Does Diameter Reduction After Pump Cause Impeller Overexertion?

[sword]

Does diameter reduction on the pressure side shortly after the pump induces overexertion of the impeller?
This is the setup: suction line: 8" - length: 20' ; high pressure centrifugal pump powered by a engine at approx. 2000 rpm ; pressure line: 6" at a length of 18" directly followed by a manifold of 2x 4". Pump distance after this is approx. 200 m. Pump medium: water.
The experience is that the pump intermittently vibrates heavily. Could this be overexertion of the pump impeller?

 

[russ_watters]

Does diameter reduction on the pressure side shortly after the pump induces overexertion of the impeller?
This is the setup: suction line: 8" - length: 20' ; high pressure centrifugal pump powered by a engine at approx. 2000 rpm ; pressure line: 6" at a length of 18" directly followed by a manifold of 2x 4". Pump distance after this is approx. 200 m. Pump medium: water.
The experience is that the pump intermittently vibrates heavily. Could this be overexertion of the pump impeller?

Moving to mechanical engineering...

I don't know what "overexertion" means in this context, but it doesn't sound right. Do you have flow and pressure readings before and after the pump? Have you checked the pump curve and npsh? My first guess would be that it is cavitating.

 

[sword]

No, there are monitoring appendages on the setup. Since this is a mid scale mining operation, about everything happens very rudimentary. I guessed that since the manifold or in other words the diameter reduction is so close to the pump, the pressure gets to high in that area causing some kind of backward thrust towards the impeller. Does that make any sense?

 

[Madpoet626]

No, there are monitoring appendages on the setup. Since this is a mid scale mining operation, about everything happens very rudimentary. I guessed that since the manifold or in other words the diameter reduction is so close to the pump, the pressure gets to high in that area causing some kind of backward thrust towards the impeller. Does that make any sense?

Think about this, install a pressure regulator w/gauge on the pressure side, tie it to the engine throttle so that if the pressure reaches a set point the engine throttles back reducing the flow, this should be done for safety reasons anyway. I agree that it sounds like cavitation, if not fixed it will ruin the pump

 

[russ_watters]

If you give us a sketch of the setup, we may be able to speculate better. What is the height of the pump above the inlet? Pump make/model?