Functioning and Uses of Drum Pump

Author: Sweta Shah

Managing liquids in industrial plants is not an easy task to accomplish. Just holding a large volume of a liquid can be a burden for the drums and barrels. Though these containers are sturdy and spacious enough by design to store the vast amounts of fluids, extracting fluids from these barrels is a very tough job. Even a small 55-gallon drum weighs more than 400 pounds. Something that heavy cannot be tipped sideways with ease for removing the stored liquid. A drum pump is a solution to such a problem.

A drum pump is a device placed on the top of a drum or barrel and is used to remove or transfer the liquid stored inside the drum. This helps in getting rid of the need to pivot or tip a heavy drum to extract the fluid. Drum pumps are available in different tube lengths, materials, and model. Rotary drum pump is also subtyped of drum pump.

Functioning of a drum pump

  • A drum pump is fitted onto the top of a drum by using its narrow tube, which also contains a vertical shaft. The drum pump can also consist of a small electric motor attached to the shaft.
  • The motor turns on the drum pump
through a switch. When the drum pump is started, its pumping mechanism begins from the base of the tube, which pulls out the content of the barrel. The base of the tube functions on either a centrifugal pump impeller or a mechanical rotor.

  • Some drum pumps can be started by hand with the use of a crank. Manual turning can also be done with a piston pump.

Industrial utility of drum pumps

As various types of fluids need to be processed, transferred, and transported, drum pumps are not limited to hydro-based industries. As chemicals, oils and other liquids are denser and heavier than water. These industries are even more reliant on the use of drum pumps.

Below are a few other common industries and spaces that utilize drum pumps:

  • Chemical plants.
  • Manufacturing plants.
  • Food processing plants.
  • Processing plants.
  • Automotive shops.
  • Oil Refineries

Advantages of Using a Drum Pump

Drum pumps are a practical and useful option for emptying and transferring the liquids from drums. Their major benefit is the vast subtleties offered by both hand-operated and electric operated-drum pumps. No two pumps are alike. They can differ in a number of ways like the length of the tube, operating voltage or the wetting material. Due to this, the drum pumps can be customized fully to function correctly for various fluid handling operations and match with the industrial specifications and environmental condition to the maximum degree.

Additional benefits of drum pumps are its portability and the ability to be hard-piped into a system to avoid any spillage. Drum pumps are also available in metal and non-metallic materials which help in minimizing corrosion when the pump is used to transfer corrosive liquids.