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Thread: Suction Piece Stength Comparison

  1. #1
    DeputyDawg
    After removing the Dominator pump from the boat I just bought I set it beside an old Berkeley Pump that I have setting in the shop and I was looking at the differences between the two. One thing I noticed is that the Dominator suction piece seems to be quite a bit beefier and also has the gussets running down the side as well as three bolts holding down the hand hole clean out. I was wondering if some of you pump experts could tell me if there are actual strength differences between the different brand suction pieces ie. Berk, Dom, AT, Legend, Aggressor? Who builds the strongest one? One reason I ask this is because as of late it seems that I have heard of several people who have cracked or grenaded suction pieces as well as hand hole covers with sometimes catastrophic results with sunken boats and the like. In all of the cases I have heard about they all seemed to be running Berkeley stuff. Now before somebody jumps on me, I am not bashing Berkeley, I have run the piss out of several of them and never had a problem. I assume it is usually Berk stuff that I hear about letting go because there are probably more Berks on the water than anything else, and most of them are getting pretty old too. If someone was going to build a Blown Fuel Jet and wanted the strongest currently produced cast suction piece as their building platform, which one would be the way to go? Also, besides strength, what are the other differences between the suction pieces as well as pros and cons of each?
    Are some of these guys who are out there running BIG horsepower through 20+ year old pumps just asking for trouble?
    Sorry for all the questions, but I can't be the only one who is curious about this stuff.

  2. #2
    UBFJ #454
    "Are some of these guys who are out there running BIG horsepower through 20+ year old pumps just asking for trouble?"
    I don't know about the 'asking' part, but, I do believe that there are alot of people who don't realize they should throughly check out the quality of their suction piece (Density, Core Shift, etc.) and take into account their age and the fact that AL Casting have a 'Memory' regarding Fatigue before they attach Big Hp to them. Attention should also be paid to the age and quality of bowls, droops and nozzles when entering into the realm of Big Hp as they are also cast AL.
    Last year we blew the side out of our old 1978 Berkeley suction piece ... replaced it with a Dominator due to the casting being much denser & thicker and its having the side wall ribs which provide more support. I feel comfortable with the Dominator piece up to say something like 2,500 Hp ... For Hp above that and when we go there, we'll be running a Billet Piece.
    Another thing that puts a suction piece under much more stress than it was originally designed for is adding a PopOff Valve ... When a PopOff goes off it sujects the casting to 'Quite A Bang', much the same as hitting the casting on the inside with a heavy sledge hammer. The mounting points of the PopOff should be carefully inspected and checked for cracking after Every Run

  3. #3
    DeputyDawg
    Another thing that puts a suction piece under much more stress than it was originally designed for is adding a PopOff Valve ... When a PopOff goes off it sujects the casting to 'Quite A Bang', much the same as hitting the casting on the inside with a heavy sledge hammer.
    Hi Bear, could you explain to me why the PopOff valve puts more stress on the pump? I was under the impression that it instantly relieved pressure from the pump whenever it fired. thank you for your reply.

  4. #4
    UBFJ #454
    When the release piston of the PopOff 'Hits' the top of the PopOff's restrainer bracket cage (various cage designs with various models), it 'Yanks/Bangs' Very Hard on the bolts holding it to the suction piece ... whose anchor points are connected to the top of the cast AL suction piece in the area of the hand hole clean out ... which all models of PopOff fit into ... The Cast AL in the immediate area of the restraint cage anchors 'Remembers' Each and Every 'Yank/Bang' that occurs Every Time the PopOff is triggered and is Fatigued to some Degree ... Knowning this, reasonable people monitor the PopOff anchor area closely.
    PopOffs are 1/4 mile drag boat safety devices that were never intended for recreational boat use ... They require a great deal of maintainence to insure that the remain 100% functional ... as even some 1/4 milers have found out in the '04 Season.

  5. #5
    Willis
    Hello every one
    :argue:
    Just wanted to say that the pressure that you read on your guage is no always right.
    My data recorder came back at double the amount of the intake readings
    Willis

  6. #6
    DeputyDawg
    Thanks for the explaination Bear.

  7. #7
    Aluminum Squirt
    You guys are obviously talking big HP and 1/4 mile, but Eagle makes this billet housing for our white water boats. I'm no where near needing something like this but there are some guys in unlimited and A class probably running close to 1000HP and their pumps are continually loading/unloading. I don't think any of the white water guys are running any sort of pressure release system but these have shown to be fairly durable for our purposes-Aluminum Squirt
    www.eagleracing.ca/RModels/Customp.shtml

  8. #8
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    4,169
    I love the look of that billet suction housing, but I'd hate to see the price :2purples:

  9. #9
    Nucking futs
    I need one of those roll bars................

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