Back in 1992, William Lim was a general contractor who was enjoying the Koi hobby. He became dissatisfied with the pumps that were available at that time, and decided to look into what it would take to make a truly good, high-performance pump.
For a year and a half, William studied the problems of existing pump designs, and hired an engineer with more than 40 years of experience designing large commercial pumps to act as a consultant. Slowly, the design specifications took shape. He talked with many manufacturers, but none of them could make a pump to the specifications that he designed. With the help of many more engineers, William decided to go into the pump manufacturing business. It took a tremendous amount of money and research to develop the first pump that W. Lim Corporation produced, but William understood that a good education was required to develop a good product. While many pumps share the same generic housing, the pumps differ greatly in performance. It was performance that William dedicated himself to producing.
The Chinese character for ‘wave’ became the trademark of the W. Lim Corporation. William understood that Koi pond owners needed to move a large volume of water, but that they wanted to do so at the least possible expense. So the corporate goal became the custom design of pumps for the Koi industry that would produce the highest performance at the lowest cost. Most of the pumps on the market at that time were aimed at moving water under medium to high pressure, as would be found in a swimming pool installation. These are known as high or medium head pumps. “Head” pressure refers to the amount of pressure a pump must work against during operation. Total head equals the feet of vertical lift plus the friction of the water against the plumbing. Pumping water to the top of a 10 foot waterfall will require a pump capable of a higher head pressure than just pumping water along the ground from one end of a pond to the other. Head pressure is influenced by pipe size, with smaller pipe requiring more head pressure to pump the water an equal distance. The length of the pipe also increases the requirement for head pressure, as do the fittings used in the installation. Many newcomers to the pond hobby do not realize that even with 2” pipe, a single 90 degree elbow will increase the head pressure by 6 feet! That is why most good Koi pond designs will feature the use of flexible pipe instead of multiple fittings, and the use of pipe no smaller than 2” in diameter.
When sizing a pump for a Koi pond, you want it to be able to produce the flow of water that you desire at the head pressure of your plumbing system. Every pump comes with a curve so that you can determine it’s output at various head pressures. Once you know a pump will fulfill the needs of your system, then you can compare pumps by efficiency, or the amount of energy that they require to do the work of moving the required amount of water. It is also desirable to ascertain that the performance curves published for any given pump have been confirmed by independent testing labs. Some pump manufacturers’ performance claims are hard to reproduce in real world situations. It is the ability to move the most water with the least energy that differentiates the W. Lim pumps from their competitors!
Many independent Koi hobbyists have purchased off-the-shelf Wave pumps and then done their own testing which they have been willing to publish. When Roark first tested a Wave pump, he found that the pump matched the published performance curves, and then to find out how well built the pump was – he ran it dry. Most pumps will burn out in less than an hour of running dry. Roark ran the Wave pump for 24 hours, and then tested the performance again only to find that the pump continued to achieve perfect performance! Tom Blischok even hired an engineer to certify his testing of pump performance, and found that the Wave pumps were exemplary! Aquatic Eco heard about the performance of the Wave pumps, and then did their own independent testing before they decided to carry the W. Lim product line in their catalogues.
Pump performance, like so many things, is directly influenced by the amount of money spent on the pump components. What distinguishes the Wave pumps are the custom impeller designs (which are different for each model), and the power of the motors used to run the pumps. W. Lim Corporation contracted with Baldor Electric Company, a firm synonymous with high-end quality motors to provide the specifications for the Wave power plants. William specifies the number of “windings” on the motor for each model of pump so that every Baldor motor used on a Wave pump is much stronger than competing motors used on other pumps. “There is no maintenance on a pump, so they must be built strong enough to do their job over their expected service life,” says William. The impellers (you can think of them like the propellers used on an outboard motor that spin and move water) used on each of the Wave pumps are cast rather than machined, so that they quality is consistent for each impeller. Quality workmanship produces the most economical pump for the consumer. The overriding goal of each of the pump models is the highest performance coupled with the lowest cost of operation. William also produces most of his pump housings, again offering higher quality at a reduced cost to the end user.
Each Wave model has different specifications. Some can overcome higher head pressures, and some use less energy. You must first size a pump to the job that it is going to be required to do. Many pumps start to lose power from the first hour that they are used, and some are only producing 50% of their original performance in less than 2 years. Many competitors’ pumps wear out before 5 years. A Wave pump should produce the published performance for 7 to 10 years of constant use. W. Lim Corporation is achieving these amazing results due to their strict supervision of quality control. Because these pumps have very strong motors, their performance does not decay over time.
There are 3 basic product lines for the Wave pumps. The Wave 1 pumps are low pressure and high volume pumps that are designed to be the most economical in the product line. They come in 1/6th, 1/8th, and ¼ horsepower models, each running at 1725 rpm.
The Wave 2 pumps come in 2 configurations. The low pressure, high volume pumps running at 1725 rpm come in ¼, 1/3rd, ½, and ¾ horsepower models. This group uses a similar impeller design.
When customers demanded a higher pressure, high volume pump, William developed his second configuration of Wave 2 pumps. These run at 3600 rpm, and use a different impeller design. They come in 1, 1 ½, 2 and 3 horsepower models.
The third line of Wave pumps is called the “Dragon” line. It was developed for commercial use in large waterfalls or aquaculture applications. They are very economical for the work being done. The models available are ¼, 1/3rd, ¾, 1,1 ½ and 2 horsepower. For instance, the 2 HP model pumps 270 gallons per minute or 16,000 gallons per hour using only 18.6 amps!
While it may seem that there is overlap in the horsepower of some of the pumps in the various product lines, each product is differentiated by its pumping volume at a specific pressure and its energy usage. It took a tremendous amount of hard work and money to develop the internal design for these exceptional pumps!
To keep your Wave pump running at the original performance, William advises you to be careful to never restrict the input to your pump. You may restrict the pump output as much as you want without incurring any damage – you will simply get less flow. All W. Lim Corporation pumps should be plumbed with a minimum of 2” plumbing. If your input is more than 50 feet from the pump, then you need to consider 3” plumbing. William says, “When choosing a pump, you must carefully match it to the demands of your system.”
William is an avid Koi keeper, now owning more than 200 Koi with some over 32”. His favorite Koi is a large female Showa. The W. Lim Corporation employs 8 people full time, and produces 1000’s of pumps each year. He is currently looking to expand the business and purchase a larger building.
Visit W. Lim Corporation