Cheap compact wort pump

I had two of these crap out on me last saturday while brewing. One of the tan chinese ones and a tan one with metal body. The first one was DOA when I tried to test it in the morning. The other one got me all the way until I was running my wort through the chiller.

It was an extremely frustrating brew day. Anyone else have these issues? I need to disassemble them and see if its anything I can fix.

two_hearted said:

I had two of these crap out on me last saturday while brewing. One of the tan chinese ones and a tan one with metal body. The first one was DOA when I tried to test it in the morning. The other one got me all the way until I was running my wort through the chiller.

It was an extremely frustrating brew day. Anyone else have these issues? I need to disassemble them and see if its anything I can fix.

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I had this issue when I dropped the power supply. I thought for sure it was the pump but it wasn't.

I'm no electrician but maybe check your supply, amperage, voltage, etc. to make sure everything is running correctly. You might have done this already, but I figured I'd state it anyway..

I had 2 crap out on me this week (beige plastic chineese pumps). Power supply checks out. Any ideas on how to fix these.

two_hearted said:

I had two of these crap out on me last saturday while brewing. One of the tan chinese ones and a tan one with metal body. The first one was DOA when I tried to test it in the morning. The other one got me all the way until I was running my wort through the chiller.

It was an extremely frustrating brew day. Anyone else have these issues? I need to disassemble them and see if its anything I can fix.

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These little guys need to be kept spotlessly clean! You can't pump gunk through them. They are easy to take apart, when you do, you'll probably see some stuff stuck on the blades. I now make it part of the cleaning procedure to take them apart after every brew. It's so quick, and much easier than having a stuck pump during a brew day.

tektonjp said:

These little guys need to be kept spotlessly clean! You can't pump gunk through them. They are easy to take apart, when you do, you'll probably see some stuff stuck on the blades. I now make it part of the cleaning procedure to take them apart after every brew. It's so quick, and much easier than having a stuck pump during a brew day.

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Yep exactly, only time our beige/tan pump has acted up was from hop material in the pump. Easy to clean and fine again.

Robert

^^^^THIS^^^^

This is why I will be using for hot water only.

Tim

I took mine apart and nothing was really in there. Cleaned it all anyway put it back together and still nothing. Beyond removing the blade magnet is there anything else I can try to clean?

tektonjp said:

These little guys need to be kept spotlessly clean! You can't pump gunk through them. They are easy to take apart, when you do, you'll probably see some stuff stuck on the blades. I now make it part of the cleaning procedure to take them apart after every brew. It's so quick, and much easier than having a stuck pump during a brew day.

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I've had some of the same issues with them stopping halfway through the brew day as well. The power supplies I got off amazon seem to be beyond crappy, which may be part of the problem. I'm not sure if it was mentioned in this thread or another, but I read that someone having issues discovered that the housing was screwed on too tight and may have been restricting the blade start up. Most of my issues seem to come after the pump has been running with boiling wort through them. I wonder if something inside is expanding a bit and pushing against the blades? It's no fun getting all of my lines sanitized then to have the pump stop. I have other pumps as backup, but it gets a little tricky to swap them out at that time, third degree burns anyone?

One particular pump I had several issues with not working I set aside and later opened up to see inside. I only pump warm water through to clean and sometimes back flush with a garden hose. I expected to see globs of dried crusty wort caked on, but it looked brand new! I plugged it in real quick and blades kicked right on. Go figure.

OK.

Lesson learned.

Brew Day shot because the Little Tan Wonder burned out on me. Fortunately, it did so when I was going to pump boiling water into my mash tun to preheat before mashing grain.

I have always been the sort who is enthrall end with the brewing process. That includes klugging together equipment with which to brew. These Little Tan Wonders fit the bill...until this morning.

My wife, Laura, talked me into spending the money to buy one of the "Big Boy's" pumps.

So...I just ordered a Chugger Pump from BobbyM at Brew Hardware.

Milled grain bagged and in the freezer. If I get the pump before next weekend, I'll brew next weekend. Bobby?

Awesome! I just got an email letting me know that the pump is ready to ship!

BoobyM, thank you!

ianw58 said:

OK.

Lesson learned.

Brew Day shot because the Little Tan Wonder burned out on me. Fortunately, it did so when I was going to pump boiling water into my mash tun to preheat before mashing grain.

I have always been the sort who is enthrall end with the brewing process. That includes klugging together equipment with which to brew. These Little Tan Wonders fit the bill...until this morning.

My wife, Laura, talked me into spending the money to buy one of the "Big Boy's" pumps.

