Help with Plumbed March Pump

I have a brew stand that has the March pump mounted at the lowest point. I have plumbed it so that liquid from the hlt runs through it up about four feet to the mash tun. I used 1/2 cpvc. The pump sees to prime just fine. The issue that I am having is that it just trickles out, not a nice stream. When I switch it over to the wort chiller, it works just fine. I thought that maybe I had a bad pump so, I cut the piping and used a five foot hose up to the mash tun and it worked just fine. So, I re-plumbed it and it still trickles out.

Any ideas what is going on? I would appreciate your input.

you may want to try a smaller outflow on your pump than the input. A friend of mine who works on food processing systems suggested the same for me. My 2 cents.

The hose that I used without problem with the same diameter 1/2". The bad thing is that I think 1/2 inch is the smallest I can get at Lowes.

what's the diameter of the flow to the pump?

It is the same. I tried the next smaller dim but same problem.

I wonder what model March Pump you have? Some of the 809 models have a Maximum Head of 4.3'. Check the specs on your march pump. If yours is speced at 4.3' the only thing you can do is lessen the height the pump has to pump.

I have the March 809HS. The maximum head is 12.1 ft.

RedDragon said:

I have the March 809HS. The maximum head is 12.1 ft.

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Good! I am glad to hear that! I know a couple of Homebrewers who thought they got great prices on March Pumps only to learn that the Max Head on the pump they bought was 4.3'.

I think I figured out what was wrong. I was trapping too much air into the pump thus it not being able to fully prime and get good suction. What I ended up doing was to let the water out from the HLT to the pump, open the drain valve and the valve to the mash tun. Once water started to come out my drain, I closed that valve then turned on the pump. I tested it twice and the flow of water was perfect!

It sucked that I replumbed and did not figure that out first, but my second plumbing job was much better. Plus, I learned something! Worked out...now I can finally brew!