Withdrawal Rate of Water using Vac Truck 2

[DaveChas]

Hello All,
I am trying to find the rate at which water will be withdrawn from a waterbody with "a vac truck". I know that the hose will be screened to prevent fish capture and that the hose will be 3" in diameter or less.
I expect that there are many different types of vacuum trucks in existence, making this a difficult question to answer.
The value does not need to be highly accurate (and if there is a range of values, knowing the upper bound would be suitable).
Does anyone know of a source I can turn to for this? Perhaps a guideline which recommends a maximum withdrawal rate using a vac truck?
If it makes a difference, the withdrawal will occur in northern Alberta.
Thanks!
Dave

 

[JedClampett]

Can't the manufacturer of the truck help you?

 

[cvg]

what is the static head and length of hose?
what is the horsepower of the pump?

assuming 10 fps you could get about 200 gpm, but that would be limited by the power, friction loss and the static head

 

[DaveChas]

I do not know the specifications for the pump, nor have I seen the withdrawal location (so I do not know the required length of hose or static head).

200 gpm will probably be a good starting place for my purposes. Surfing the web I also found examples of vac trucks rated for ~20-100 gpm. Knowing that a reasonable ball park is probably in the 20-200 gpm range is a big step up from where I was an hour ago! Thank you both for the quick responses!

Dave

 

[DaveChas]

This task is currently at the planning stage and I do not know what contractor will be performing the work, let alone specifics of their equipment. However, a phone call (in this case to the regulator) did indeed answer my question; well technically, it removed the need for an answer, which is just a good.
Thanks for your response,
Dave

 

[bimr]

What you are looking for is a sucker truck, not a vac truck.

The capacity depends on the material properties of what you are pulling as well as the suction lift.

The maximum suction is vacuum or 15 psig and the hoses go up to 8-Inch size.

Here is a company that you can contact:

http://www.superproductscorp.com/supersucker/

 

[Compositepro]

cvg's suggestion to assume a 10 ft/sec flow velocity was a good one for rough order of magnitude estimate.

 

[DaveChas]

Thanks for the heads up about sucker trucks (a term I'd never heard before!) It is also good to hear again that 10 fps is in the right ballpark.

I have now wrapped up this particular task. Thanks to everyone for the responses, all were appreciated!

 

[bimr]

The smaller trucks will pull about 80 gpm. The supersucker will pull about 450-500 gpm. See the equipment list.

 

[msquared48]

I'll confirm the 8" but you also might relate the storage capacity of the vactor truck, or sucker as some here would imply, to the volume you have to move. Could take more than one load.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

http://mmcengineering.tripod.com