Automatic priming method Gould SSH pump

[kalapani]

I have Gould end suction SSH pump (4SH2K52B0) pumping water out of cooling tower via 2" piping maybe 2 ft long. On loss of CW make-up and subsequent shutdown air gets introduced into system. Operator start the pump but forgets to bleed air from suction at start-up. This later result is a shutdown somewhere else due to low cooling water flowrate.

I want to make bleeding the air automatic by connecting small diameter tubing from the priming port on the pump casing back to sump of the cooling tower (above water level). Thus hoping there will always be a small amount of water flow in the tubing to purge the air. Has anyone tried this approach and was it successful?

 

[BigInch]

Can you use an air vent valve.

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"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies)

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.live.com/

 

[MartinSr00]

If the suction will ultimately flood and get the fluid moving, you can use an air release valve in the discharge line. Check out mcmaster-carr (mcmaster.com). They have small ones there. Maybe an 1/8 or 1/4 inch one would work.

We use large ones in the water treatment world to get air out of large pipelines pipelines.

They have a small float in them. This chamber enclosing the float is higher than the pipe. When air gets in it, the float drops, opening a valve to the outside world, letting the air escape. When the pressure finally fills the chamber, the float valve turns off.

Sometimes they're used together with vacuum valves that allow air in, when pressure in the pipe drops below atmospheric pressure. In very large pipelines, it stops pipelines from collapsing. In your case, it could stop air from migrating all over your system to find a way in.