Pulled up a stat on my old dredge pump today that caught me off guard

Was going through the manual for my 2018 Ellicott 370 and noticed the rated flow is 2,500 gallons per minute at 75% efficiency. I always assumed it was lower based on how slow the material comes through sometimes. How do you guys check if your pump is actually hitting its specs on the job site?

2 comments

2 Comments

mary_patel599d ago

Have you actually put a flow meter on the discharge side and ran it through a clean water test? I know a guy who swore his pump was underperforming until he realized his suction line had a partial clog from some rags and gravel buildup. Those manual specs are usually based on perfect conditions with no head pressure and no debris. What kind of material are you running through it, and how long is your discharge line? That's gonna make a huge difference in whether you see that 2,500 GPM or something way lower.

mason_foster689d ago

Mary is spot on with the suction line clog thing (I had the exact same issue last year with a rental pump). I thought my pump was shot until I pulled the intake hose and found a bunch of gravel and a shredded T-shirt wrapped around the strainer. After cleaning it out, my flow jumped from like 1,800 GPM to 2,300 GPM just on a simple test with clear water. So yeah, @mary_patel59, the real world always messes with those perfect specs on the manual. And on my setup, the discharge line was about 150 feet of 6-inch hose with a couple of 90-degree bends, which definitely dropped my numbers compared to a straight shot.