Understanding a pump station’s flow and pressure capability

Pump stations have a lot of moving parts and can seem complicated, but they serve a very simple purpose, to deliver the right pressure at the desired flow to make irrigation systems perform at their best!

Understanding the flow and pressure capability of a pump station is simple if you take a few moments to understand the basic performance curve.

Take a look at this CLP Pump station performance curve. 

1. The blue shaded area represents the optimum operating range.
2. The purple line represents the desired operating pressure boost. The “boost” value is the difference between how much pressure you already have and how much you need.
3. The points where the desired pressure boost line intersects the edges of the shaded blue area determine the safe operating flow range for the station.
4. In this case the desired pressure boost is 50 psi and the optimum flow range is 75 to 270 gpm.  

It’s that easy!  

Rain Bird Pump Stations