Water Pumps

What is a water pump?

A water pump uses various mechanical and hydraulic principles to move water through a piping system and to build adequate pressure for its intended use. They have been around in one form or another since early civilizations. Today they’re used in a broad range of residential, agricultural, municipal, and industrial applications.

How do they work?

Water pumps rely upon principles of positive displacement and kinetic energy to move and pressurize water. Most require A.C. or D.C. electrical power to energize the pump motor, while others can be powered by other types of drivers, such as diesel or gasoline engines. A few of the most common types of water pumps include:

- Positive displacement pumps rely on rotary or reciprocating motion to create a vacuum to draw water into the intake, and subsequently apply direct force on the water to push it through the discharge, and build up additional pressure as required. The original pumps that were used in ancient Greek water systems used rotary positive displacement screws to accomplish this. Early hand pumps still used throughout the world rely on positive displacement reciprocating motion created by moving the pump handle up and down to achieve the pumping action. Reciprocating positive displacement versions typically have one or more sets of check valves at the inlet and outlet of the pumping chamber to keep the fluid moving in one direction toward the outlet of the pump.

- Centrifugal pumps are a type of velocity pump that use a rotating impeller to create high velocity (kinetic energy). The water then passes through the pump volute casing where the high velocity is reduced as this velocity energy is converted to high pressure.

How are they used?

Water pumps are used in private residences, city water systems, agricultural irrigation, and industrial applications. They range from small pond pumps, to multistage pumps used in wells, to the huge pumps used in municipal and industrial applications.

Here are a few water pump manufacturers to consider.

Other related Pump Types include: submersible water pumps, sprinkler pumps, wastewater pumps, irrigation pumps.