A closer look at the super-suction sliding shoe pump

You’ll be forgiven for laughing a little bit at the name of this pump. In fact, I’m sure you’d find some interesting YouTube videos if you had to search. Here’s a fun 80’s style commercial from Reebok that has absolutely nothing to do with our kind of pumps. But all jokes aside, there is nothing silly about the functionality of the sliding shoe pump. This pump is so versatile that navy ships use it for bilge, to suck up contaminated oil or spillages at sea, and even for their own laundry waste.

The sliding shoe pump is a rare find indeed – no other pump, it has been said, provides as many unique design features and benefits. A self-priming, positive displacement pump, it can used in many applications apart from maritime, including mining, environmental (oil and pollution recovery or cleaning grey water) and many more.

In fact, the sliding shoe design from whence it gets its name is the reason that this unique pump can be used for so many purposes. While positive displacement, the sliding shoe pump can both self-prime and pump at constant capacity against a wide range of heads (up to 250 feet!).

The sliding shoe pump also delivers impressive suction performance due to the sliding shoe concept. It works like this: even when pumping air, the working parts are sealed and can be submerged. This liquid sealing allows the pump to self-prime, as well as run safely during completely dry suction – without a bypass.

The pump is self-compensating for wear, while its simple design (with few working parts) allows easy installation and single cover access for reduced maintenance costs and downtime.

On the surface, the sliding shoe pump resembles a reciprocating piston pump, and has all its inherent advantages – a powerful suction, self-priming, constant capacity at varied heads, and the ability to handle many different liquids, viscous or free flowing, clean, or dirty (even at sea!). Yet with its simple and compact design, along with its smooth flow, it is also like a centrifugal pump. This gives the impressive sliding shoe pump all the benefits of both pumps, without featuring any of their limitations.

The sliding shoe pump we always recommend is the Megator. It is well suited to unpleasant tasks like recovering oily waste from sumps, pits or ponds. The Megator sliding shoe pump has stationary, skid mount or portable versions, making them a popular choice for work boats and tugs. They can be used in effluent and hazardous applications. They can also gather water in mines, strip sludge from tanks or pump diesel and lubricating oil.

This sliding shoe pump handles viscous liquids, free-flowing liquids or a mixture of these incredibly well (although it may slow down slightly at higher viscosities).

We love the fact that the Megator sliding shoe pump is as effective on water as it is on liquids with little lubrication or penetration properties! Megator has also provided a range of assemblies to meet the needs of its market. The sliding shoe pump can be electric, (single or 3 phase), petrol or diesel, air or hydraulic driven. It’s a shoe-in (pun intended) for our favourite pump of the year.

Want to know more about the excellent Megator sliding shoe pump? Learn about the many advantages of this pump, or simply give us a call on our toll-free number 1-800-367-4180 to discuss why we recommend it so highly. Our engineers are on hand to help you choose, install, and maintain a variety of equipment. And to answer questions about things you’ve previously tried gone wrong.