How detailed does a request for quote have to be?  Do you need more than inlet pressure, head, and m3minute or gpm to size a pump?

Every piece of literature that I receive has gpm, head, and fluids (viscosity and or common name such as "seawater"

Then I call someone and they ask me for a final design before they will even give me any information. My design cannot be finalized until I have a fairly good idea of the footprint, piping requirements, and energy efficiency of the pump. A pump curve only goes so far!

It should indicate the medium, the temperature of the medium and the viscosity, if it is not sea/freshwater. and the rkind of drive (electric, hydraulic, gas-diesel-engine etc)

Kurt, if you do not have a fairly good idea of piping and valves and also the layout details, it may be very difficult for you to assume total system head. This may put you in a very approximate selection of parameters and you may not be able to buy a most suitable pump for your requirement.

My dilemma is that I am trying to design a new system and without the general size and footprint I cannot provide a great degree of specific detail. It will need to be a step by step process. I know that I am looking for a 100,000 gallon per minute system pumping seawater and another pumping fresh water. The temperature is about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The inlet pressure is about 220 psi and the head is about 670 feet. I don't have a good idea of the valves or the storage tanks yet. I don't know if they will be operating in series or parallel; how many bends in the piping; what size of piping we will be using; and other details that will ULTIMATELY make quite a difference. But, the brochures and pump curves for a number of pumps say that they can handle 100,000 gpm and 670 feet of head. When I call the company they ask me about everything under the sun and is very rare for me to even get a brochure or technical specifications. My biggest concern at the outset is energy consumption. Before anything else I would like to get the pump efficiency so that I can start estimating the footprint of the motor. Does this seem like "Mission Impossible"?

Anot6her detail will be whether to expect solids in the sea water. If expected this can have a significant influence upon design considerations. A high efficiency water pump may not tolerate solids very well so efficiency could be seriously impacted by even minimal wear.

Everything has to start somewhere. All you should need to give is flow, head, name of liquid, and what style of pump you're looking for, anyone with any sense can give you a pump selection based on that.

Then, of course, you refine it as you go forward. If your supplier won't work with you on the initial stages, why would you want to work with them for the final stages? I can't count the number of times that I've had phone calls looking for rough sizing and costing based on the barest of details - flow and head, with the name of the fluid. I understand that the consultants need to allow the physical space in the design, and account for power requirements, long before the piping is finalized, so of course they need this step. If I'm part of the process, that's part of the service we provide.

it is always what we do not know that bites us. A full discription of the liquid and how the system is operated.

The more information is given the better is the selection