Testing a Pump
(Plus a Demonstration of How Induction Motor Slip Varies with Load)

These videos illustrate how a centrifugal load in the form of a pump interacts with an induction motor as the load varies.   In the course of the demonstration, the videos also illustrate how to perform a pump test and then assess the results.

This first video was developed by the Pacific Energy Center to support the On-Demand content on induction motor principles that  can be accessed from the On Demand page of the website.  In it, I vary the load that the pump sees and you an watch the motor slip and kW vary as I do it.   In the course of doing that, I also illustrate the basic steps in performing a pump test.

​This second video is just an extraction from the video above that focuses on the actual pump test itself.

The file below is the test procedure we use when we do the test as a training exercise in a class.  Since it is for training purposes, there are steps we go through that you might not necessarily go through if you were testing a pump for a project. 

But you could easily edit the Excel based copy to your needs. And includes an "answer key" that explains what you should have observed and why it matters.  Note that the .pdf version of the test includes the pump curve and the system diagram.  The Excel version is just the test form.

pec_chilled_water_system_pump_test_v4.pdf
File Size:	1413 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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pec_chilled_water_system_pump_test_v2.xls
File Size:	136 kb
File Type:	xls

Download File

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 Incidentally, the form used to develop this procedure along with quite a few other procedures and guidance for using them can be found in the Functional Testing Guide, which you can download from the Functional Testing Guide page of the website.

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Under Construction

The plan is to put together a video and post it here that shows how the data taken during the pump test in the video above can be plotted and interpreted on the pump's curve.