Total Dynamic Head Calculator

Total dynamic head is everything a pump pushes against at the flow you want: static lift, pipe friction, the pressure needed at the outlet and the velocity head. Enter the flow, the suction and discharge runs with their fittings and the two static heights, and every part of the head is reported separately beside the total. Fittings become equivalent feet of straight pipe through their L/D ratio, and a second tab does that conversion on its own. Friction here is Hazen-Williams, which only knows water, so a thick or hot liquid needs a Darcy-Weisbach answer instead.

Calculator Type
Flow Measured In
The same five options the friction loss and pipe flow calculators offer, so a figure carries between the three pages without conversion.
Lengths, Heads and Velocities In
Governs every length you enter and every head, equivalent length, velocity and power below. The friction rate is a ratio, so it reads the same number either way.
Pressure Measured In
The flow the system has to deliver, in the unit you pick below. Head depends on it, so a different flow gives a different answer.
Negative when the source sits above the pump. That is a flooded suction and it subtracts from the head.
Suction pipe is normally one size larger than the discharge, to keep the velocity down and the pump out of cavitation.
A poppet foot valve is one of the largest single losses in a suction line, worth well over a hundred feet of equivalent pipe on a big line.
Work these out on the fittings tab and bring the total across.
Leave at zero when the pipe discharges to open air or into a tank at atmospheric pressure.
Water is 1. This changes the pressure head and the power, not the friction, which Hazen-Williams only knows for water.
Widget
Flow Measured In
The same five options the friction loss and pipe flow calculators offer, so a figure carries between the three pages without conversion.
Lengths, Heads and Velocities In
Governs every length you enter and every head, equivalent length, velocity and power below. The friction rate is a ratio, so it reads the same number either way.
Widget
Related Tools
Friction Loss Calculator Horsepower Calculator Pool Pump Size Calculator