Vertical Turbine Pumps
Vertical turbine pumps hang a stack of impellers on a long shaft down a well or wet pit, drawing water from below grade and lifting it to the surface at high flow and head. NLS sources vertical turbine pumps to API 610 (VS types) and AWWA E101 for deep well supply, sized against well depth, water level, and required flow.
A vertical turbine pump puts its impeller stack, or bowl assembly, down at the water level rather than mounting the pump above ground and drawing water up through a suction line the way a surface centrifugal pump does. A long vertical shaft connects the submerged bowl assembly up to a driver at the surface, either a standard electric motor sitting on a discharge head, or in some installations a right-angle gear drive off an engine. That layout is what lets a vertical turbine pump reach water 30, 60, even 150 meters below grade, well past what any surface-mounted pump's suction lift could manage.
NLS sources vertical turbine pumps for two distinct duty categories. Deep well pumps draw groundwater from a borehole for municipal, agricultural, or industrial water supply, narrow enough in diameter to fit down a well casing, multistage by design since the lift from a deep well to the surface needs several bowl stages stacked in series. Wet pit turbine pumps sit in an open below-grade sump or reservoir rather than a cased well, common on large-volume water intake, firewater reserve tanks, and cooling water systems where the water source is a constructed pit rather than a natural aquifer.
Reference standards split by application. API 610 covers the VS (vertical, submerged) pump types used in petroleum, petrochemical, and heavy process service, applicable where a vertical turbine pump feeds a process or firewater system on an industrial site. AWWA E101 is the standard specifically written for deep well vertical turbine pumps used in municipal and industrial water supply, covering bowl assembly design and testing for that duty.
NLS quotes vertical turbine pumps against the well or pit depth, the static and dynamic water level, and the required flow and head at the surface, since setting depth alone changes shaft length, bearing spacing, and in some cases the number of bowl stages needed. Lead time on vertical turbine pumps typically runs longer than surface centrifugal pumps because the bowl assembly, shaft, and column pipe are usually built to the confirmed well or pit dimensions rather than pulled from generic stock.
Specifications
- ✓Configuration: deep well vertical turbine and wet pit turbine pump
- ✓Standards referenced: API 610 (VS types), AWWA E101 for deep well water supply pumps
- ✓Setting depth: from surface-level wet pits to deep boreholes 100+ meters below grade
- ✓Driver options: surface-mounted electric motor on discharge head, or right-angle gear drive
- ✓Sizing basis: well/pit depth, static and dynamic water level, required flow and head at surface
- ✓Typical use: municipal and industrial groundwater supply, firewater reserve intake, cooling water intake
Frequently Asked Questions
How deep can a vertical turbine pump reach?+
Vertical turbine pumps commonly reach 30 to 150 meters below grade for deep well applications, well past what a surface-mounted pump's suction lift can achieve, since the bowl assembly sits at or near the water level and only the shaft and column pipe extend to the surface.
What's the difference between a deep well and a wet pit vertical turbine pump?+
A deep well pump is narrow enough to fit down a cased borehole and is multistage by design to lift water from real depth. A wet pit pump sits in an open below-grade sump or reservoir rather than a cased well, common on firewater reserve tanks and large-volume water intake where the source is constructed rather than a natural aquifer.
Why does NLS need the exact well or pit depth before quoting?+
Setting depth determines shaft length, bearing spacing along the shaft, and sometimes the number of bowl stages needed to reach the required head. Because the bowl assembly, shaft, and column pipe are typically built to the confirmed dimensions rather than stocked generically, an inaccurate depth figure leads to a wrong-length pump.