Marine Cast Iron Emergency Fire Pump

I. Product Overview

The marine cast iron emergency fire pump is a core emergency support device integrating reliability and cost-effectiveness in the ship fire protection system. Specifically designed for coastal navigation, small and medium-sized ships, and conventional marine environments, its core function is to start rapidly and continuously deliver fire-fighting water or fire-fighting foam mixture under emergency conditions such as main fire pump failure, sudden fire, or other critical situations, ensuring fire suppression needs of key ship areas including engine rooms, cargo holds, and passenger cabins.

This equipment adopts high-strength gray cast iron to fabricate core components such as pump bodies and impellers, paired with carbon steel reinforced pump shafts and oil-resistant, corrosion-resistant sealing assemblies. It boasts prominent features including robust structure, strong impact resistance, and economical cost, and is adaptable to working conditions of high humidity, conventional salt spray, and moderate vibration faced by coastal navigation ships.

As an important part of the ship emergency fire protection system, the marine cast iron emergency fire pump strictly complies with international and domestic standards such as the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), IMO Fire Test Procedures Code (FTP Code), and GB/T 32146 Marine Centrifugal Fire Pumps. It has obtained basic certifications from mainstream classification societies including China Classification Society (CCS) and Bureau Veritas (BV), and is widely applied to various vessels such as small and medium-sized cargo ships, coastal fishing vessels, inland waterway ships, yachts, and small offshore operation platforms.

Compared with emergency fire pumps made of stainless steel or copper, cast iron achieves cost optimization through mature casting processes while ensuring stable performance under emergency conditions. It provides a cost-effective fire emergency solution for small and medium-sized ships and coastal navigation vessels, which is directly related to the safety of life and property during ship navigation.

II. Core Technical Parameters

Flow Range: 2-100 m³/h, customizable in grades according to ship tonnage (500-10,000 tons), compartment area, and emergency fire protection level. The flow stability error under rated working conditions is ≤±4%, meeting the fire water supply needs of small and medium-sized ships for fire scenarios of different scales.

Pressure Range: 0.5-3.0 MPa, with a maximum working pressure of up to 4.0 MPa. It can cover the water supply requirements of multi-deck compartments and medium-short distance fire pipelines on small and medium-sized ships, ensuring effective jet pressure of terminal equipment such as fire sprinklers and small fire monitors.

Medium Compatibility: Capable of stably delivering fresh water, coastal seawater, and conventional fire-fighting foam mixtures (e.g., protein foam, fluoroprotein foam). It is suitable for media with water content ≥95% and impurity content ≤0.3% (particle size ≤1.5mm). The applicable medium temperature range is -10℃ to 120℃, which can cope with high temperatures at regular fire scenes and navigation needs in low-temperature coastal waters.

Material Parameters: Pump body, impeller, and pump cover are made of HT200 gray cast iron; pump shaft is made of steel (surface chromium-plated for rust prevention); seals are made of fluororubber (FKM) or nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR), which have good compatibility with conventional fire-fighting media and ensure no leakage during long-term standby and emergency operation.

Drive Mode: Mainly adopts electric drive (three-phase asynchronous motor, protection class IP55/IP65), with an optional small diesel engine drive mode. The electric drive supports marine standard voltages of 220V/380V, and the diesel drive is suitable for small ships without external power supply. The drive system is equipped with overload, overheating, and low oil level protection functions.

Operating Performance: Self-priming height ≥4 m, self-priming time ≤30 seconds (at a suction lift of 3m); emergency start-up time ≤10 seconds, enabling rapid response to fire alarm signals; operating noise ≤75 dB(A), vibration acceleration ≤1.5 m/s²; volumetric efficiency ≥88%, with moderate energy consumption and continuous operation capability for ≥24 hours.

III. Structural Design and Core Advantages

3.1 Core Structural Design

One-Piece Cast Iron Structure: The pump body and pump cover are formed by integral casting process, featuring a compact and robust structure without spliced welds. With strong impact resistance, it can withstand bumps during ship navigation and impact loads under fire conditions. The flow channel is optimized in design, and the smoothness of the inner wall is adapted to the characteristics of cast iron material, effectively reducing water flow resistance and ensuring flow stability.

Enhanced Sealing and Anti-Leakage System: Adopts a dual-seal structure of "mechanical seal + O-ring". The sealing surface is made of alumina-graphite composite material, which specifically solves the compatibility problem between cast iron material and seals, with a leakage rate ≤0.005 mL/h. It is equipped with a simple pressure monitoring device, facilitating intuitive inspection of sealing performance by crew and timely detection of leakage risks.

Compact and Lightweight Design: The pump body and drive unit adopt an integrated layout, with small size and moderate weight (18-320 kg), which can be flexibly installed in limited spaces such as narrow emergency pump rooms and engine room corners of small and medium-sized ships. The base is equipped with rubber shock-absorbing pads and adjustable anchor bolts, effectively buffering operational vibration and avoiding resonance with the ship hull structure.

