumps, many home owners have positive displacement pumps, often piston
pumps. Those pumps produce constant flow no matter what changes are made to the system.

see the effect of static head on flow rate in action in this video
 

What is total head

Total head and flow are the main criteria that are used to compare one pump with another or to select a
centrifugal pump for an application. Total head is related to the discharge pressure of the pump. Why can't we
just use discharge pressure? Pressure is a familiar concept, we are familiar with it in our daily lives. For
example, fire extinguishers are pressurized at 60 psig (413 kPa), we put 35 psig (241 kPa) air pressure in our
bicycle and car tires.For good reasons, pump manufacturers do not use discharge pressure as a criteria for
pump selection. One of the reasons is that they do not know how you will use the pump. They do not know what
flow rate you require and the flow rate of a centrifugal pump is not fixed. The discharge pressure depends on
the pressure available on the suction side of the pump. If the source of water for the pump is below or above
the pump suction, for the same flow rate you will get a different discharge pressure. Therefore to eliminate
this problem, it is preferable to use the difference in pressure between the inlet and outlet of the pump.

The manufacturers have taken this a step further, the amount of pressure that a pump can produce will
depend on the density of the fluid, for a salt water solution which is denser than pure water, the pressure will
be higher for the same flow rate. Once again, the manufacturer doesn't know what type of fluid is in your
system, so that a criteria that does not depend on density is very useful. There is such a criteria and it is
called TOTAL HEAD, and it is defined as the difference in head between the inlet and outlet of the pump.

You can measure the discharge head by attaching a tube to the discharge side of the pump and measuring the
height of the liquid in the tube with respect to the suction of the pump. The tube will have to be quite high for
a typical domestic pump. If the discharge pressure is 40 psi the tube would have to be 92 feet high. This is not
a practical method but it helps explain how head relates to total head and how head relates to pressure. You do
the same to measure the suction head. The difference between the two is the total head of the pump.

Figure 25

The fluid in the measuring tube of the discharge or suction side of the pump will rise to the same height
for all fluids regardless of the density. This is a rather astonishing statement, here's why. The pump doesn’t
know anything about head, head is a concept we use to make our life easier. The pump produces pressure and
the difference in pressure across the pump is the amount of pressure energy available to the system. If the
fluid is dense, such as a salt solution for example, more pressure will be produced at the pump discharge than
if the fluid were pure water. Compare two tanks with the same cylindrical shape, the same volume and liquid
level, the tank with the denser fluid will have a higher pressure at the bottom. But the static head of the fluid
surface with respect to the bottom is the same. Total head behaves the same way as static head, even if the
fluid is denser the total head as compared to a less dense fluid such as pure water will be the same. This is a

surprising fact, see this experiment on video that shows this idea in action .
For these reasons the pump manufacturers have chosen total head as the main parameter that describes the
pump’s available energy.

What is the relationship between head and total head?

Total head is the height that the liquid is raised to at the discharge side of the pump less the height that it is
raised to at the suction side (see Figure 25). Why less the height at the suction side? Because we want the
energy contribution of the pump only and not the energy that is supplied to it.

What is the unit of head? First let's deal with the unit of energy. Energy can be expressed in foot-pounds
which is the amount of force required to lift an object up multiplied by the vertical distance. A good example is
weight lifting. If you lift 100 pounds (445 Newtons) up 6 feet (1.83 m), the energy required is 6 x 100= 600 ft-
lbf (814 N-m).

Head is defined as energy divided by the weight of the object displaced. For the weight lifter, the energy
divided by the weight displaced is 6 x 100 / 100= 6 feet (1.83 m), so the amount of energy per pound of
dumbbell that the weight lifter needs to provide is 6 feet. This is not terribly useful to know for a weight
lifter but we will see how very useful it is for displacing fluids.

Figure 26

You may be interested to know that 324 foot-pounds of energy is equivalent to 1 calorie. This means that our
weight lifter spends 600/324 = 1.8 calories each time he lifts that weight up 6 feet, not much is it.

The following figure shows how much energy is required to displace vertically one gallon of water.
Figure 27

This next figure shows how much head is required to do the same job.
Figure 28

If we use energy to describe how much work the pump needs to do to displace a volume of liquid we need to
know the weight. If we use head, we only need to know the vertical distance of movement. This is very useful
for fluids because pumping is a continuous process, usually when you pump you leave the pump turned on, you
don't start and stop the pump for every pound of fluid displaced. We are mainly interested in establishing a
continuous flow rate.

