FlowMarket
Where to source industrial pumps: FlowMarket is a B2B sourcing network powered by an AI agent. You describe the duty — flow rate and head, the fluid with its temperature, viscosity and solids content, wetted materials, seal type, drive and any approvals — and the AI agent matches you with verified pump manufacturers and distributors, then requests curves, prices and lead times from every match at once. Getting matched is free for buyers.
Sourcing industrial pumps
A pump is bought on two numbers — flow and head — and fails on all the others. Viscosity, temperature, solids, the chemistry of the fluid and the suction conditions decide whether the pump you ordered survives its first year, and none of them appear in the headline duty point.
That makes the fluid description the most valuable part of your enquiry. A supplier who knows exactly what is being pumped, at what temperature and from where, can select a pump properly. One who only knows m³/h and metres is guessing at the material and the seal.
Pump types
Centrifugal
The default for clean, low-viscosity liquids at moderate to high flow. An impeller adds velocity that the casing converts to pressure, so flow varies with head along a curve — which makes them easy to throttle or drive with a frequency converter, and efficient over a broad range. End-suction to EN 733 or ISO 2858 covers most general duties; multistage handles high pressure, split-case handles high volume.
Positive displacement
Moves a fixed volume per revolution, so flow stays nearly constant regardless of pressure. The right answer for viscous, shear-sensitive or metered fluids where a centrifugal would stall. Gear and screw pumps for oils, lobe pumps for food, progressive cavity for sludge and solids, peristaltic where the fluid must touch nothing but hose, diaphragm and piston pumps for dosing and high pressure.
Sealless, submersible and dosing
- Magnetic drive & canned motor — no dynamic seal at all; the standard for hazardous, toxic or expensive fluids.
- Submersible — sits in the liquid; drainage, wastewater, borehole and sump duties.
- Metering & dosing — precise, adjustable low flow for chemical treatment.
- Vacuum & side channel — for gas-laden liquids and self-priming duties.
What to specify when sourcing
These details decide both the pump selection and the price:
- Flow & head — m³/h and metres (or bar), plus the normal, minimum and maximum operating points.
- The fluid — what it actually is, with concentration; never just "chemical" or "water".
- Temperature & viscosity — operating and peak temperature, viscosity in cP or cSt at that temperature.
- Solids — particle size, percentage, and whether abrasive or fibrous.
- Suction conditions — flooded or lift, tank level, and the NPSH available if you know it.
- Wetted materials — cast iron, 316, duplex, Hastelloy, PP, PVDF, PTFE, or open to proposal.
- Sealing — packing, single or double mechanical seal, cartridge seal, or seal-less.
- Drive — motor power and supply, inverter operation, and required efficiency class.
- Standards & approvals — EN 733, ISO 2858, API 610, ATEX zone, food contact, drinking water.
- Installation & quantity — baseplate, close-coupled or inline, connection sizes, and how many you need.
NPSH and the duty point — where pumps actually die
Two selection errors account for most premature pump failures, and both are invisible on a datasheet. The first is cavitation: if the pressure available at the suction — the NPSH available — falls below what the pump requires, the liquid boils at the impeller eye and the collapsing bubbles erode the metal. It sounds like gravel in the casing, and it is caused by a lift that is too high, a suction line that is too small, or a hot liquid close to its vapour pressure. State the suction arrangement in your enquiry; a supplier cannot check NPSH without it. The second is running far from the best efficiency point. A pump heavily oversized "for safety" runs throttled at low flow, where radial loads rise, temperature climbs and bearings and seals fail early. Give the real duty rather than a padded one, and say whether the flow varies — that is what decides between a fixed-speed pump and a converter-driven one.