Not really. A submersible pump with a fine screen filter will block up very quickly unless the water being pumped is very clean. A filterpump™ therefore implies it has a self-cleaning intake to make the pump's use viable in real-world conditions.

Many pumps are fitted with foot valves with strainers, or basket strainers on their intakes. Typically, these are very coarse - 6 mm mesh on smaller pumps, anything up to 20 mm on larger pump intakes. The screen apertures are determined by the clearances through the pump impellers; this is fine for relatively hard particulate in water, but cannot prevent clogging from, for example, blanket weed, or seaweed, or …. whatever blocks your pump!

There are pump filters and possibly filter pumps, but only one self-cleaning submersible filterpump™

The self-cleaning technology had been tried and tested by the use of our suction intake screens across many different industrial sectors, applications and situations. Incorporating Rotorflush's highly successful self-cleaning intake into a submersible pump made perfect sense. 

Now it's possible to use high-powered centrifugal submersible pumps in dirty water conditions with minimal downtime, even though impeller clearances may be small.

The self-cleaning intakes work by providing a continuous backwashing to the intake mesh. In essence: the pump sucks a high volume of water in through the mesh at a relatively low velocity. 

The Filterpump™ provides a higher velocity, lower volume backwash back through the mesh, dislodging any debris that could potentially block the screen.

Good question!  If you intend to use a submersible pump for any reason, you'll need to consider the following.

Water quality

Water quality can be very variable, particularly raw water, and this can affect your water supply. While, for example, lake water may look crystal clear, at some times during the year the opposite may be true. Seasonal blooms of algae and weed can easily choke a pump. 

Similarly, extreme weather events causing flooding may churn up the lake bed or drag soil, sand and debris off the land into the water.

Application

A filterpump provides water screening at source as water is pumped. Water may contain very little debris, but consider what other equipment may be affected.  The pump may be able to tolerate a certain level of particulate, but this may not be true of the drips and nozzles of a connected irrigation system, or wash water spray bars.

System Resilience

Consider your entire system from water source to point of delivery. You need to be aware of the narrowest apertures, critical equipment, and how accessible components - including the filterpump - are for maintenance.

Advice

Here at Rotorflush Filters we are happy to discuss any requirements you may have and give you the benefit of our many years of experience screening pumping and filtering all kinds of water.