The other very useful aspect of using head is that the elevation difference or static head can be used as one
part of the value of total head, the other part being friction head as shown in this next figure.

How much static head is required to pump water up from the ground floor to the second floor, or 15 feet up?
Remember that you must also take into consideration the level of the water in the suction tank. If the water
level is 10 feet below the pump suction connection then the static head will be 10 + 15 = 25 feet. Therefore the
total head will have to be at least 25 feet plus the friction head loss of the fluid moving through the pipes.
Figure 29

How to determine friction head

Friction head is the amount of energy loss due to friction of the fluid moving through pipes and fittings. It
takes a force to move the fluid against friction, in the same way that a force is required to lift a weight. The
force is exerted in the same direction as the moving liquid and energy is expended. In the same way that head
was calculated to lift a certain weight, the friction head is calculated with the force required to overcome
friction times the displacement (pipe length) divided by the weight of fluid displaced. These calculations have
been done for us and you can find the values for friction head loss in Table 1 for different pipe sizes and flow
rates.
Table 1

Download a printer friendly version (Imperial units or metric units).

Table 1 gives the flow rate and the friction head loss for water being moved through a pipe at a typical velocity
of 10 ft /s. I have chosen 10 ft/s as a target velocity because it is not too large which would create allot of
friction and not too small which would slow things down. If the velocity is less, then the friction loss will be
less and if the velocity is higher the loss will be greater than is shown in Table 1. For the suction side of the
pump, it is desirable to be more conservative and size pipes for a lower velocity, for example between 4 and 7
feet/second. This is why you normally see a bigger pipe size on the suction side of the pump than on the
discharge. A rule of thumb is to make the suction pipe the same size or one size larger than the suction
connection.

Why bother with velocity, isn’t flow rate enough information to describe fluid movement through a system. It
depends how complicated your system is, if the discharge pipe has a constant diameter then the velocity
though out will be the same. Then if you know the flow rate, based on the friction loss tables, you can calculate
the friction loss with the flow rate only. If the discharge pipe diameter changes then the velocity will change
for the same flow rate and a higher or lower velocity means a higher or lower friction loss in that portion of
the system.You will then have to use the velocity to calculate the friction head loss in this part of the pipe.

You can find a velocity calculator herehttp://www.lightmypump.com/applets.htm#applets4

If you would like to see a chart of flow rates for 5 ft/s (imperial or metric ) and 15 ft/s (imperial
or metric ) download them here.

For those of you who would like to do your own velocity calculations, you can download the formulas and a
sample calculation here .

Those who would like to do pipe friction calculations can download an example here.

A calculator for pipe friction loss is available here ( http://www.lightmypump.com/applets.htm#applets13 )

and for fittings friction loss here( http://www.lightmypump.com/applets.htm#applets15 ).

The performance or characteristic curve of the pump

The pump characteristic curve has a similar appearance to the previous curve shown that I also called a
characteristic curve that showed the relationship between discharge pressure vs. flow (see Figure 21). As I
mentioned this is not a practical way of describing the performance because you would have to know the
suction pressure used to generate the curve. Figure 30 shows a typical total head vs. flow rate characteristic
curve. This is the type of curve that all pump manufacturers publish for each model pump for a given operating
speed.
Not all manufacturer's will provide you with the pump characteristic curve. However, the curve does exist and
if you insist you can probably get it. Generally speaking the more you pay, the more technical information you
get.
Figure 30

How to select a centrifugal pump

It is unlikely that a centrifugal pump, bought off the shelf, will satisfy exactly your flow requirement. The
flow rate that you obtain depends on the physical characteristics of your system such as friction which
depends on the length and size of the pipes and elevation difference which depends on the building and
location. The pump manufacturer has no means of knowing what these constraints will be. This is why buying a
centrifugal pump is more complicated than buying a positive displacement pump which will provide its rated flow
no matter what system you install it in.

The main factors that affect the flow rate of a centrifugal pump are:
- friction, which depends on the length of pipe and the diameter
- static head, which depends on the difference of the pipe end discharge height vs. the suction tank fluid
surface height
- fluid viscosity, if the fluid is different than water.

The steps to follow to select a centrifugal pump are:

1. Determine the flow rate

To size and select a centrifugal pump, first determine the flow rate. If you are a home owner, find out which
of your uses for water is the biggest consumer. In many cases, this will be the bathtub which requires
approximately 10 gpm (0.6 L/s). In an industrial setting, the flow rate will often depend on the production level
of the plant. Selecting the right flow rate may be as simple as determining that it takes 100 gpm (6.3 L/s) to
fill a tank in a reasonable amount of time or the flow rate may depend on some interaction between processes
that needs to be carefully analyzed.

