Submersible pumps are placed directly into tanks and sumps.  As a result, the pump suction is located directly in the tank and there are no connecting pipelines.  The PIPE-FLO program requires a pump to be connected to both a suction and discharge pipeline.  This Knowledge Base article describes how to model a false suction pipeline for submersible pumps using the PIPE-FLO program.

Each pump in a PIPE-FLO project is connected to a suction pipeline, as a result when modeling submersible pumps you must have pipelines connected to the suction and discharge side of the pumps.  



When modeling the suction pipeline for a submersible pump, we recommended you have a very short (.1 ft or .1 meter) pipe length, with the pipe diameter greater than or equal to the diameter of the pump's suction.  It is not recommended that you add a pipe entrance loss for the suction line, because the pumps suction entrance losses are factored into the manufacturers supplied pump curve.   The elevation of the suction pipe should be equal to the elevation of the submersible pumps suction.  

Modeling a false pump suction line in this way provides the suction line needed for the pumps needed by PIPE-FLO, without adding significant losses to the system.