Drum pump
Drum and container pumps from JESSBERGER are suitable for pumping low-viscosity media such as acids, alkalis and cleaning agents (with pump tube made of polypropylene), highly aggressive chemicals (with PVDF pump tubes). Mineral oil products up to 1,000 mPas (with pumping tube made of aluminum) or flammable media as well as food (with pump tube made of stainless steel 1.4571).
For highly viscous media (up to 100,000 mPas), pumps in the design of a progressive cavity pump can be supplied from our production program.
Principle drum pump
A drum pump is a vertical centrifugal pump in which an impeller rotates at 10,000 – 12,500 rpm at the lower end of a stainless steel or Hastelloy drive shaft. Many customers also refer to this type of pump as a rod pump or submersible pump.
A drum pump always consists of a drive (electric or compressed air driven) and a suitable immersion tube for the application. For different applications (depending on chemical resistance and temperature), the pump tubes are available in different materials. With the exception of applications in hazardous areas, all immersion tubes can be combined with all drum pump motors via the handwheel and without tools.
The materials used for the pump tubes are
Polypropylene (up to a medium temperature of 50°C)
PVDF (up to a medium temperature of 90°C)
Aluminum (up to a medium temperature of 90°C)
Stainless steel (up to a medium temperature of 90°C with a rotor made of ECTFE or 120°C with a rotor made of stainless steel)
Design of your personal drum pump
To enable us to offer you the most suitable drum pump, our employees need the following information:
Exact description of the application
Medium (liquid to be pumped)
Concentration of the medium (for chemicals or mixtures)
Viscosity and specific weight/density of the medium
Medium temperature
Are there particles in the medium?
Required delivery rate at the required delivery head/ distance
Size and height of the drum or container
Operating hours per day and per day in a row
All other important information about the application
Advantages of drum pumps
Quality made in Germany
Electric and compressed air drum pumps directly from the manufacturer
Delivery times usually immediately from stock
Optimal price/performance ratio with advantages of 20 to 50%
Owner-managed family business
Direct contact with the company owners in day-to-day business
With 35 employees, we have the greatest possible flexibility in all areas of the company
Personal and professional advice
Fast response to inquiries, spare parts requirements, commercial or technical questions, complaints and other concerns
Electric universal motors
JP-120 – JP-380
Explosion proof electric universal motors
JP-400 – JP-480
Air operated motors
JP-Air 1, -2, -3
Pump tubes for
drum pumps
Drum pump sets
(PP) for chemicals
Drum pump sets
(ALU) for oil products
Drum pump sets
(PVDF) for chemicals
Drum pump sets (Stainless steel) for flammable media
Drum pump sets
(Stainless steel) for
diluted chemicals
Drum pump sets
(Stainless steel) for
low viscous food
Drum pump sets
(PP) especially for AdBlue®
The right drum pump for you
At JESSBERGER you will always find the pump that is specially tailored to your applications and requirements.
Universal electric motors for electric drum pumps, in 230, 115, 24 volt in various performance and protection classes.
Air operated motors (for max. 6 bar operating pressure).
Pump tubes made of polypropylene, PVDF, aluminum or stainless steel 1.4571.
The JESSBERGER universal motors for electric drum pumps can be combined with all pump tubes outside the hazardous area. These lightweight, handy and powerful devices are suitable for almost all low-viscosity and slightly viscous liquids.
The portable and stationary drum pump motors are particularly suitable for intermittent operation. The sophisticated, technically clear design of the pumps ensures efficient and reliable operation.
The speed of the drum pump motors can be electronically controlled (outside the Ex area) via a rotary knob on the handle. This allows the delivery rate of the drum pump to be varied. Electronic speed control is available as an option.
Extensive accessories such as drum and thread adapters, media-resistant hoses, nozzles, wall mounting or flow meters are available on request.
Easy disassembly and quick cleaning of the pump tube.
Inexpensive spare parts are available from stock.
