A slurry pump moves water that is part solid: sand, mud, mine tailings, coal fines or crushed rock. Ordinary pumps wear out in days on this, because the solids act like sandpaper on the impeller and casing. Slurry pumps are built heavy, with hard metal or rubber lined wet ends and parts that are meant to be replaced. They work in mines, quarries, sand washing plants, settling ponds, sumps and dredging. Tell us what you are pumping and we pass your request to independent pump suppliers and specialists who work in your area, and they quote you directly.
Submersible, vertical spindle or horizontal
A submersible slurry pump sits in the pond, sump or pit and often has an agitator under the inlet that stirs up settled solids so the pump can lift them. A vertical spindle pump hangs into a sump with the motor dry above it, which suits plant sumps where the motor must be reached easily. A horizontal slurry pump stands on dry ground beside a tank or hopper and is common in process plants. The supplier picks the type by the job, the access and how much the level changes.
Hard metal or rubber lined
The wet end is the part that touches the slurry. Hard metal (high chrome iron) resists coarse, sharp particles. Rubber lined casings and impellers often last longer on fine sand and can resist some chemicals. Many suppliers advise based on particle size, solids content and whether the slurry is acidic. Tell them as much as you know, and send a sample or a lab result if you have one.
- Mine tailings and thickener underflow
- Sand washing and quarry sumps
- Settling ponds and silt traps
- Dredging dams and river sand
Wear parts and running costs
Impellers, liners, throat bushes and seals wear and are replaced regularly, so the cost of a slurry pump is the price plus years of spares. Ask each supplier which wear parts the pump uses, whether they are kept in stock locally and how long they usually last on a similar duty. A pump run slower, at the right speed for the slurry, often wears less. A variable speed drive may help match the speed to the load.
Slurry, dewatering or drainage
Not every muddy job needs a slurry pump. Water with a little silt from a trench is usually handled by a dewatering pump, and short clean-ups after a flood by a drainage pump or a hired trash pump. A slurry pump earns its price where solids are the main load, day after day. For short projects, ask about pump hire.
What to put in your request
- What the slurry is and its particle size
- Solids content or density, if known
- Flow wanted, lift and pipe length
- Where the pump sits: pond, sump or plant
- Power on site and hours run per day
Slurry Pumps for homes, farms and businesses
- Homeowners: rarely needed at home, perhaps to clear silt from a large ornamental dam
- Smallholdings and plots: a silted farm dam or a sand trap cleared with a hired slurry pump
- Farms: silted dams, dairy effluent and manure slurry moved to settling ponds
- Complexes, estates and body corporates: silted lakes and storm water ponds cleaned out during maintenance
- Offices, shops, hotels and lodges: car wash silt traps and sand traps at large sites emptied
- Factories, plants and depots: process slurries, mill scale pits and settling tanks in factories
- Mines and quarries: tailings, thickener underflow, pit sumps and settling ponds on mines and quarries
- Municipalities, schools and clinics: silted dams, sludge lagoons and grit chambers at treatment works
- Contractors and drillers: sand dredging, pond cleaning and silty excavations with hired heavy pumps
Frequently asked questions
What information does a slurry pump supplier need?
Why does my slurry pump wear out so fast?
Can a slurry pump be repaired?
Do you supply slurry pumps?
Slurry Pumps by province and city
- Johannesburg
- Pretoria
- Centurion
- Midrand
- Sandton
- Randburg
- Roodepoort
- Krugersdorp
- Randfontein
- Germiston
- Boksburg
- Benoni
- Kempton Park
- Alberton
- Vanderbijlpark
- Vereeniging
- Durban
- Pinetown
- Pietermaritzburg
- Richards Bay
- Newcastle
- Ladysmith
- Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)
- East London
- Kariega (Uitenhage)
- Mthatha
- Cape Town
- Bellville
- Paarl
- Stellenbosch
- George
- Worcester
- eMalahleni (Witbank)
- Middelburg
- Secunda
- Mbombela (Nelspruit)
- Rustenburg
- Brits
- Klerksdorp
- Potchefstroom
- Mahikeng
- Polokwane
- Tzaneen
- Kimberley
- Upington
- Bloemfontein
- Welkom
- Sasolburg