Drum Pumps / Container Pumps

Whether chemicals, food, cosmetics, mineral oils or any other fluid: In industry, fluids frequently have to be filled and decanted. Special drum and container pumps for drums and IBCs (intermediate bulk containers) perform these tasks safely and efficiently.

Technical Data & Characteristics:

  • Delivery output:  up to 240 m³/h  (1,057 gpm)
  • Delivery height:  up to 35 m  (115 ft)
  • Pressure:  up to max. 63.5 bar  (921 psi)
  • Viscosity:  up to 1200 mm²/sec (cSt)
  • Temperature:  -20 °C up to +60 °C (-4 °F up to +140 °F)
  • pH-value:  0 – 14
  • Solids content:  up to max. 8 %
  • Particle size:  up to max. 3 mm
  • Gas content:  up to max. 10 %
  • Installation:  usually vertical (some also horizontal)
  • Submersibility:  immersed
  • sealless design available
  • ATEX/Ex Zones:  Zone 2, Zone 1
  • Drives:  electrical
  • Special features:  mobile, hygienic design possible
Request now without obligation for your application!
request now
Operating principle and areas of application of drum & container pumps

A drum pump, also called barrel pump, or container pump, handles the filling, decanting, and mixing of fluids in drums, IBCs, and other containers. The name does not refer to the pump technology, but rather to the pump’s function.

While a drum pump always consists of a combination of drive motor and pump, these components can be designed very differently depending on the application and manufacturer: There are electric drum pumps; that is, with an electric motor as drive, and there are also pumps with a pneumatic drive that are in high demand if the drum pumps should be explosion-proof. However, electric drum pumps with special ATEX-compliant motors can be used in environments subject to explosion.

The seals of drum pumps are also designed according to their application. For standard applications, models with a mechanical seal are standard. Pumps without seals can be used to transport fluids such as oil, diesel, alkalis, and acids.

Drum pumps and container pumps are also flexible with regard to handling technology: While in many cases they transport fluids with an axial centrifugal pump, there are also models with progressive cavity pumps. These are especially well-suited for high-viscosity media, and they enable precise dosing.

Media that separate quickly are kept in motion when handled with drum pumps. If the drain is closed, they can also be operated purely as mixing pumps. Appropriate devices offer easy conversion of the operating modes: Handling only, handling with simultaneous mixing, and for a short time, just mixing.

Benefits of drum pumps/container pumps

with mechanical seal

  • Well-suited for media that dry quickly, harden, or crystallize
  • Easy, quick change of medium
  • Quick disassembly
  • Long service life with abrasive media
  • Great stability for larger immersion depths
  • Suitable for food

without a seal

  • Long service life
  • Inner pipe is emptied completely
  • No seal = no seal wear
  • Grease and oil-free
  • The first choice for solvents
Cross section and operation of drum & container pumps
Seal, rotor, motor: The right design for every application

Due to their broad range of applications, drum & container pumps are available in many different variants and with different equipment. A critical component is the motor: Typically, drum pumps are driven by rechargeable battery, collector, brushless, and compressed air motors. Rechargeable battery operation means that there doesn’t have to be a connection to the power grid, which increases flexibility; compressed air motors are high-performance and necessary for particular situations where they must be explosion-proof. Collector motors and brushless drives differ primarily with regard to wear and energy efficiency.

Manufacturers even design the rotor inside the drum pump especially for the application: Units with an axial rotor offer especially high throughput since the flow is almost completely axial. By contrast, for drum pumps with semi-axial rotors, the flow is deflected in the axial direction – they are especially suitable for higher handling pressures and lower handling quantities.

Especially practical: Due to their many areas of application, some manufacturers offer systems that enable changing of the motor. Users who frequently fill different fuels (gasoline, diesel, kerosene) can thus operate two pumps with a changeable motor. It is also possible, for example, to operate a stationary drum or container pump for IBC containers with an electric motor and to use the same pump elsewhere with a rechargeable battery motor for drums and other containers.

During the selection of the seal, users have to pay attention to the requirements in question – for different equipment offers different benefits.

Industries & applications where drum pumps / container pumps are used

Drum pumps and container pumps are used for chemicals, food, pharmaceuticals, and other fluids. These flexible devices are practical anywhere fluid media have to be filled or decanted. Drum pumps are indispensable in industry and chemistry, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, food and beverage manufacturing. But drum pumps are also used in surface engineering; for manufacturing paints and varnishes; as well as in petrochemical, water and wastewater processing and in agriculture. In summary, these devices do noble service across all industries, as filling and decanting pumps, and when dosing fuels. Drum pumps are suitable for filling or tanking up fuels such as diesel and gasoline, and as oil pumps.

Drum pumps are also used in all industries to handle and dose cleaning fluids and disinfectants. Some manufacturers offer pre-configured sets for this purpose; these fulfill the necessary requirements for safety and hygiene and make life easy.

Flow meter for precise quantity measurement when filling

If expensive media are filled or exact adherence to quantities is required for other reasons, drum pumps can be equipped with flow meters to measure throughput. This way, not just manual, but also semi-automatic filling is possible: The drum pump precisely fills the set quantity of fluid into the container.

Easy, efficient drum draining systems

A typical area of application for drum pumps is draining delivered drums. Mobile drum draining systems are available especially for this application; they are suitable for gentle, high-performance, safe handling of high-viscosity and paste-like media and media that do not flow by themselves. Typical handling media for this include vaseline, mascara, salves, glycerin, tomato paste, pureed fruit, peanut butter, caramel, food fats, and lubricants. In comparison to manual draining with manual devices, the draining systems provide a high rate of drainage. The systems also offer great ease of operation.

Request now without obligation for a detailed review & quotation!
request now

other centrifugal pumps

Back
PUMPselector
Find your right industrial Pump fast and easily
start Selector
SPAfair
Come over and learn more about the pumps and innovations of the SPA pump manufacturers
visit now
PUMPselector
Find your right industrial Pump fast and easily
start Selector
SPAfair
Come over and learn more about the pumps and innovations of the SPA pump manufacturers
visit now