How Much Do Metering Pumps Cost?

Metering pumps move precise amounts of liquids over a specific period of time. Their accuracy and precision control allow them to be used in various applications, such as manufacturing, food processing, petrochemical, and agriculture.

Whether you’re a farmer, seasoned engineer, oil man, or a purchasing agent who just received a material request from the shop floor, there are several questions you’ll need to answer to make a more informed buying decision.

Read on to learn more about metering pump prices, associated factors, and how to keep costs down.

Metering Pump Features

Before we delve into pricing, it’s essential to understand the various parts of a metering pump. While the science behind them can be a bit complicated at times, all metering pumps have the same basic features:

• Pump head—A cylindrical cavity where fluids are temporarily held before being pumped out.
• Motor—This can consist of a wide range of motor methodologies.
• Main body—This part holds the process flow to which the fluid will be introduced.
• Pumping mechanism—This mechanism resides inside the pump head and creates motion that intakes and expels the fluid.

Metering Pump Price Factors

The average cost for metering pumps can range from $1,500 – $5,000.

However, many different factors can affect metering pump costs. For example, there is a noticeable price difference between a similarly configured diaphragm pumps and a plunger pump because the diaphragm costs more money to manufacture due to its complexity.

Future maintenance costs can also play a role in the price. For instance, peristaltic metering pumps utilize a tube instead of a diaphragm to insert chemicals into the system. While it does provide a consistent feed without the loss of prime, the feed rates will vary due to wear and tear on the tubes that require replacement every 1,000-1,500 hours.

Other pricing considerations include:

Motor selection—There are many different options and types of motors:

• AC/DC
• Enclosure requirement
• Speed control
• Gas engine
• Explosion-proof
• Wash down
• Single phase

The mechanically motor-driven diaphragm metering pump tends to cost the least because of its simplistic construction and controls that often consist of a single output adjustment knob. Conversely, the complexity of electromagnetic or solenoid-driven diaphragm-metering pumps can increase the metering pump price.

Capacity—How much liquid will you need to send through the pump? Pricing factors include:

• High capacity (the bigger pump, the more the material costs)
• Valve requirements
• Low flow
• Variable speed control
• The flow rate of the pump (can adjust by varying stroking speed, stroke length, or effective stroke length)
• Simplex or duplex

Material costs—The bottom line material costs are subject to current market rates and can fluctuate for various reasons.

Pump chemical compatibility—The materials used in the construction of your metering pump all have different resistance levels to various chemical reagents. Here’s a comprehensive list of pump chemical compatibility.

Power supply—There are several different types of power supplies, such as electric, gas, belt drive, and hydraulic motors.

Chemical or material profile—What kind of packing seals or material profiles are needed? These can include:

• Neoprene
• Viton
• Teflon
• EPDM (Alloy needed)
• 316 S.S.
• Alloy-20
• Hastelloy C
• PVC (Lubricant)
• Low temp
• Food grade

New technologies—The application for which you’re using the metering pump could potentially benefit from new technologies, such as the integration of adjustable timers. Other innovations include “smart pumps,” which utilize the Internet of Things (IoT) to let a user or computer system know how much liquid it has pumped or remotely control the settings. There are also options for specific applications that will cause the price to rise accordingly.

Poor quality or inexpensive pumps—Basing your purchasing decision on price alone will often add unexpected costs at a later date—and when you least expect (or want) it. For example, inferior quality pumps manufactured offshore may initially seem like a good bargain, but they won’t last as long or provide trouble-free performance as a more expensive one.

How to Keep Metering Pump Costs Down?

If price is a concern, you can consider purchasing the motor separately but keep in mind that the metering of fluids is calibrated based on the motor. There also might be a chance of being able to use a similarly-performing but less expensive material.

For example, there are many use cases where chemical reagents will attack the materials of the metering pump. In this instance, using plastic materials will be economically justified for many applications when considering alternative materials. You can contact the expert metering pump engineers at JAECO for help with material selection.

Discover Value in JAECO Metering Pumps

At JAECO, we’re a family-run company that designs and manufactures durable, high-quality metering pumps. We cast the metal of our pump houses at our facility in Malvern, Pennsylvania. This directly translates to no transit costs or shipping delays—just a 100% American-made metering pump that offers consistent performance and reliability.

Click below to view our metering pumps.

METERING PUMPS