First of all, a self priming pump alone is not very effective in removing sediment. The agitator water jet system is necessary to deliver kinetic energy (energy of motion) to the sediment to take it from a solid state rendering it a fluid slurry.
Cheap trash pumps are not designed to withstand abrasion or shock. Cheap trash pumps usually utilize small diameter carbon/ ceramic shaft seals. Carbon/ceramic is the cheapest seal material there is and is a strong indication that your pump is designed to pump water only. The shaft seal is the component that seals the engine shaft as it enters the pump case. A leaky shaft seal will disable your pump completely, by allowing air to enter the pump case instead of water being drawn up the suction hose. The Mini dredge pump is equipped with an oversized silicon carbide shaft seal. Silicon carbide is a premium seal material that is utilized in most industrial grade pumps. We also make the seal much larger in diameter than those found in most “trash pumps”. Small diameter seals fit snug on the drive shaft. When a hard piece of debris (rock, wood, etc) hits the pump impeller, it deflects the shaft momentarily and fractures the seal. Our seals have a large inside diameter with a lot of space between the seal and the shaft preventing seal damage from shock. Also, in order for mechanical seals to work, they all utilize a stainless steel compression spring to hold the seal faces together. Lazy pump manufacturers, leave that spring exposed in the water way behind the impeller, rendering it vulnerable to abrasive wear and to collecting stringy material & debris. Our seal spring is tucked away in a recess machined in the pump housing, sealed away from abrasives and debris.
The second most vulnerable component to abrasive wear is the impeller. You will find that most trash pumps have a cast iron impeller. Cast iron is popular inexpensive material, and serves adequately for non-abrasive pump applications. The next level above cast iron is ductile iron. Then comes heat treated stainless steel. The top abrasion resistant impeller material is high chrome iron. High chrome iron impellers are usually only found in severe duty industrial slurry pumps because they are so hard they are expensive to machine. The Mini dredge has a high chrome iron impeller.
We manufacture the Mini dredge with innovative design features from the highest quality components & materials, too many to list here. We could make a cheaper dredge, but it wouldn’t work as well or last as long. We’ve been manufacturing industrial grade pumps for over 40 years. We are very critical about quality, and we make our pumps as if we are building them for ourselves.