TESTS OF DEEP-WELL TURBINE PUMPS 1 
By F. L. Bixby 
Senior Irrigation Engineer, Division of Agricultural Engineering, Bureau of Public 
Roads, United States Department of Agriculture 
INTRODUCTION 
The deep-well turbine pump is a modification of the vertical 
centrifugal pump so designed as to obviate the necessity of construct¬ 
ing a pit where the depth to water is beyond the practical limit for 
installing centrifugal pumps. It is built up in vertical units or bowls, 
one above another. Any number of bowls may be used, the number 
varying according to the head to be pumped against and the dis¬ 
charge desired, 12 to 30 feet being allowed for each stage or bowl. 
Each bowl contains a runner with guide or diffusion vanes. The 
vertical shaft extends through all the bowls, and the runners are 
attached to the vertical shaft. The multiplicity of runners and bowls 
gives a booster effect to the pump and decreases the speed at which 
it would be necessary to operate it if but one runner were used. The 
pump is entirely submerged. It is primed automatically, and oiling 
of the bearing is accomplished either through an oil pipe which 
incloses the shafting*or by means of small pipes leading from an oil 
supply at the surface and directly attached to the bearings. Where 
the shaft and bearings are inclosed in an oil pipe they are protected 
from wear caused by sand pumped out in the discharge water. 
This type of pump is adapted to pumping conditions which involve 
a depth to the water level of more than 75 feet, or a variable water 
table below the 50-foot level. As new lands in the arid West in which 
the depth to water does not exceed 50 feet are rare, the practice of 
irrigation by pumping will inevitably call for the use of large numbers 
of deep-well turbine pumps, which meet all the requirements of irri¬ 
gation up to the economic limit of pumping for the various crops 
that are grown. 
PURPOSE OF TESTS 
Used within the range of heads for which the deep-well turbine 
pump is suitable, the degree of success attending its use depends upon 
a proper regard for the economics of selection, installation, and oper¬ 
ation. One of the most important factors in the economical operation 
of all types of pumps is their efficiency. Most operators entirely lose 
sight of this in the endeavor to produce the largest flow possible, 
regardless of the expenditure of power. 
For a given head, there is a direct relation between the speeds of 
the pump and prime mover, respectively, which must be maintained 
by means of pulleys of proper sizes. Where pumps are direct- 
connected to motors or engines, the same factor relative to speed of 
pump and prime mover exists. Hence, knowing the height to which 
water is to be raised and the quantity to be pumped, it is possible 
i Received for publication August 30, 1924; issued September, 1925. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
( 227 ) 
Vol. XXXI, No. 3 
Aug. 1,1925 
Key No. D-17 
