Component Breakdown of Wanner Hydra-Cell Pro^® Pumps

Description of components in contact with the pumped liquid

A Wanner Hydra-Cell Pro^® pump is sealless positive displacement style pump. The only parts in the process liquid are the elastomers and the check-valve stacks. This page is what those parts do, what they can be made from, and how that choice shows up in the model code.

Most frames use a 12-character part number. Characters 6–11 are the wetted materials.

D10ERCGHFECA

The first characters are the model — D10 in the example. Character 4 is displacement at a given RPM. That letter is how you set velocity through the valves. Abrasive duty likes a slower velocity because valve wear tracks that speed.

Character 5 is the head or hydraulic-cylinder option. Character 12 is hydraulic-end oil. Most jobs run 10W30 or 10W40 synthetic. Food-contact and other specialty oils exist when the duty needs them.

#6: Pump Head Materials and Function

The head is a manifold plus a check-valve plate. Both usually last the life of the pump. Pick them for chemistry. Alloy and non-alloy options:

• 316L SS — iron alloy for low and high pH and for stainless pipe systems
• Brass — about 60% copper / 36% zinc; inexpensive for water and mild liquid
• Duplex Alloy 2205 — seawater and marine duty; about twice the corrosion resistance of 316SS in those services
• Hastelloy^® C — nickel alloy with a wider chemical range than 316SS and higher pressure capability than plastics
• Nickel-plated cast or ductile iron — lowest-cost head for water, hydrocarbons and abrasive slurry
• Polypropylene — chemical resistance without exotic-alloy price
• PVDF — better abrasion and chemical resistance than polypropylene

The head is not a wear part, even on slurry.

Character #7: Elastomers

Diaphragms, O-rings and gaskets. Almost always chosen for chemistry:

• Aflas^® — 80 to 250°F; fluoroelastomer with better amine resistance than FKM
• EPDM — 50 to 212°F; where FKM will not work and PTFE or Aflas is not offered on that frame. Needs a special hydraulic-end oil
• FKM — 40 to 250°F; low gas permeability; petroleum products, aromatics and chlorinated hydrocarbons
• PTFE — 60 to 200°F; fully fluorinated and impermeable; strong acids and oxidizers. Light-blue PTFE laminated to a black rubber backing. The only diaphragm treated as a wear item
• Neoprene^® — 50 to 120°F; refrigerants, vegetable oils, ammonia, Halon
• Buna-N^® — 30 to 230°F; general-purpose oil, water and non-polar solvents

Diaphragms are often changed with the valves so the whole head starts over. They fail from chemistry, over-pressure or extreme temperature. Except PTFE, surface wear is cosmetic. O-rings and gaskets hold the flow path and are replaced every time the head is opened.

Characters #8–9: Valves and Valve Seats

Disc on seat keeps inlet-to-outlet flow. Each shaft turn seats that pair. At 1,750 RPM that is about 30 times a second. These are the main wear parts. Wear shows up as falling flow or pressure — a little louder, a little rougher — not a sudden failure.

How long do Hydra-Cell Pro^® check valves last? There is no single number. Reclaimed water or machining coolant on stainless often runs about 6,000 hours (eight-plus months continuous). A 25% lime slurry can last that long if RPM is kept down (lower velocity across the seats) and the material is ceramic or similar.

Pick chemistry first, then cost per hour. Stainless on high-pressure water, eight hours a day, can last more than two years. Tungsten carbide lasts about 20 times longer — forty years in that story — and costs about 36 times as much. We usually aim for six to nine months based on similar jobs. All of the following cover 15 to 250°F:

• Ceramic — abrasion and liquids that attack alloys
• 17-4 stainless — a little more wear resistance than 316SS from hardness
• 316L stainless
• Hastelloy^® C
• Nitronic^® 50 — austenitic stainless with better chemistry and sub-zero performance than 316
• Tungsten carbide — maximum abrasion resistance

Character #10: Valve Spring

The spring is the only wetted part that must be an alloy. It is not a wear item unless the liquid attacks it. It reseats the disc. Temperature range 15 to 250°F:

• 17-7 stainless — a little more wear resistance than 316SS from hardness
• Elgiloy — nickel-cobalt; more corrosion resistance than stainless and better fatigue and set resistance than Hastelloy C or stainless
• Hastelloy^® C

Character #11: Valve Spring Retainer

The retainer compresses the spring so the disc sits on the seat. It is clamped between the manifold and the seat. Not a wear item unless chemistry or an extreme temperature event takes it out:

• 17-7 stainless — 15 to 250°F
• Celcon (polyoxymethylene) — 15 to 160°F; alcohols, hydrocarbons, water, most ag chemicals, esters, ethers
• PVDF — 15 to 160°F
• Polypropylene — 15 to 160°F
• Hastelloy^® C — 15 to 250°F
• Nylon (Zytel^®) — 15 to 160°F; benzene, ethylene glycol, gasoline, hexane, methanol, Freon, ethanol

The repair-kit calculator turns your pump part number into the three kit numbers: elastomers only, valves only, and the complete kit.

Related Articles

• Check valve wear insights
• Dampening washers — when they are required
• Repair kits explained
• Analyzing diaphragm damage
• Hydra-Oil
• How to repair Hydra-Cell Pro^® pumps