What Is a Dirty Water Pump? A Guide to Uses & Benefits
Dirty water pumps are a type of water pump that offers a vital service to worksites and performs a specific function that cannot be performed by other types of water pump or dewatering equipment. It's essential to understand the different uses for different pumps to ensure your site's needs are best met. These pumps also offer many benefits, which are explored below.
What Is a Dirty Water Pump Used For?
A dirty water pump is used to pump any water which may contain some solid particles but is still mostly liquid. Applications include pumping water from wheel washers or wedge pits, flood water, wastewater that does not contain sewage, or any other muddy water or silty water. Because these pumps are specifically designed to handle solid, abrasive material, they last much longer and are more efficient in these applications than a normal pump.
Water that contains no solid particles should be pumped with specific clean-water pumps. Uses for these may include boreholes, dust suppression systems or pumping mains water on-site. Using these pumps for an application that would better be suited by a dirty water pump can lead to clogs, maintenance issues and full breakdowns.
For water that contains many solid particles, your needs may be better met with a sewage pump. Sewage pumps can handle larger suspended solids and wastewater but can often be more expensive and use more energy due to the increased capacity. Ensure you know the approximate maximum particle size before choosing a pump in order to make an informed decision on the type of pump you require and to find the best solution for you. When choosing a pump, make sure you know the required flow rates.
Dirty water pumps are mostly submersible, meaning they can be placed under the waterline, and they can be used with a float switch – a buoyant switch that measures the water level and can turn on and off if it exceeds pre-determined values. This can be a lot more efficient than running a pump at full capacity at all times if your site does not require a fully drained system at all times, so these pumps offer both financial and ecological benefits.
Atlantic Pumps' sustainable approach to our work and expert advice has allowed us to develop many techniques to dramatically reduce wastage from pumps, and reduce energy usage by a massive 20% for the average worksite. This not only saves money on energy costs, but due to drawing less electricity from the grid or from powering a generator, it is also better for the environment, helping you to make your quarry or worksite more eco-friendly.
Want to know the difference between a dirty water pump and a clean water pump? Click here.
To buy heavy duty dirty water pumps and submersible pumps in the UK, contact us to find out more. For all the latest news, click here to view more of our blog posts.
