Varkie S-Series - Vortex Action - Submersible Sludge Solids Handling Pumps
Vortex Action - How it works
When the pump impeller turns it creates a vortex in front of the impeller in the volute. This vortex is what does the pumping work.
When a solid enters the inlet of the pump it gets caught in the flow of the product and is sucked into the vortex similar to the way a hurricane sucks up objects.
The solid leaves the vortex through the discharge passage without passing through the impeller.
The name “Varkie” is a well-used name used in the South African industry for these horizontal vortex submersible pumps. The origin of the name is not so well known.
In the late 1970's a platinum mine in the Rustenburg area experienced severe floods due to excessive rainfall that year, which resulted in the flooding of various shafts.
This flooding was so severe it disrupted the operations which took months to sort out. About eight months later as the mine was being dewatered a strange noise was heard coming from deep in the one shaft. It sounded like a wild pig (known as a “Varkie” in Afrikaans) snorting in the water.
The miners thought that a wild pig had fallen into the mine and had been trapped in the shaft.
Frantically and with haste the miners waded down the shaft to where the noise was coming from, expecting to find a weak, frightened trapped animal.
As they got closer instead of finding a wild pig they found a pump still operating.
The pump, due to the level of the water dropping, had reached snorting height, resulting in the pump making a snorting sound and getting the nick name of “Varkie”.
Varkie S 40
Varkie S 55
Varkie S 75
Varkie S 110
Varkie S 220