So...I just ordered a Chugger Pump from BobbyM at Brew Hardware.

Milled grain bagged and in the freezer. If I get the pump before next weekend, I'll brew next weekend. Bobby?

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I did the same thing. My chugger should arrive Tuesday from bobby.

Well, according to the USPS, the pump was delivered today at 4:01pm. However, it is NOT here.

BobbyM worked miracles to get this shipped in a Sunday! The USPS, once again, managed to F things up. Un-F-Ing believable! And they want MORE money to provide LESS service?

Thanks, BobbyM! You ARE the man!

Not sure if I'll be brewing this weekend or not, now.

ianw58 said:

Well, according to the USPS, the pump was delivered today at 4:01pm. However, it is NOT here.

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Never fails huh? Murphy's law at its best.
First, look around the house, maybe it got hidden behind a planter or a 2nd door. Could someone else have taken it?

Then double check the delivery address. Could there be a transposed number (been there a few times)? If it's correct, call the USPS customer hotline at once. Seriously. Depending on where you live, you could check with your neighbors perhaps.

Good luck!

Call the post office. Had an order come in from Bobby a couple of weeks ago, and what the a$$hats were doing were marking packages as delivered when they hit the post office, not at point of delivery. Package came in at regular time, and some folks got reamed because thats a big no no on their policies and procedures.

Got the pump!

We have a gang box. The USPS tried to tell me that carrier, a substitute for our normal carrier, forgot to put the key to one of the package boxes in our mail box. I'm calling BS, but I actually have the pump and will be brewing this weekend!

Realizing that this pump is $100 more, and four times as large, it isn't even in the same league. This pump is the Bigs; the Little Tan Wonder is T-Ball.

ianw58 said:

Got the pump!

We have a gang box. The USPS tried to tell me that carrier, a substitute for our normal carrier, forgot to put the key to one of the package boxes in our mail box. I'm calling BS, but I actually have the pump and will be brewing this weekend!

Realizing the his pump is $100 more, and four times as large, it isn't even in the same league. This pump is the Bigs; the Little Tan Wonder is T-Ball.

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I broke my black pump a few months ago the morning of brew day. LHBS got 99 dollars from me. I too now own a chugger. It's great! Emptied my brew pot in a couple minutes.


On another note... I still have my broken off neck black pump sitting around. Does anybody need it? It's yours for shipping costs. Used 3 brews. PM me if you want it

ianw58 said:

Got the pump!

We have a gang box. The USPS tried to tell me that carrier, a substitute for our normal carrier, forgot to put the key to one of the package boxes in our mail box. I'm calling BS, but I actually have the pump and will be brewing this weekend!

Realizing the his pump is $100 more, and four times as large, it isn't even in the same league. This pump is the Bigs; the Little Tan Wonder is T-Ball.

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I couldn't get over how heavy that chugger is. I can't wait to use mine.

ianw58 said:

OK.

My wife, Laura, talked me into spending the money to buy one of the "Big Boy's" pumps.

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Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! I call BS! What kinda wife would ever convince a guy to get new and better equipment? You think we believe that?

I'm pretty sure the real story is more along the lines of "so, as soon as my wife left the house, I snuck online and ordered one of the big chuggers....Now I just have to figure out how to make certain I intercept the credit card bill."

ianw58 said:

W

Thanks, BobbyM! You ARE the man!

Not sure if I'll be brewing this weekend or not, now.

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I had a complete opposite experience with BobbyM. I inquired about something regarding the Chugger while it was marked "on sale" (10% off) on his website. Instead of a reply (after 6 weeks or so he still hasn't replied) he removed the discount from the pump several hours after my PM. It seems that he just forgot to remove the discount and I reminded him. I was not impressed so I took my business to AIH who have never disappointed me.

Back on topic - I also replaced my tan pump with the Chugger but mainly due to my fault for leaving it outside and it getting moldy. I agree with others that if I ever used one of the cheap pumps again I'd only do it for water.

Lmao. I told my wife I wanted to upgrade some of my equipment as I was flipping through the morebeer catalog. She said " what is that?" I said it is a beer sculpure and explained what it was. She told me to do it right and order the $6500 one with all the bells and whistles...........huh....... I think she said yes because she knows I have no room to store it or use it.. oh well. Lol

Guidry said:

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! I call BS! What kinda wife would ever convince a guy to get new and better equipment? You think we believe that?

I'm pretty sure the real story is more along the lines of "so, as soon as my wife left the house, I snuck online and ordered one of the big chuggers....Now I just have to figure out how to make certain I intercept the credit card bill."

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LOL!

