View Single Post
Unread 09-19-2002, 04:19 PM   #37
bigben2k
Responsible for 2%
of all the posts here.
 
bigben2k's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Texas, U.S.A.
Posts: 8,302
Default

Quote:
Originally posted by Skulemate
Not that anyone's going to use it, but I still want to point out that using a fluid that heavier than water will have an impact on a pumps performance, even if you disregard differing viscosities. The reason is that a column of mercury is going to create (if memory serves) 13.55 times more pressure than a column of water the exact same height... that's why it's often used as a manometer fluid, since you don't need redicuously high tubes in order to work with higher pressures. My pump manufacturer specifically states not to pump any fluid with a specific gravity of more than 1.1 to boot.
Using mercury, which is still extremely toxic, should work well for centrifugal pumps, not any other type of pumps. Centrifugals are great, in that they don't depend on the density, where other pumps may be affected.

As for the column/gravity thing, it doesn't apply if the loop is closed.

What is Skule anyways?
bigben2k is offline   Reply With Quote