Two high flow self-priming pumps to boost water pressure at a mining site in West Africa
EDITOR’ S CHOICE PRIMED FOR PERFORMANCE
NORTHRIDGE PUMPS
Two high flow self-priming pumps to boost water pressure at a mining site in West Africa
We were recently contacted by a potential new client in Guinea who were having issues with the centrifugal pumps at their mining site.
Their existing units were losing pressure, also known as prime, when operating because of low incoming water pressure. This was causing significant water shortages across their site.
In fact, the inlet pressure to their centrifugal pumps was so low that the pumps had to be stopped or have their pumping capacity vastly reduced, to prevent expensive damage to their pumps.
Why was water pressure dangerously low?
There were a number of factors. They were being caused by a continuing lack of government investment in vital national infrastructure, demand from other users nearby as well as leaks within the suction pipe.
The client recognised that identifying the exact cause of the problem could take years. So they were looking at timely and costeffective ways for them to maintain production within their mine without suffering stoppages and incurring downtime.
In short, they had to stop their existing pumps losing prime in service, make sure that they were always primed and wouldn’ t experience any harmful dry running. They asked North Ridge pumps for advice.
These self-priming freshwater transfer pumps will deliver around 400M ³ H at 40M head.
So what was our specification for this client?
The mining company wanted to explore various options for solving their problem. After looking into the issue and discounting submersible and vertical immersion pumps, we recommended that they use a surface-mounted self-priming pump.
From our discussions, we knew that the client already had compressed air on site for this particular application. We therefore selected a pair of our XHLE end suction centrifugal pumps fitted with an air-driven air ejector for pump priming. This will enable these high flow self-priming pumps with air ejector to achieve a suction lift of 6.5M.
Traditionally, self-priming pumps feature an open or semi-open impeller to handle solids or unexpected particles. As these selfpriming freshwater transfer pumps are end suction pumps with closed impellers they will operate at a higher efficiency due to the impellers having sidewalls.
This means that these high flow selfpriming pumps with air ejector can operate at around 81 % efficiency. An equivalent self-priming pump may only be able to reach around 60 %- 70 % efficiency due to the impeller design.
In addition, the 1000rpm motor helps to ensure that NPSH requirements are kept low and enables the pump to operate for long periods without needing frequent servicing.
Built with ductile iron casings and impellers for many years of uninterrupted service, these selfpriming freshwater transfer pumps will deliver around 400M ³ H at 40M head.
If you have an application or process needing a self-priming pump or aren’ t sure if you need a different type of pump, talk to North Ridge Pumps today to see how we can help.
For further information, please visit www. northridgepumps. com
Issue 81 PECM 13