On Jul 19, 7:35*pm, Andy Breen wrote:

Ahem.. the theory of cavitation is that localised boiling can occur
anywhere that pressure is reduced enough to allow the fluid to boil.
It's all about the conditions under which the fluid undergoes a phase
change, after all..

So where in a boiler feedwater pump is such boiling going to occur?
Where is there a drop in pressure (required) where either (one of
which is also required) such a pressure drop approaches below
atmospheric pressures, or else the temperature is approaching the
steam temperature of the boiler? Even with feedwater heating, pump
temperatures are nowhere near this high.

In many cases of cavitation, it's a highly localised situation, where
a high speed pump can dynamically produce a localised low pressure.
This isn't the case for boiler feedwater pumps.