Jun

ne 27
NPPSH
H
(N
Net P
Posiitivee
Suctio
on Head d)
NPSH is undoubtedly
u one
o of the mosst How do oes it aff
ffect pum
mp
n pump selecttion.  
misundersstood factors in
selectio
on?
 NPSH
H (N
Net Posittive Sucttion Heaad)
 
NPSH is undoubtedly
u one of the mostt misunderstoo od factors in ppump selectionn. The pump N
NPSH
considerattion is actually
y not a difficullt concept oncce you understtand two essenntial concepts::

1. We tendd to think that water boils att 212° F, whicch is true at atm
mospheric preessure at sea leevel. In realityy,
water boils at different temperatures,
t depending upon its pressuree. The table beelow shows thhe relationshipp. The
pressure at which water boils at a giveen temperature is called its vapor presssure.

Apprrox. Boilingg
" Hg
H Vacuum
m PSIG Tem
mp, Degrees
Faahrenheit
20 -9.8 157
15 -7.3 179
10 -4.9 192
5 -2.45 204
0 0 212
12 244
30 274

Under certtain operating conditions, ass the pump atttempts to pull water into thee eye of the immpeller, it can create
a negativee pressure (vaccuum). If the pressure
p createed drops to thee water’s vapoor pressure, the water will begin
to boil. Ob
bviously, this is
i more likely to happen if the
t pump is puumping hot waater than if it iis pumping coool
water.

2. The seccond principle is that a pump

p is designed to
t handle puree liquid, not booiling liquid, w
which is a mixxture
of liquid and
a vapor. (Th he vapor is steaam in the casee of water).

What happ pens when waater begins to vaporize

v as it is
i drawn into tthe pump? Vaapor bubbles bbegin to form, just
as they do when you boil water on yo our stove. As thhe fluid movees into the vannes of the impeeller, it picks uup
energy fro
om centripetal acceleration ("centrifugal
( force").
f This caauses an increease in the preessure of the booiling
liquid. Thiis causes the bubble
b to impllode (collapse violently). Thhe process of bbubbles forming then collappsing
violently is
i called cavitaation. When a pump experieences cavitatioon:

1. Peerformance deeteriorates.
2. The pump soun nds as if it is pumping marblles or gravel ((Some people have actually opened up theeir
umps to find out
pu o how the heeck the gravel got in!).
3. The impeller an nd perhaps thee casing begin to suffer dam mage. This happpens when thee bubbles impplode
o violently thaat the water ch
so hips away at th
he metal surfacces. In extremme cases, holess are worn in thhe
im
mpeller, eventu ually resulting
g in a "Swiss Cheese"
C appeaarance. Figuree1 below show ws two identicaal
im
mpellers. The impeller on th he left has been
n subjected too cavitation. Y
You can see thee metal that haas
worn
w away at thhe edge and in n the eye of the impeller. Thhe material at tthe edge is noow extremely tthin.
Note
N at the 1:00 0 O'Clock possition, that a hoole has actuallly been worn tthrough the im mpeller, and att 9:00,
a crescent is completely gonee. Soon, this entire impellerr would have hhad the "Swisss Cheese"
ppearance had
ap d it stayed in seervice.
 NPSH
H (N
Net Posittive Sucttion Heaad)
 
Figure 1

n normally tak
Cavitation kes place in open systems. Figure 2 below w shows the forrces that deterrmine the presssure
on the watter at the loweest pressure po
oint of the systtem, the entrannce to the imppeller.

Figure 2

 Atmospheric
A c pressure: TheT pressure from
fr the atmossphere is a possitive force off 14.7 PSIA. TThe
faactor to converrt PSI to feet of
o water is 2.3
31, so the atmoospheric presssure is 14.7 X 2.31 = 33.96 ffeet.
 Static
S height: This is the height
h of the water
w level aboove the pump iinlet. The greaater this heightt, the
more
m positive force
f is exertedd on the waterr. (Note that iff the pump muust lift water frrom a reservoiir,
th
hat the static height
h becomess a negative vaalue).
 In
nlet friction: Strainers, pip ping, valves an
nd other accessories all causse a pressure ddrop, contributting
to
o a lower presssure.
 NPSH
H (N
Net Posittive Sucttion Heaad)
 
 NPSHr
N (NPSH H Required) of the pump p: The NPSH Hr is a pressuree drop within tthe pump inlett. The
NPSHr
N for any given pump depends
d only on
o the quantityy of flow. Thee NPSHr is shoown on the puump
cu
urve, either as a separate currve or as a vallue printed acrross the top off the curve (Taaco uses the laatter
method).
m

We can seee from the diaagram, that thee following factors contribuute to low presssure at the inllet:

o Low stattic height (a su

uction lift is ev
ven worse)
o High inllet friction

The follow
wing factors th
hat result in higher pressure at the inlet:

o Large static height

o Low inleet friction

Avoiding
g Cavitation

To avoid cavitation,
c we must select th
he pump to ensure that the w
water does nott fall below itss vapor pressuure.
From the pressure
p diagrram above, and
d rememberinng that the NPSSHr of a pumpp is essentiallyy another presssure
loss, we caan say:

Atmospheeric Pressure + Static Heightt – Inlet Friction – NPSHr m

must be greateer than the Vappor Pressure oof the
water at th
he temperaturee being pumpeed.

