Gas Powered pump

 Cheap trash pumps are not designed to withstand abrasion or shock. Cheap trash pumps usually utilize
small diameter carbon/ceramic shaft seals. Carbon/ceramic is the cheapest seal material there is and is a
strong indication that your pump is designed to pump water only. The shaft seal is the component that seals
the engine shaft as it enters the pump case. A leaky shaft seal will disable your pump completely, by
allowing air to enter the pump case instead of water being drawn up the suction hose. The Piranha Pumps
are equipped with an over-sized silicon carbide shaft seal. Silicon carbide is a premium seal material that is
utilized in most industrial grade pumps. We also make the seal much larger in diameter than those found in
most trash pumps. Small diameter seals fit snug on the drive shaft. When a hard piece of debris (rock,
wood, etc) hits the pump impeller, it deflects the shaft momentarily and fractures the seal. Our seals have a
large inside diameter with a lot of space between the seal and the shaft preventing seal damage from
shock. Also, in order for mechanical seals to work, they all utilize a stainless steel compression spring to
hold the seal faces together. Lazy pump manufacturers, leave that spring exposed in the water way behind
the impeller, rendering it vulnerable to abrasive wear and to collecting stringy material & debris. Our seal
spring is tucked away in a recess machined in the pump housing, sealed away from abrasives and debris.

The second most vulnerable component to abrasive wear is the impeller. You will find that most trash
pumps have a cast iron impeller. Cast iron is a popular inexpensive material, and serves adequately for non-
abrasive pump applications. The next level above cast iron is ductile iron. Then comes heat treated
stainless steel. The top abrasion resistant impeller material is high chrome iron. High chrome iron impellers
are usually only found in severe duty industrial slurry pumps because they are so hard they are expensive
to machine. The Piranha trash pumps have high chrome iron impellers.