Structure of a drum pump
1. Motor – electric for electric drum pumps or pneumatic for compressed air drum pumps
2. Handwheel – to connect the drive
3. Adapter – for attachment to the barrel
4. Hose connection
5. Fuel nozzle
6. Delivery hose – in various designs
7. Pump tube – material design according to medium
8. Pump foot
In addition to 230 volt, 115 volt and 24 volt electric motors, compressed air motors that can be operated at a maximum operating pressure of 6 bar can also be used to drive a drum pump.
The drive motors are quickly and easily connected to the immersion tube of our drum pump via a handwheel, so that several pump tubes of a rod pump can be combined with the same drive motor.
The actual immersion tube of the container pump (which is made of polypropylene, PVDF, aluminum or stainless steel, depending on the pumped liquid) consists of an outer tube, an inner tube and a drive shaft made of stainless steel or Hastelloy, which rotates in the inner tube.
At the upper end of the shaft is the so-called pumping station coupling, which is driven by the motor coupling of the electric drum pump motors for the electric drum pump or compressed air-driven vane motors.
The pump shaft is mounted in a bearing unit in the outlet section of the drum pump, in which high-quality ball bearings for high rotational speeds are installed. At the lower end of the drive shaft is the impeller of the drum pump, which, like a ship’s propeller, has a propeller-like design and is referred to by experts as a rotor or impeller.
Above the impeller (rotor or impeller) of the container pump is the pump housing, in which a highly chemical-resistant carbon bearing or PTFE bearing is located. The carbon or PTFE bearing supports the drive shaft of the drum pump in the lower section of the immersion tube and also seals the area between the pump shaft and the inner tube.
Right from the start, we have used the aforementioned carbon bearing in our stainless steel drum pumps, which is both conductive and approved for use in the food industry. In the pump tubes made of polypropylene, PVDF and aluminum, bearings made of highly chemical-resistant and abrasion-resistant PTFE are installed. When it came to sealing, our design engineers explicitly decided against a mechanical seal, as this would be damaged immediately by dry running.
In order for the drum pump to be able to pump the medium, the rotor must always be completely covered with medium. If this is the case, the impeller, which is approx. 2 cm away from the base of the drum and rotates at 10,000 rpm, presses the medium axially and thus parallel to the drive shaft between the inner and outer tube in the direction of the discharge nozzle as a result of its rotation.
The customer can fit a hose to the discharge connection of the rod pump using the hose clamp supplied, which is already included in the price. We can offer you suitable PVC hoses, conductive universal chemical and solvent hoses made of EPDM, multi-purpose chemical hoses made of conductive, cross-linked polyethylene (also with FDA approval), mineral oil hoses and food hoses from stock.
When pumping highly flammable media in Ex zone 0 with a flash point of less than 55°C or when used in a potentially explosive environment (Ex zone 1 or 2), a conductive drum pump hose is attached to the stainless steel discharge nozzle of the drum pump (1 1/4″ external thread) using a conductive stainless steel hose connection and aluminum clamping shells.
Due to the complex design of our drum pump, it is not possible to extend the length of the pump tube on site using a suction hose or to shorten the supposedly empty pump tube if necessary, contrary to what some customers believe. As described above, the immersion pipe of a drum pump is not an empty suction lance but an immersion pipe with a very complex inner workings.
However, if you require special pump tube lengths for your application, we can supply our drum pumps made of polypropylene, PVDF, aluminum or stainless steel immediately from stock in lengths of 700, 1,000, 1,200, 1,500 and 1,800 mm. The length of the immersion tube of a drum pump is always calculated from the end of the pump tube (pump base) to the middle of the discharge nozzle on the pressure side. To empty a 200 liter drum, you need a drum pump with an immersion tube length of 1,000 mm. For a 1,000 liter/ IBC container, on the other hand, our drum pumps with a pump tube length of 1,200 mm have proven their worth.
In principle, we can produce all pumping station lengths from 200 mm to 3,000 mm for your applications. We can do this within one working day for the drum pump materials polypropylene, PVDF and aluminum.
