I am involved with the design of a pumphouse which consists of four (4) fixed speed centrifugal pumps (duty/assist/assist/assist), each pump being large, 4500m3/hr at 50m total head.

As the characteristics of the system demand are largely unknown and the demand is likely to be highly variable, a relief valve is required to dump any excess flow.

My questions are;

1. It is better to have a relief valve in the discharge line of each individual pump (4 relief valves, one for each of the 4 pumps), or to have a single, larger, relief valve in the common discharge manifold?

2. Can the relief valve discharge be piped back to the suction manifold or is it preferred to discharge the relief valve elsewhere.

Thanks for any assistance. I would also appreciate any suggestions for good pump house design literature.

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