Know Your Pumps: The Difference Between Pump Types

Industrial pumping is a vast world with many different types of pumps. How do you recognise the difference between centrifugal pumps, diaphragm pumps, and high-pressure pumps? Each type has its unique functionality and application, with high-pressure pumps being particularly valued for tasks requiring substantial force or the movement of fluids over long distances or heights.

At Hydromarque, we supply and install a host of pumps for industrial processing plants, construction sites, sewage plants and more. This guide will give you a full rundown on the varying types of industrial pumps, or use our pump selector to filter our pumps by type, application or size.

Self-priming centrifugal pumps are designed to effortlessly handle liquids of all states and prime themselves, eliminating the hassle of manual priming. Applications for this pump include processing sewage wastewater, fuel transfer, construction jetting, and cooling water. In a self-priming centrifugal pump, fluids are pumped using the principles of centrifugal force. As it enters the pump, the fluid revolves around an impeller and is pushed to the edge and out.

At Hydromarque, all our centrifugal pumps are self-priming so that the priming process is taken care of automatically to reduce downtime. To learn more about our self-priming centrifugal pumps, browse our range today.

A diaphragm pump is a robust pump specifically designed to handle sandy water and slurries and is frequently employed in construction applications. The operational mechanism of this pump closely mimics the function of a heart, consisting of a chamber, often made of rubber, thermoplastic, or Teflon, that flexes to propel the fluid contained within it. Its uses range from well pointing and small-scale excavation drainage to cofferdam watering.

Hot oil pumps are used primarily in the food industry for re-circulating hot oils used in fry-cooked potatoes and other foods. They connect to a fryer and feed the heat exchanger with a constant flow to maintain a stable temperature of oil within the fryer. Hydromarque’s hot oil pumps can handle temperatures up to 550°F (287°C).

Hydro transportation pumps handle delicate food products such as potato chips, cauliflower, carrots and more with the utmost care. These pumps use displacements and centrifugal force to move fluids through the system. Food industries use them as well as agricultural applications such as fruit washing, food manufacturing and packaging.

Refrigeration pumps are incredibly versatile pumps used predominantly in food processing plants, but also in cold storage, refrigeration, ice production and turbine inlet cooling. They compress low-pressure and low-temperature refrigeration liquid into high-pressure, high-temperature gas, which is useful in everything from abattoir and potato chips to dairy, processed foods, fruit, vegetable, and snack food pumping.

A rotary gear pump uses the positive displacement process with a rotor and idler gear assembly to push fluid through the pump. This pump is used for viscous liquid transfers in industrial processing plants. The positive displacement pumping action involves rotating the gears inside to generate the pressure needed to create a flow that pumps viscous liquid out.

Submersible pumps operate underwater to draw in fluid and propel it upwards through a connected hose or pipe. It handles suspended solids and raw sewage in a fluid mixture, making it suitable for sewage treatment plants.

Vacuum assist pumps combine an impeller and vacuum suction to handle the toughest sewage pumping applications. Construction industries use it for quarry dewatering, while industrial wastewater plants use it for both sewage bypass and dewatering. Modern vacuum assist pumps use a venturi and compressor setup that eliminates the leaks that are common in more traditionally-designed vacuum-assisted pumps.

Wallwin conventional pumps are used by many municipalities for dry wells and handling raw sewage. They have been the bedrock for many local councils and water companies, and come in vertical and horizontal varieties to fit neatly in different types of dry wells.

Hydromarque supplies all of these pump types, which is the UK’s number one choice for pumping solutions. Click the links in each section to take you to the corresponding pump page, or try our online pump selector to browse the entire collection. Our lineup of equipment is comprised of a trio of world-class manufacturers in Gorman-Rupp, Cornell and Wallwin. Want to learn more about our products and services? Contact us to find out what the UK’s best pumping solutions team can do for you.