However, if the pumping station length for plastic immersion pipes exceeds 2,000 mm, our technicians or sales staff must check whether the polypropylene or PVDF drum pump still has the necessary stability with regard to the pumped medium and its temperature and whether the customer’s intended application can be best solved with a drum pump.
Since our drum pump contains rotating components with speeds of more than 10,000 rpm and, as a result, the occurrence of heat development can never be completely avoided, a drum pump is generally not designed for continuous use.
For such applications, it is better to use a slow-rotating progressive cavity pump or a self-priming and dry-run safe air-operated diaphragm pump.
Simple maintenance of our drum pumps
Even before purchasing a pump for emptying drums or containers, users should familiarize themselves with the design of the pump so that they can carry out maintenance themselves.
This saves time, money and prevents downtime in your production.
With an electric drum pump motor, the wearing parts over time are the motor coupling, the carbon brushes and possibly the on/off switch, with an air motor the vanes.
In the case of a pump tube, the wearing parts are the pump tube coupling, the rotor, the carbon or PTFE bearing in the pump housing and, in the long term, the drive shaft or the bearing unit and the V-ring.
To be able to repair a drum pump yourself, you need to familiarize yourself with its structure. The pump consists of an outer tube and an inner tube in which a drive shaft rotates at 10,000 to 12,500 rpm. At the upper end is the pumping station coupling and at the lower end is the impeller, the so-called rotor (for a high delivery rate) or impeller (for a high delivery pressure), which is the heart of the actual pump and for which there are special pump feet.
Above the rotor is the pump housing with a conductive carbon bearing (for stainless steel pump tubes) or a glass-fiber reinforced Teflon bearing (for pump tubes made of polypropylene, PVDF or aluminium). The pump housing supports the shaft in the lower area of the pump tube and also seals the pump between the shaft and the inner pipe.
The pumped liquid always enters the inner tube of the drum pump through a hole in the pump housing. The liquid level in the inner pipe is therefore always the same as in the drum or the container to be emptied. When the drum is emptied using our drum pump, the medium level in the drum and the level in the inner pipe drop evenly.
The longer our barrel pump has been in use, the more the carbon bearing or the PTFE bearing, in which the drive shaft rotates at 10,000 – 12,500 rpm, will be worn out over time. One day, the clearance between the shaft and the bearing will become so large that pressure will build up in the inner tube for the first time, causing the pumped medium to rise vertically upwards in the shaft guide tube towards the discharge nozzle.
As a result of the worn carbon bearing or PTFE bearing, you will initially only notice a minimal discharge of medium at the side holes below the discharge nozzle. From this point onwards, a drum pump must be stopped immediately so that you can replace the pump housing with the bearing on site yourself.
Without replacing this wearing part, there would be a risk of the liquid you are pumping getting into the bearing unit, which contains high-quality ball bearings, or later even into the drum pump motor.
We only recommend a stainless steel pump tube with a mechanical seal for sticky, hardening or crystallizing media.
We generally grant you a one-year warranty on our drum pumps. However, all rotating pump parts that are subject to natural wear and tear are excluded.
You can protect the rotor or impeller and the high-grade carbon bearing or PTFE bearing in the pump housing from particles by using a polypropylene, PVDF or stainless steel foot strainer, which is simply placed over the pump foot of the drum pump. The use of such a filter considerably increases the service life of these wearing parts and therefore of your drum pump. If required, we can also offer you the rotor or impeller made of solid stainless steel.
Thanks to the well thought-out and technically clear design of the immersion tubes of our barrel pump, repairs and the associated replacement of wearing parts can be carried out by our customers themselves on site.
Applications for drum pumps
As the name suggests, a drum pump is primarily used to pump liquids out of drums or containers. The transfer pumps, which can be either mobile or stationary, are suitable for almost all low-viscosity to medium-viscosity liquids – whether low-viscosity or slightly viscous (max. 1,000 mPas), neutral or aggressive, flammable or non-flammable, with or without solids.
Depending on the pumped liquid, different materials are available for our pumping stations:
Pump tube made of polypropylene: For aggressive media such as acids, alkalis and cleaning agents. Maximum temperature 50°C.
