in the market for a pump - march or chugger?

The next purchase that I will be making for my beer equipment is a pump. I am not bound to either march or chugger but would like to get the correct pump the first time (bought too small of a brew pot the first time!). Are the center inlet pumps the way to go now? If so, how do you step down from the 3/4 inch inlet to 1/2 inch?

I don't mind spending a little extra now to only have to buy it once.

Thanks!

also, why do I need a ball valve on the output side of these pumps?

Thanks!

I have a stainless steel chugger that works great. The ball valve on the output is so you can adjust the flow rate. For example, I have to pump the wort pretty slowly through my plate chiller to cool it off enough on the way to my carboy.

This is the one I have.

http://www.chuggerpumps.com/product.php?prodid=234

Adding to the ball valve discussion: You want the valve on the output to slow the flow down, but never never never restrict the inlet. It's a magnetic drive pump, so restricting the output won't do any harm. If you restrict the input, however, the pump wants to shove it out as fast as possible, and you risk losing prime.

Can you completely stop flow on the outlet side of a march pump, and keep it running without doing any damage?

I really like my March High speed pump from More Beer when they were doing their 14 days of christmas sale, it works great and pumps damn fast.
I just have to make sure i don't let it run dry for even a split second or it throws my breaker.

I have both and I like the Chugger WAAYY better. It is quiter, sounds smoother and faster.

http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.c...field=chugger&add+to+cart.x=0&add+to+cart.y=0


For sure!

Cheers
Jay

I just bought a couple of the chugger stainless pump head with center inlets. I had a march poly pump head before that. The march was fine but the poly pump heads can be fragile if you torque on the fittings too much. The stainless chugger was cheaper from StainlessBrewing than the march was from most online sources. StainlessBrewing is "local" to me, aka the same state, so I wanted to support him. After inspecting both I think they are made in the same freaking factory and have different stickers.

We are currently running a promotion until April 1st on the chugger SS center inlet. $136 and you get the 3/4" x 1/2" adapter included for free. This is the lowest price this pump has been in a few years. Once the inventory is reduced, it's going up.