Mud Pumps

What is a mud pump?

Mud pumps are used to move heavy mud or sludge. Larger mud pumps are used on petroleum drilling rigs to circulate drilling fluid at very high pressure. Smaller versions are used in a variety of industrial, construction, and water system usages. Many are similar to trash pumps, sludge pumps, and sewage pumps. They’re made to handle viscous and often abrasive materials, and many mud pumps contain an element that crushes up the solids in the fluid into smaller, more manageable pieces. They range in size from small, portable pumps to huge, high pressure pumps.

How do they work?

Mud pumps may use a variety of pumping mechanisms, depending on the size and the nature of the fluid to be pumped. The mud pumps used on drilling rigs usually use reciprocating plunger pumps or piston pumps, with a power source on one side and the fluid on the other. Smaller rigs, which often use centrifugal pumps, may be portable devices that are hooked up to a power source and used to pump heavy materials out of a basin, a body of water, or a sewage system.

Because mud pumps typically deal with rough materials, they tend to require lots of maintenance. The drilling rig mud pumps are specially designed so that the pistons and plungers can be replaced quickly and easily.

Here are a few mud pump manufacturers to consider.

Other related Pump Types include: drill pumps, chemical pumps, process pumps, petrochemical pumps.