Stuck Chugger Pump

I'm having a problem with a chugger pump I just purchased. It has brand new and I was trying to get it up and running last night. It was originally shipped with a plastic head and this seems to work fine and everything moves as it should. I also received a SS head that will not allow the motor to turn. It essentially just sits there and and the fan pulses and looks like it like it wants to move but is stuck. I took the head apart multiple times and the impeller spins just fine by hand. There are no obstructions to the impeller and everything works just fine otherwise unless the impeller is in place.
The only thing I can think is that the backplate that holds the impeller in place does not fit very well and could be causing too much friction between it and the impeller and not allowing the magnetic drive magnet and motor to turn. Everything else is very functional and this seems to be the limiting factor.

I have seen threads with this type of problem for march pumps but they were found to have obstructions or stuck impellers because of improper cleaning.

Mike,
loosen up the mounting screws that hold the SS pump to the extension app 1/16", pull the pump away from the motor then power up the pump the motor should run. Then push the head against the adapter, should you hear and feel grinding sounds this means the motor drive magnet is too far forward on the motor shaft contacting the pump end cover plate. A quick simple fix, I recall it takes a 2.5 mm allen wrench then set the drive magnet back app 1/32".
BTW the impeller inside my SS pump head has 0.085" end float as well even with a locked impeller the motor magnetic drive should begin to slip before stalling out the motor plus the contact of the impeller to back cover is so small it could never generate enough friction alone to start the mag drive to uncouple.

I ran it last night with the SS back cover attached and the clearance between the drive magnet and the back plate was not an issue. I'll have to take another look at it tonight to truely see what the problem piece is. Thanks for the insight.

Scut,
shoot me a PM, i'm off for my PT until 4 PM left coast time.

So I looked at this pump again for quite some time tonight. It is definitely the way the SS head is machined that is at fault. The back plate that holds the impeller in place goes on too far to the side because the pump head is not tapped in the right areas for the screws that attach the pump head and back plate. Essentially this deviates the back plate off to the side approximately 1/8" which gives the impeller absolutely no clearance to turn. With the impeller not turning the drive magnet and motor will not turn as well.
I fiddled with it for another 2 hours tonight and 2 hours last night trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with it. Frustrating none the less. At least I have the plastic head for now which works just fine.

Has anyone else noticed this problem? I snapped some pictures of it to help show the problem but can't upload to the computer right now.

When you hold the SS plate up against the motor adapter with the long screw holes aligned, the motor will run with its magnet clearing the stainlesss plate correct?
With the pump head on a table (pump inlet contacting the table) with the impeller dropped in place install the SS cover. When you lift the cover up to clear the step lip of the cover can you pull to the direction of the mounting screw holes like on a clock, 12, 3, 6, 9? On my pump I can get almost a 1/2 hole of cover overlap in all four directions when the SS dome makes contact with the impeller magnet.
When the dome is centered over the impeller magnet it should have a even clearance of 0.042" all around. My cover has to be lifted up out of the pump body beyond the 0.090" step before the cover can be pulled over enough for the impeller magnet to make contact.
The cover dome to the eight screw holes measured are concentric as well the four pump body securing holes to "O" ring groove also concentric on my pump. The only non concentric item I measured was the impeller pin it's off to one side by 0.005" well within production specs with zero effect with pump operation.
Be careful do not lose the 0.040" (1 mm) thrust washer under the impeller.

Have you contacted the seller to find out about getting a replacement SS pump head ?

I'm wanting to see some warranty responses on these pumps
before I buy into them, Little Giants are holding there own right now for me

With Chugger first free offerings of first production run pumps plus adding free SS heads to those that purchased plastic pumps during this free offer I bet the seller of Chugger pumps willing to exchange this defective pump no questions asked and ASAP.
So far Chugger does not know about this problem so why go negative on a company before them even hearing about a problem and how it will resolved I must ask? I have no affiliation with Chugger pumps, you can bet it's a hell of a uphill battle to get a new product out and win public approval.

BrewBeemer said:

With Chugger first free offerings of first production run pumps plus adding free SS heads to those that purchased plastic pumps during this free offer I bet the seller of Chugger pumps willing to exchange this defective pump no questions asked and ASAP.
So far Chugger does not know about this problem so why go negative on a company before them even hearing about a problem and how it will resolved I must ask? I have no affiliation with Chugger pumps, you can bet it's a hell of a uphill battle to get a new product out and win public approval.

Click to expand...

It's not a negative thread but an honest one. I'm not bashing the company or the product but giving an analysis of one problem I found. Their customer service (ie Mike) has been awesome so I'm sure it is an issue that will be resolved quickly and easily. I started this thread to see if anyone has had this problem as I didn't know what the cause of the malfunction was. I found the cause myself and wanted to inform others in case they have the same problem and therefore don't have to spend 3 hours of their time trying to diagnose it. Mike gave out free pumps to get feedback and to get some information out to potential customers from others that have used their product. I decided to buy one for my needs and also to get some information out on my findings. Should potential customers only be provided the positive findings and not the negative? That is not honest information.

Positive: The pump works great with a plastic head and their customer service is awesome and quick.

Negative: I was shipped a defective SS head but this dosen't seem to be a common problem.

Henrythe9th said:

Have you contacted the seller to find out about getting a replacement SS pump head ?

I'm wanting to see some warranty responses on these pumps
before I buy into them, Little Giants are holding there own right now for me

Click to expand...

To answer your question. I emailed him this morning and received a response in 1 (one) minute stating that he will be shipping out a new head today for me. They have impeccable customer service. I'll let everyone know how the new pump head works.

Sounds great problem solved. Hell even Mercedes can kick out a defective vehicle now and then Toyota included.

Somehow I missed this thread in the search and started a new thread for the same problem. Mine only seized the motor after pumping hot wort for my sparge and whirl pool. I Talked to Mike at chugger also through email and just sent my pump back to them for evaluation. Hopefully they can get to the bottom of it cuz I don't have a spare and am shut down now till I get it back. He did say that he would get it back out the same day they get it. How did yours turn out? Any update?

Bummer. I paid 100 buck for mine. Also, it only had 3 of the 4 head screws in it when I got it from them. It didn't leak so I never put one in the 4th hole. I never thought to see if the whole was misaligned and would even take a screw.