Old timer told me to run my dredge pump dry for 30 seconds before shutdown. Thought he was crazy until I pulled my impeller last week and saw zero wear.

This guy named Red who works the night shift on the Mississippi River told me this like 2 years ago. I figured he was just set in his ways. But after I replaced my discharge hose and had to pull the pump anyway I took a look at the impeller. Thing looked basically new. My old one from before I started doing this had nasty pitting and grooving. Red said the water sitting in there eats the metal when its off. 30 seconds of dry spin clears it out. Has anyone else heard this or is Red just full of it on other stuff too?

3 comments

3 Comments

stone.thomas1mo ago

My buddy who runs a gravel pit in Iowa tried this exact thing last summer after I told him about it. He was skeptical but gave it a shot on his 8x6 pump. Three months later he pulled the impeller to swap a seal and texted me a photo of it looking almost new. The thing is most guys don't realize cavitation damage keeps going even after you kill the engine cause the water column is still settling and churning in the volute. That 30 second dry spin lets the last of it blow out before the metal can corrode from sitting wet.

lilyo301mo ago

Yeah I tried that on my old trash pump and it made a huge difference too...

abby_king227d ago

Huh, so the dry spin clears out the water column that would otherwise keep cavitating after shutdown? Did your buddy notice if it helped with seal life too or just the impeller?