Stirring up Trouble
(or the solids at the bottom of the body of water you are pumping from)
A common problem for contract pumpers is how to deal with the settled solids at the bottom of the body of water they are pumping. There is nothing more frustrating to a pumping contractor than to put a pump in a vessel that has 12’ of water on top of 6” of solids, run the pump, and end up with a pump sitting in 4” of water on top of 6” of solids. There are no easy answers, but we thought we would highlight some of the pump options and accessories that can be used to approach this situation.

The Hydra-Tech CSL style pumps are intended specifically for handling liquids with significant solids content – we refer to them as sand / slurry pumps. They are often used for jobs like dredging / desilting, digester cleaning and pumping driller’s mud from cellars at oil rigs. They can handle higher solids content and have hardened alloy components to resist wear. The one thing they have that is unique to the CSL models is an agitator that spins with the impeller and stirs up the material beneath the pump / strainer into suspension allowing it to pull through the pump and be taken away through the discharge hose. Hydra-Tech Pumps offers a 3”, 4” and 6” version of the CSL pump.

If you are working in a situation where adding more water to what you are pumping is counterproductive, because you need to haul away everything at the end, we have two pump accessories that can be helpful in dealing with the solids content at the bottom. The first is a jetting ring. This device is installed on the bottom of a pump and water (from a second pump in the same body of water) is pumped through the jetting ring and directed underneath the primary pump through 4 nozzles. This water “jetting” action stirs up the solids and sediment into suspension and allows it to be pumped out via the discharge. Jetting rings are available for all of our standard pumps and we have actually provided them on our CSL pumps as well. 


4 inch pump with Jetting ring
CSL pump with jetting ring
Another option is the slurry gate. Our slurry gates are modular and require an additional set of hydraulic lines from your HPU to control them. The slurry gate threads into the discharge fitting of most 4” and 6” pumps. Basically the hydraulic cylinder can be opened or closed – when open it allows water from the discharge line to be redirected back down into the sediment beneath the pump. Like the Jetting Ring, the water redirected to the bottom of the pump stirs solids up into suspension and allows it to be pumped.
6 inch pump with slurry gate
Keep in mind that, depending on the size of the tank / vessel you are pumping from, all of these solutions may require that you reposition the pump periodically across the bottom. If your next pumping job requires the removal of a significant bed of solids beneath the liquid, keep these pump accessories in mind as they might be just what you need to get the job done right.
Celebrating Some Employee Milestones

In a normal year without a global pandemic we would celebrate employee milestones at our Christmas Party. Well that was cancelled and we settled for a socially distanced lunch in December. Eventually we were all able to get together in our plant, socially distanced, to celebrate two important members of the Hydra-Tech Pumps family.

           Beth Walker has been with Hydra-Tech Pumps for 5 years and has been a fantastic addition to our group. Beth is considered Inventory Control but she does so much more here including but not limited to purchasing, shipping and receiving, and payables. Her can do attitude, willingness to face new challenges at work and take on additional responsibilities has made Beth a valuable asset. 

           Andy Falco has been with Hydra-Tech Pumps for 15 years. His first responsibility when Hydra-Tech Pumps was purchased was travelling to Mt Holly, New Jersey regularly for 16 months to learn the business and plan the eventual move of the business to its current location in Nesquehoning, PA. No small task, Andy took on the challenge and our move and transition from New Jersey to Pennsylvania was a success. Andy has had a hand in almost every aspect of the day to day operation of Hydra-Tech Pumps. For many of our customers, he is the face of Hydra-Tech Pumps as he has visited them at their place of business, seen them at a trade show, or been on site to commission a system. From sales to production planning to managing our group Andy Falco is an important part of our organization and one of the main reasons for Hydra-Tech Pumps’ continued success.

           Congratulations to these two employees for their dedicated service through the years. We look forward to working with you for years to come.
Pump of the Month - S10T

Hydra-Tech’s S10T, 10” hydraulic submersible trash pump is designed to handle large solids and stringy materials. This versatile top discharge pump is designed for applications such as sludge lagoons, sewage digester tanks and fish farms.
The S10T pump handles hydraulic inputs up to 70 gpm at pressures to 3000 PSI and will continue to move water at heads up to 100 feet. Beyond water, the S10T can handle semi-solids measuring up to eight inches. The pump volute and impeller are cast ductile iron, and other component parts are precision machined stainless steel or carbon steel. 
 
Hydra-Tech Pumps | Nesquehoning, PA | PH: 570-645-3779 | www.hydra-tech.com