High head pressure .vs. High flow

[Clownguy]

I was curiuos what the difference between high head pressure and high flow is. I am looking for a new closed loop pump and I want as much flow as possible, but I am not sure if I need high head pressure or high flow. Any ideas out there.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

 

[richard55]

I think high head pressure will affect flow but it really is just how far you can push the water. You need to know the size of pipe the length numbers of 90s 45s outlets ect... In short you need a pump that fits your usage, start with the total volume you want to move. This is the only thing that matters in the end. Once you know the flow then the number of outlets and thier location in the tank. My question for you is how big is the tank and what livestock do you have?

 

[jlehigh]

I look at preasure pumps the same way I look at Horsepower and torque in cars.

You can get a turbo 4 cylinder car that can reach 100mph pretty quick but the moment you add a few passengers you will have a hard time getting to 100mph.

Now a 6 stock cylinder engine will get you to 100mph eventually but maybe not as fast. Add a few passengers and it will still get you there within a comparable amount of time.

Flow pumps will get you the most flow for the power until you add some passengers. In this case the passengers come in the form of back preassure. Their names are distance, verticle travel, and turns (90degree, 45degree). These guys will kill your flow performance. Get a preasure rated pump and it will carry more passengers before performance is degraded.

So figure out how high you are pumping, how many turns there will be in you plumbing plan. Look at the performance curves of the preasure pumps ad the flow pumps in your price range and make your choice.

Hope this helped. There is a head-loss calculator out there if you search for it that will convert turns into preasure.

 

[big t]

Well the way I look at is this, flow pumps are great for closed loop where there is little head pressure to overcome. The impeller design is as such that it is a free flowing design that does not take a lot of power to turn. A pressure pump is a whole different story, they are good for things like high power beckett skimmers and basement return pumps. Their impeller design is much tighter tolerance and more restrictive, and hence requires a lot more power to run the same type of gph at 0ft of head. But you put 15ft of head on both pumps and the flow pump will be basically shut down because of its free design, the impeller will basically be treading water inside the head unit. A pressure pump will show very little difference. A lot of pressure pumps can pump water up to over 30 to 40 ft before they get shut down. So basically what i am getting at is that it takes about 1 amp to run a 3000gph ampmaster and it has about 3200gph at 0 head. When you switch over to say a pressure rated sequence it is more like 4 to 6 amps to run 3200 gph at 0 head but it will still be running about 2500 gph at 15 ft of head, but boy does that sure add up quick on the old electric bill. I hope that made sense and mind you I am not quoting anything from spec sheets, that is off the top of my head, but it should give you a idea of what to look for in your application when looking at pump curves and power drawn.

 

[Clownguy]

Thank you guys that makes perfect sense and is just what I was looking for. Thank you so much.

Chris