Pump tube made of PVDF: For highly aggressive media such as chlorine bleach, chromic acid, hydrofluoric acid, nitric acid, sulphuric acid > 90%. Maximum temperature 90°C.
Pump tube made of aluminum: For mineral oil products such as diesel, oil such as heating oil, hydraulic oils, gear oils, machine oils, mineral oils and engine oils up to 1,000 mPas.
Stainless steel pump tube: For neutral, slightly aggressive media and especially for highly flammable liquids and low-viscosity foodstuffs.
Please contact us if you have any doubts regarding resistance.
With the drum pump principle shown here, our most powerful universal motor (JP-280 with 825 watts) can be used to pump all low-viscosity to medium-viscosity liquids from drums and containers.
For the container pump based on the centrifugal pump principle, the absolute limit range in terms of viscosity is approx. 1,000 mPas. If the pumped medium is more viscous, the use of a progressive cavity drum pump or an air-operated diaphragm pump is recommended.
You can also use the JP-280 motor to pump all media up to a specific weight of 1.9. For example, our drum pump has pumped well over 30 liters per minute for one customer with 96% sulphuric acid and a delivery head of 8 m.
Depending on the pumped medium, our customers or our sales staff can choose between four different immersion tube materials when selecting or designing a drum pump: Polypropylene, PVDF, aluminum and stainless steel 1.4571. The exact pumping medium, the operating temperature and environment are decisive for the selection of the suitable pump material.
The plastics polypropylene and PVDF are used in drum pumps for neutral, aggressive and non-flammable media, in particular for acids, alkalis and cleaning agents.
A polypropylene drum pump can be used for almost all standard chemicals in the chemical or electroplating industry up to a temperature of 50°C.
We sell our PP drum pumps every day for media such as caustic soda, hydrochloric acid, slightly concentrated sulphuric acid, iron II chloride, iron III chloride, etc. Only when highly aggressive media such as sulphuric acid over 90%, chromic acid, hydrofluoric acid or nitric acid are pumped with a drum pump must the immersion tube of the drum pump be made of PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride). This highly chemical-resistant pumping station material can also be used up to a medium temperature of 90°C.
In the mineral oil sector and the automotive industry, drum pumps made of aluminum are primarily used for pumping diesel, gear oil, heating oil, hydraulic oil, machine oil, mineral oils and engine oil, etc.
With a drum pump such as the JP-280 Alu 1000 Set, you can pump all low- to medium-viscosity, non-flammable mineral oil products up to a maximum viscosity of 1000 mPas from balloons, canisters, 200 liter drums or 1000 liter IBC containers.
In addition to the materials mentioned above, our drum pump production program is rounded off by pump tubes made of 1.4571 stainless steel. These high-quality, conductive pumps have proven their worth when pumping highly flammable liquids, in potentially explosive environments, in the food sector and in the pharmaceutical industry.
Due to the conductivity and the existing type examination certificate for Ex zone 0, the stainless steel pump tubes are purchased in particular for flammable media such as solvents, alcohol, fuels or low-viscosity paints and varnishes.
The electric motors of our drum pumps are also equipped with a safety switch that prevents the pump from restarting after a voltage drop.
Of course, we can also supply the drives without the zero-voltage release function for external control via a control cabinet. You can also adjust the delivery rate of the drum pumps with the electric motors (outside the Ex area) via an optional speed control and with the air motors via the compressed air supply.
As you have seen, JESSBERGER has the right drum pump for almost every application. Whether as a drum pump for a 200 liter drum or a container pump for an IBC container: our pumps are always optimally matched to the media resistance, density and viscosity of your media.
Contact us and convince yourself of our advantages: The family business JESSBERGER from Ottobrunn can look back on 55 and 30 years of experience in the drum pump sector thanks to its owners, Dr. Kurt and Tobias Jessberger, and is very popular with customers due to the considerable price advantage, its flexibility in all areas of the company and the customer proximity of the company owners.