2. Determine the static head

This a matter of taking measurements of the height between the suction tank fluid surface and the discharge
pipe end height or the discharge tank fluid surface elevation.

3. Determine the friction head

The friction head depends on the flow rate, the pipe size and the pipe length. This is calculated from the
values in the tables presented here (see Table 1). For fluids different than water the viscosity will be an
important factor and Table 1 is not applicable.

4. Calculate the total head

The total head is the sum of the static head (remember that the static head can be positive or negative) and
the friction head.

5. Select the pump

You can select the pump based on the pump manufacturer’s catalogue information using the total head and flow
required as well as suitability to the application.

Example of total head calculation

Example 1 - Sizing a pump for a home owner application
Experience tells me that to fill a bath up in a reasonable amount of time, a flow rate of 10 gpm is required.
According to Table 1, the copper tubing size should be somewhere between 1/2" and 3/4", I choose 3/4". I will
design my system so that from the pump there is a 3/4" copper tube main distributor, there will be a 3/4"
take-off from this distributor on the ground floor to the second floor level where the bath is located. On the
suction, I will use a pipe diameter of 1”, the suction pipe is 30 ft long (see Figure 30).

Figure 31

Friction loss on the suction side of the pump

According to calculation or the use of tables which is not presented here the friction loss for a 1" tube is has a
friction loss of 0.068 feet per feet of pipe. In this case, the distance is 30 feet. The friction loss in feet is
then 30 x 0.068 = 2.4 feet. There is some friction loss in the fittings, let's assume that a conservative
estimate is 30% of the pipe friction head loss, the fittings friction head loss is = 0.3 x 2.4 = 0.7 feet. If there
is a check valve on the suction line the friction loss of the check valve will have to be added to the friction loss
of the pipe. A typical value of friction loss for a check valve is 5 feet. A jet pump does not require a check
valve therefore I will assume there is no check valve on the suction of this system. The total friction loss for
the suction side is then 2.4 + 0.7 = 3.1 feet.

You can find the friction loss for a 1” pipe at 10 gpm in the Cameron Hydraulic data book of which the next
figure is an extract:

Friction loss on the discharge side of the pump

According to calculation or the use of tables which is not presented here the friction loss for a 3/4" tube is
has a friction loss of 0.23 feet per feet of pipe. In this case, the distances are 10 feet of run on the main
distributor and another 20 feet off of the main distributor up to the bath, for a total length of 30 feet. The
friction loss in feet is then 30 x 0.23 = 6.9 feet. There is some friction loss in the fittings, let's assume that a
conservative estimate is 30% of the pipe friction head loss, the fittings friction head loss is = 0.3 x 6.9 = 2.1
feet. The total friction loss for the discharge side is then 6.9 + 2.1 = 9 feet.
You can find the friction loss for a 0.75” pipe at 10 gpm in the Cameron Hydraulic data book of which the next
figure is an extract:

You can also do pipe friction calculations here.

The total friction loss for piping in the system is then 9 + 3.1 = 12.1 feet.

The static head as per Figure 41 is 35 feet. Therefore the total head is 35 + 12.1 = 47 feet. We can now go to
the store and purchase a pump with at least 47 feet of total head at 10 gpm. Sometimes total head is called
Total Dynamic Head (T.D.H.), it has the same meaning. The pump’s rating should be as close as possible to these
two figures without splitting hairs. As a guideline, allow a variation of plus or minus 15% on total head. On the
flow, you can also allow a variation but you may wind up paying for more than what you need.
For those of you who would like to do your own fittings friction calculation, download an example calculation
here .

What is the pump rating? The manufacturer will rate the pump at its optimum total head and flow, this point
is also known as the best efficiency point or B.E.P.. At that flow rate, the pump is at its most efficient and
there will be minimal amount of vibration and noise. Of course, the pump can operate at other flow rates,
higher or lower than the rating but the life of the pump will suffer if you operate too far away from its normal
rating. Therefore, as a guideline aim for a maximum variation of plus or minus 15% on total head.
See another example of the design and calculations for a new fountain pump system
Figure 32

Examples of common residential water systems

This next figure shows a typical small residential water system.The yellow tank is an accumulator.