Mathemattically, with alll values expreessed in feet off head, this beecomes

Equation n 1:
33.96’ + Static
S Height-IInlet Friction-N
NPSHr >Vp

This equattion is normally rewritten by

y rearranging terms:
Equation n 2:
33.96’ + Static
S Height – Inlet Friction
n – Vp > NPSHHr

We need one
o more mod dification to the formula to make
m it practiccal. We wouldd like to have aabout a 2’ safeety
factor. Theerefore, we caan modify the formula as folllows:

Equation n 3:
31.96’ + Static
S Height – Inlet Friction
n – Vp > NPSH
Hr

The sum of o the terms on

n the left of the equation is called
c the NPS
SH available oor NPSHa. If tthis formula iss
satisfied, that
t is if NPSH Ha > NPSHr, thent the selectted pump shouuld be a good selection as faar as NPSH annd
cavitation are concernedd.

Example e 1:
You wish to use a Taco #VI 1507 to pump
p 190 ° -F
F water from a shallow tankk having a wateer level of 2’ aabove
the pump inlet. You estiimate that an inlet
i valve and
d strainer will have a pressuure drop of aboout 4’. The puump is
to handle 100 GPM. Is this
t pump suittable?

1. Peer the discussiion above, thee pump selectio on must satisffy the followinng formula:
31.96 + 2’ (stattic height) – 4’(inlet friction
n) – 21.5’(vapoor pressure) > NPSHr.
 NPSH
H (N
Net Posittive Sucttion Heaad)
 
2. Frrom the pump p curve below you will note that the NPSH Hr at 100 GPM M is 11 feet. F
From the vaporr
prressure curve, you will notee that the vapor pressure is aabout 21.5’. Suumming the teerms on the left
(3
31.96 + 2 – 4 –21.5)
– yields an
a NPSHa of 8.46’.
8 This is not greater thaan the NPSHrr of 11’, so this is
no
ot a suitable seelection.

Figure 3:: Typical Pump Curve

 NPSH
H (N
Net Posittive Sucttion Heaad)
 

Figure 4

e 2:
Example

Use the saame parameterrs as in Examp ple 1, except use

u a water tem
mperature of 885 ° -F. You w
will find that thhe
NPSHa is over 28’! Thee NPSHr remaains at 11’, so the VI 1507 iss definitely suuitable for this application. T This
demonstraates that it is crritical to take into account the
t fluid tempeerature when cconsidering N
NPSH.

When a Selection
S Is Not Suitable

If the initial pump selection is not suittable, there arre a number off possible soluutions:

 Seelect a larger pump.

p Oversizzed pumps operate on the "lleft" areas of ttheir curves, w
where NPSHr is
lo
ower.
 Seelect a lower speed
s pump. Lower
L speed pumps
p usuallyy have lower N
NPSHr requireements.
 Reduce
R the inleet friction. Do away with un nnecessary vallves, accessoriies and fittingss; oversize inlet
piiping.
 Lower the temp perature, if praactical.
 Raise
R the receivver to increasee the static heiight.
 U a low NPSH pump with a propeller inducer. This is a small propeeller installed bbefore the eyee of
Use
th
he main impelller. Pumps maade specificallly for high tem mperature conddensate often have such indducers.
 NPSH
H (N
Net Posittive Sucttion Heaad)
 
Field Con
nsiderations
s

Sometimes a properly seelected pump will cavitate when

w placed inn service. Theere are usuallyy two conditionns
that cause this:

1. The flow is nott balanced, cau using the pump p to run out (tto operate in thhe high flow aareas of the cuurve).
This is high NP PSHr territory.. The situation
n can be resolvved by throttliing the discharrge valve to reeduce
he flow to the design level.
th
2. The inlet strainer or filter beccomes pluggedd. This is commmon in swimm ming pool appplications wheere the
reesulting extrem
me inlet pressuure drop causees cavitation, eeven with 80° water. The soolution is to keeep
th
he filters and strainers
s clean.

Clarificattions

 The graph in Fiigure 4 appliess to water onlyy. For other fluuids, contact F
FHI.
 Fo or most closed
d heating systeems NPSH is not generally a problem. Inn a closed systeem, the expannsion
taank pressure reeplaces atmosppheric pressurre (31.96’) in E
Equation 3. Thhe fill valve setting establisshes
th
his pressure to a level high enough
e to avoiid cavitation.

f closed (non-vented) process systems, such as deaerrators and vacuuum condenseers, the atmosppheric
Note that for
pressure iss replaced by vapor
v pressuree. This changees the conditioon to be met too:

Equation
n 4:

Static Heig
ght – Inlet Friction – 2’ (saffety) > NPSHrr

If you hav
ve questions pllease let us kn
now!

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Who to Contacct’ list is availaable at www.v
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