Simple Emergency Control Module: Equipped with a standardized emergency control box, supporting manual/automatic dual start-up modes, which can be linked with the ship's conventional fire alarm system to achieve rapid start-up in emergencies. The control panel has a concise layout and clear labels, equipped with simple flow and pressure indicators and fault alarm lights, facilitating quick operation and fault troubleshooting by crew.

3.2 Core Technical Advantages

Cost-Effective and High Cost-Effectiveness: Cast iron material is easily available with mature casting processes. Compared with emergency fire pumps made of stainless steel or copper, the procurement cost is reduced by 30%-50%, and the price of maintenance parts is low, significantly reducing the equipment procurement and long-term operation and maintenance costs of small and medium-sized ships, which meets the economic needs of coastal and inland waterway ships.

Robust Structure and Strong Impact Resistance: Cast iron material has excellent compression resistance and impact resistance. It can withstand an impact load of ≥10J through drop weight impact test, adapting to bumpy and vibrating working conditions during navigation of small and medium-sized ships. It is not prone to structural damage due to impact in emergency scenarios such as fires, ensuring continuous emergency water supply.

Convenient Maintenance and Easy Operation: Key components adopt a modular design. Wearing parts such as impellers and seals can be quickly disassembled and replaced with simple tools without professional maintenance skills. Daily maintenance only requires regular cleaning of filter screens, inspection of sealing status, and lubricant addition, with a long maintenance cycle (regular maintenance interval ≥3 months), reducing the maintenance workload of crew.

Adaptable to Conventional Marine Environments: Designed for conventional marine environments such as coastal and inland waterway navigation, the anti-salt spray and anti-moisture capabilities of cast iron are enhanced through surface anti-rust treatment (painting, chromium plating). It can stably adapt to environments with humidity ≤95% and salt spray concentration ≤50mg/m³, meeting the application needs of small and medium-sized ships in main navigation areas.

Strong Compliance and Wide Adaptability: Strictly complies with international and domestic ship fire protection standards, and has obtained basic certifications from mainstream classification societies. It can be adapted to emergency fire protection systems of various small and medium-sized ships, and supports simple customization according to specific ship requirements, with wide adaptability.

IV. Typical Application Scenarios

4.1 Emergency Backup for Main Fire Pumps of Small and Medium-Sized Ships

For 500-10,000 ton small and medium-sized cargo ships, coastal fishing vessels, inland waterway ships, etc., the marine cast iron emergency fire pump serves as the core backup device for the main fire pump. When the main pump fails to work due to malfunctions, damage, or fires, it can be quickly switched to start automatically, taking over the fire water supply task to ensure uninterrupted operation of the fire protection system, gaining critical time for fire suppression, and acting as the "safety backup" for the fire protection system of small and medium-sized ships.

4.2 Emergency Fire Suppression in Engine Rooms of Small and Medium-Sized Ships

The engine room of small and medium-sized ships has a compact space, storing fuel oil, lubricating oil, and electrical equipment, making it a high-fire-risk area. The marine cast iron emergency fire pump can quickly provide fire-fighting water or foam mixture with stable pressure for simple fire sprinkler systems and portable fire monitors in the engine room, accurately cooling and extinguishing fire hazards such as engines and fuel pipelines. Its robust structure and vibration resistance can adapt to complex working conditions in the engine room, ensuring continuous water supply.

4.3 Emergency Fire Protection for Small Cargo Holds and Decks

For fires in ordinary cargo holds and deck areas of small cargo ships, the marine cast iron emergency fire pump can deliver fire-fighting water or foam mixture through mobile fire hoses and small foam generators, quickly covering small fire areas and inhibiting the spread of fire. It can directly use coastal seawater as the fire-fighting water source, adapting to the convenient fire-fighting needs of small ships at sea.

4.4 Emergency Protection for Public Areas of Small Passenger Ships

Public areas such as passenger cabins, restaurants, and corridors of small passenger ships and sightseeing yachts have relatively concentrated personnel, and fire suppression needs to balance rapid fire control and personnel evacuation. The marine cast iron emergency fire pump provides stable low-pressure fire-fighting water for fire sprinkler systems and fire hydrants in these areas, quickly cooling down and inhibiting smoke diffusion, gaining time for personnel evacuation. Its characteristics of low operating noise and simple operation are suitable for the application scenarios of small passenger ships.

4.5 Emergency Fire Protection for Small Coastal Operation Platforms

Small coastal aquaculture platforms, coastal construction platforms, and other areas have simple emergency fire protection needs and face conventional salt spray and moderate vibration environments. The marine cast iron emergency fire pump can be adapted to the simple fire protection system of the platform, providing stable water supply for fire monitors. Its features of economic cost and convenient maintenance meet the fire protection needs of small platforms.