Cavitation on an impeller

Comments 0 by in Pump Repairs
April 16, 2013

An impeller from a 75 Kw end suction pump. Looks like corrosion, but it’s actually caused by early stages of cavitation, which in a nutshell, is the formation, growth and collapsing of bubbles in the liquid being pumped. Pumps can actually shake themselves to bits if cavitation is left to it’s own devices.

Cavitation-on-an-impeller-close-up

Another example of cavitation, starting to eat away at part of a large cast iron pump’s back plate:

Cavitation-on-an-impeller