API 610, Centrifugal Pumps for Petroleum, Petrochemical and Natural Gas Industries.
API 610 is the American Petroleum Institute standard governing centrifugal pumps in petroleum, petrochemical, and natural gas service. It defines pump types by configuration, OH overhung, BB between-bearings, VS vertical-suspended, SP submersible, minimum design and construction requirements, allowable operating regions on the pump curve, materials of construction selection rules, vibration and bearing temperature limits, and the datasheet form used to specify pumps. The current edition is API 610 12th edition, 2021. ISO 13709 is the identical international version.
What API 610, Centrifugal Pumps for Petroleum, Petrochemical and Natural Gas Industries means.
API 610 emerged from the operating reality of refineries and petrochemical plants where pump failures dominated unplanned downtime through the 1960s and 1970s. The standard codified what major operators had learned individually. Minimum shaft stiffness, bearing housing rigidity, casing material selection per service, and the operating envelope inside which a centrifugal pump achieves the API-stated minimum mean time between repair of three years. The 12th edition expanded the seal-plan reference to API 682 4th edition, tightened vibration acceptance to ISO 10816-7, and added explicit requirements for variable-speed operation and condition monitoring instrumentation. Pumps purchased to API 610 are universally specified in oil and gas, refining, petrochemicals, and increasingly in hydrogen and renewable-fuels facilities. The datasheet form is the bid document and the lifetime asset record.
What pump types does API 610 cover.
API 610 defines five major pump-type families. OH, overhung pumps mount the impeller on an extended shaft with no support bearing between the impeller and the driver. OH1 is foot-mounted, OH2 is centerline-mounted, OH3 is vertical inline. BB, between-bearings pumps support the rotor between two radial bearings. BB1 is axially split single-stage, BB2 is radially split single-stage, BB3 and BB4 are multi-stage between-bearings, BB5 is barrel-cased multi-stage. VS, vertical-suspended pumps hang from a discharge head over a sump or in a barrel. VS1 through VS7 cover specific column, bowl, and bearing configurations. SP, submersible pumps mount the motor below the process liquid. The type selection drives casing pressure rating, materials availability, and the achievable head per stage.
What does an API 610 datasheet carry.
The API 610 datasheet is structured into operating conditions, capacity at rated, normal, minimum continuous stable flow, and BEP, site and utility conditions, pump construction, casing, impeller, shaft, wear-rings materials, bearing arrangement, seal arrangement, referencing an API 682 seal plan, driver coupling and baseplate, lubrication, instrumentation, inspection and testing requirements, and a list of vendor data documents. The form is structured so two vendors bidding the same service can be compared field by field. Vendor-supplied performance curves at the rated and BEP points back the bid. Site conditions, elevation, atmospheric pressure, ambient temperature drive the NPSHa calculation that pairs with the vendor's NPSHr.
What changed in the 12th edition.
The 12th edition, 2021 increased the minimum efficiency expectations through alignment with the ASME PTC 8.2 efficiency test code, expanded the seal-plan selection guidance to align with API 682 4th edition, made variable-speed-driven pumps a first-class case, rather than an exception, and tightened the acceptable vibration range under ISO 10816-7. Condition-monitoring instrumentation, bearing-temperature RTDs, seal-leakage detection, vibration probes on certain pump types moved from optional to standard. The datasheet form expanded by approximately 15% to accommodate the new fields.
Common questions
Is API 610 the same as ISO 13709.
What is the difference between API 610 and API 685.
Does API 610 apply to water-service pumps.
What is the typical lead time on an API 610 pump.
Run it on your drawings.
Upload a drawing set, get every document populated and classified, export to the format your team uses.