The Skinny on Water Pumps

Why do you need a water pump?

There are a lot of different reasons you might need a water pump, but here are the three most common.

1. Water has accumulated in a place where it doesn’t belong, and you need to get it out. A flooded basement is probably the most common example. You need to get the water out, and the quicker the better.
2. Water is in a place where it does belong…but not now. Sometimes you need to drain the pool or hot tub and without a pump it’s slow, if not downright impossible work.
3. You want to move water into a garden for irrigation purposes.

 

What does a water pump do?

There are other applications, including jobsite and agricultural uses, but they all come down to moving water, and the use of the pump is fundamentally the same in all cases.

Water left to its own devices will always flow downhill. Flooding happens when the water has run out of downhill terrain and has no choice but to rise. So, any time you pump, you’ll be drawing water from a LOW spot and moving it to a HIGHER spot—away from the source. The pump will always be positioned at an elevation somewhere between the source and the discharge location.

The distance between the water source and the pump is called the “Suction Lift”. DR Water Pumps have a suction lift of 26 feet, which means the pump can be up to 26 vertical feet above the water source.

The distance between the pump and the discharge location (where you are moving the water to) is called the “Head Lift”. The head lift of DR Water Pumps varies from model to model but can be as much as 149 feet. These generous head lifts give you plenty of leeway for moving water a good distance away from the source to a spot where it can be harmlessly discharged.

DR Water Pumps

While water pumps are simple machines, they can be confusing to use. One reason is that you may go a long time between pump uses and forget how to hook them up. If you’re using a pump in an emergency situation and are too hasty you could make a costly error.

We took that into account with our design with color coding. Our intake hoses (for drawing water out of the low spot and into the pump) are always GREEN. And the green hose connects to the green intake valve. Our discharge hoses (for moving water out of the pump and to the discharge location) are always BLUE. And the blue hose connects to the blue discharge valve.

Then, we added some insurance against the biggest bonehead move of all. You should never start up a water pump without PRIMING it first. Doing so can quickly burn out your pump. So, while we can’t stop you from frying your pump, we have made it less likely with our Easy Prime Funnel. The cap is big and bright and orange (“notice me, notice me!”), and the funnel tapers out to a wide jaw that is easy to pour water into.

The last thing we do to make your life easier is print our operating instructions right there on the pump frame. That will save you from having to dig around for a manual (while your basement fills up with water).

Type of Pump

Now that you understand how water pumps work, you just need to choose the type that’s right for you. A clean water pump is for water without significant solids. A “semi-trash” is for dirtier water where you do anticipate solids. And a chemical pump is built to withstand corrosive chemicals, such as pesticides or fertilizers. You can check out DR’s line of water pumps below.