The following figures show various common water systems and indicates what the static head, the friction
head and the pump total head.
This web site will tell you the flow requirement of each nozzle and the nozzle head requirement.
Calculate the pump discharge pressure from the pump total head

To calculate the pressure at the bottom of a pool, you need to know the height of the water above you. It
doesn’t matter if it’s a pool or a lake, the height is what determines how much fluid weight is above and
therefore the pressure.
Pressure is equal to a force divided by a surface. It is often expressed in pounds per square inch or psi. The
force is the weight of water. The density of water is 62.3 pounds per cubic foot.

The weight of water in tank A is the density times it’s volume.

The volume of the tank is the cross-sectional area A times the height H.

The cross-sectional area is pi times the diameter squared divided by 4.

The cross-sectional area of tank A is:

The volume V is A x H:

The weight of the water WA is:

Therefore the pressure is:

This is the pressure in pounds per square feet, one more step is required to get the pressure in pounds per
square inch or psi. There is 12 inches to a foot therefore there is 12x12 = 144 inches to a square foot.

The pressure p at the bottom of tank A in psi is:

If you do the calculation for tanks B and C you will find exactly the same result, the pressure at the bottom of
all these tanks is 4.3 psi.

The general relationship for pressure vs. tank height is:

SG or specific gravity is another way of expressing density, it is the ratio of a fluid's density to that of water,
so that water will have an SG =1. Denser liquids will have a value greater than 1 and lighter liquids a value less
than 1. The usefulness of specific gravity is that it has no units since it is a comparative measure of density or
a ratio of densities therefore specific gravity will have the same value no matter what system of units we are
using, Imperial or metric

For those of you who would like to see how this general relationship is found go to Appendix E in the pdf
version of this article .

We can measure head at the discharge side of the pump by connecting a

tube and measuring the height of liquid in the tube.Since the tube is really only a
narrow tank we can use the pressure vs. tank height equation

to determine the discharge pressure. Alternatively, if we put a pressure gauge at the pump discharge, we can
then calculate the discharge head.
We can calculate the discharge pressure of the pump based on the total head which we get from the
characteristic curve of the pump. This calculation is useful if you want to troubleshoot your pump or verify if
it is producing the amount of pressure energy that the manufacturer says it will at your operating flow rate.
Figure 37

For example if the characteristic curve of the pump is as shown in Figure 39 and the flow in the system is 20
gpm. The total head is then 100 feet.

The installation is as shown in Figure 37, a domestic water system that takes its water from a shallow well 15
feet lower than the pump suction.

The pump will have to generate lift to get the water up to its suction connection. This means that the pressure
will be negative (relative to atmosphere) at the pump suction.

Why is this pressure less than atmospheric pressure or low? If you take a straw, fill it with water, cover one
end with your fingertip and turn it upside down you will notice that the liquid does not come out of the straw,
try it!. The liquid is pulled downward by gravity and creates a low pressure under your fingertip. The liquid is
maintained in balance because the low pressure and the weight of the liquid is exactly balanced by the force of
atmospheric pressure that is directed upwards.

The same phenomenon occurs in the pump suction which is pulling up liquid from a low source. Like in the straw,
the pressure close to the pump suction connection must be low for the liquid to be supported.
To calculate the discharge head, we determine the total head from the characteristic curve and subtract that
value from the pressure head at the suction, this gives the pressure head at the discharge which we then
convert to pressure.

We know that the pump must generate 15 feet of lift at the pump suction, lift is negative static head. It
should in fact be slightly more than 15 feet because a higher suction lift will be required due to friction. But
let’s assume that the pipe is generously sized and that the friction loss is small.

Figure 39

TOTAL HEAD = 100 = HD - HS

or
HD = 100 + HS

The total head is equal to the difference between the pressure head at the discharge HD and the pressure
head at the suction HS. HS is equal to –15 feet because it is a lift therefore:

HD = 100 + (-15) = 85 feet

The discharge pressure will be:

Now you can check your pump to see if the measured discharge pressure matches the prediction. If not, there
may be something wrong with the pump.

Note: you must be careful where you locate the pressure gauge, if it is much higher than the pump suction, say
higher than 2 feet, you will read less pressure than actually is there at the pump. Also the difference in
velocity head of the pump discharge vs. the suction should be accounted for but this is typically small.

The Goulds pump company has a very good guide to sizing pumps for residential water systems . Give it a
look for another way how this topic can be approached. You can download this article here, and it is also
available directly from the Goulds web site.