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Old 09-19-2017, 10:18 AM   #5
Nidza
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City: Belgrade
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 44
The principal is the same as Nash liquid ring pump (don't know the difference between compressor and vacuum pump in this case), same pump can be used for gasses or liquids because after you add enough liquid to the pump on initial start (prime it) to fill enclosure around the vanes (form that liquid ring), air between vanes and liquid is sealed, so it can make vacuum to pull the water if the pump is above waterline, or pull gas if it is used for gas. They are also used to pump flammable liquids in some cases. Since there is no physical contact between vanes and enclosure there is no damage if seacock is closed by mistake compared to impeller pumps, but since liquid or gas flow is cooling the pump, the pump can heat up in that case. Anyway, you can turn on the engine for short periods, like minutes not seconds for testing without worrying for the pump, but mind the heat for bearings, since when the water is flowing, liquid ring is always cooled/changed with new water so the pump is being cooled too.

These pumps were used with bigger engines like Cummins K series, CAT 3408, Volvo TAMD 162A,..., these pumps were manufactured by Gilkes and these engines used Gilkes M series 250/700 pumps, I do have a smaller one M series 100/350 pump. Here are some links which I have found on the net, they look all the same, just sizes are different and these bigger ones cost a lot:

AVM Diesel (F.E.) Pte Ltd

M Series Engine Cooling Pump

http://www.avmdiesel.com/previews/M%20Series%20Pump.pdf

Anyway, Gilkes still exists, but they manufacture some king size pumps today.

I am curious if anybody had experience with these pumps long term, how did they performed, were they reliable, did they make any problem on the engine cooling system and why there aren't many, if any, on the boat cooling systems today?

Water from my exhaust tips is coming very steady and constantly/uniformly, no pulsation at all, no matter how much throttle is given, although it is going through big waterlocks, but waterflow is increasing with RPMs. But, the engine does need a high amount of water at full RPM per specification (32 GPM / 2 liters/second).

Thank you in advance!
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