A jockey pump is considered a supplementary pump for maintaining system pressure. For a fire-fighting pump system comprising a main fire pump and a control panel, the jockey pump is typically selected at 5 to 10% of the main fire pump’s flow rate. Vertical multistage centrifugal pumps are commonly used for this purpose.
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What Is a Jockey Pump
What is a jockey pump? It is a type of pump used to compensate for pressure lost due to leakage or sudden discharge over a short period in a piping system.
In practice, jockey pumps may not be commonly visible. However, in fire protection systems, jockey pumps play an important role.
Fire-Fighting Jockey Pump
In practice, jockey pumps are commonly found in fire protection systems. A fire-fighting jockey pump is referred to in English as a “Jockey pump“.
The jockey pump is installed as a component of a larger fire-fighting pump system and is designed to absorb or eliminate pipeline pressure losses near the pump.
It is also used during fire pump testing to recreate flow conditions, thereby activating flow without opening the system.
Characteristics of Fire-Fighting Jockey Pumps
The jockey pump, also known as a pressure maintenance pump, maintains pressure in the fire sprinkler system to prevent non-emergency starts of the main fire pump. This keeps the main fire pump from running in short cycles, which would reduce its service life.
The jockey pump is designed to start before the main fire pump and return the fire protection system to its minimum static pressure. However, it is not designed to meet the system’s flow rate demand. In this case, the system pressure will continue to drop until the main fire pump starts.
However, due to their simplicity, jockey pumps are a widely used method for maintaining system pressure.
Since it is not a specially dedicated pump type, any pump capable of generating the required pressure is acceptable. Jockey pumps typically share the same basic components as the main fire pump.
Advantages of Fire-Fighting Jockey Pumps
The advantage of a jockey pump is that it is a low-power vertical centrifugal pump, serving as a complement to the main fire-fighting pump (electric motor and diesel-driven).
The jockey pump starts at low head pressure and stops at high pressure to maintain the desired pressure in the fire-fighting piping system.
The jockey pump plays a very important role in the fire water supply network. If there is a minor leak at any flange in the piping system, there will be a very small pressure drop in the system. During this phase, the main fire pump should not start because its power and head are too high.
If a fire breaks out in the facility, the sprinkler system will activate. This will cause a pressure drop in the fire water supply network. The jockey pump cannot compensate for such a large pressure drop, and in this case the main fire pump will be activated immediately.
Differences Between Booster Pumps and Jockey Pumps
Both are pump types oriented toward pressurizing the system piping. However, there are fundamental differences in the functions and applications of booster pumps and jockey pumps. Let us discuss this topic.
Booster Pump
A booster pump increases flow rate and pressure, typically on a branch circuit of the pumped system. Booster pumps are used in a wide range of residential and industrial applications.
A booster pump is a pump (or a pump set) that increases system pressure when fluid is already flowing within the piping system.
The booster pump raises pressure to levels that the primary pump cannot achieve, allowing fluid to enter the system at higher pressure.
Jockey Pump
The jockey pump will pressurize the fire protection system if system pressure falls below a set value. Its typical operating point is 1% of the main pump’s flow rate and 10 psi above the main pump’s pressure.
A jockey pump is a small pump that maintains pressure in a system without the assistance of any other pump. It saves the main pump from unnecessary starts — for example, in a fire protection system.
Multistage pumps (commonly small-power vertical multistage centrifugal pumps) are frequently used in these applications. It must be said that the two are different duties, yet a single pump type can perform both.
Jockey Pump Applications
As noted above, jockey pumps are primarily used in fire protection systems. Therefore, the main application of jockey pumps is to compensate for pressure lost due to leakage in the piping system or at sprinkler heads.
For example: Caprari offers the CVX series — a vertical multistage centrifugal pump that is widely chosen as a jockey pump in fire protection systems across Vietnam. Caprari is a brand from Italy, with quality that meets the rigorous standards required of EU-manufactured products.
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