Actually, Laura is a bookkeeper and every account we have is electronic. She knows where I've had lunch before I get home. I never have cash and always use a debit card.

I was going to order another tan wonder because it only cost $20. I was even going to open the old one to see if I could get it going again.

Laura was pushing to get the stainless head!

And...the real kicker...she HATES beer! She does,really like my cider, though...

We will have been married for 27 years next Friday!:rockin:

Is this a new Solar Pump Option? I know I read about some black pumps here but I think this is a different one unless I missed it in other posts or this is a different version of the black ones previously mentioned. I don't recall seeing a pump mentioned here with stainless fittings.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Solar-Water...663?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ac3effc17

I was planning on one of the cheap $20 pumps and I may still go that route.

I should mention my planned use. I am building a HERMS brewery which will be a run a horizontal system. As for a primary means of moving liquid I have a March 815-PL. The second pump that I am looking at adding is mainly going to be used to recirculate water in the HLT to keep the water mixed up and a consistent temp. If it failed I can stir the HLT. Eventually I will likely step up to another March or Chugger but for now looking at saving money on a second pump and use the money on other parts of the brewery. The actual re-circulation through the HERMS coils and all transfers will be done with the 815. Well I guess it might be used for sparge but if it failed I could either use the 815 to move the sparge water from HLT to MT and put the boil kettle on the ground and fill via gravity. My "table" is a hydraulic lift for working on my motorcycles. So I can lower the entire table to move the BK back on the table. I am mainly planning on 5 gal batches in converted Kegs so moving a full BK won't be the end of the world and worse case if it died on a 10 gallon batch I could use the loader on the tractor. Bottom line is that the pump will make life easier, but I will rely on the 815 for all the critical work so if it died mid brew session, it won't be the end of the world. All this said, I could buy 3 beige pumps for the cost of this one. @$70 it isn't that much more to step up to the Chugger. I am sure doing a good job of talking myself out of this pump in this post....

^^^^I might go with this one, if they offered free shipping^^^^

Tim

MX1 said:

^^^^I might go with this one, if they offered free shipping^^^^

Tim

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They do have the option of making an offer. Take $15 off the price and see if they bite. Basically works out to free shipping.

well, they will not take $45......

or $50

Tim

MX1 said:

well, they will not take $45......

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Tthen ask them if they would do free shipping instead

Thinking about picking one of these pumps up for HLT recirc. only. I'll be purchasing a Chugger D) for moving wort. From what I have gathered from some of the more recent posts, it appears that some are having issues with the "little tan" pump. Anybody having issues with the cheap black pump?

Thanks,
Ryan

The black US Solar one has been working well for me. Way better than the cheaper black Chinese one. My son accidentally spilled a couple whole cones in the boil and they clogged it once. Other than that it's worked perfectly.

ianw58 said:

Well, according to the USPS, the pump was delivered today at 4:01pm. However, it is NOT here.

BobbyM worked miracles to get this shipped in a Sunday! The USPS, once again, managed to F things up.

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Oh...I see you have yet to learn that the USPS uses 'delivered' to mean that it has been delivered to the "sorting station" nearest you. No. Seriously. I have run into this at least three times ordering parts I thought would make it by the weekend so I could tinker around on stuff.

The last one was a fitting from bargain fittings. It had to be here before I took a week vacation because my work is my shipping address. It was 'out for delivery' on thurs. Never saw it. It was 'delivered' on Friday, but our mail room did not have it.

It was sitting at the sorting station, in the pile of mail that was supposed to be headed to us, but because the delivery person had already left...to bad so sad.

I used every cajoling trick I had to eventually end up at the local sorting station in the back of nowhere industrialville picking it up.

USPS....delivered means to their own place. Not to you. And NO ONE on their support phone number understands this.

I use my tan wonder for recirc during the mash only. Its been flawless except for one batch where some grain got into it.

Again, I think that hte best option is to use these smaller pumps in the HLT, if it fails as a HLT recirc, then you really have not lost anything from your ability to continue brewing.

Tim

Has anyone been able to repair a non responsive small beige pump? Or is it dead and gone with no hope of repair?

Are these things breaking frequently?

I've only got two batches with mine and I'll be bummed if it dies soon.

MX1 said:

Again, I think that hte best option is to use these smaller pumps in the HLT, if it fails as a HLT recirc, then you really have not lost anything from your ability to continue brewing.

Tim

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Thanks, Tim. That's exactly what I plan to use mine for. Just ordered one, and it's on the way.

theCougfan97 said:

Has anyone been able to repair a non responsive small beige pump? Or is it dead and gone with no hope of repair?

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I was able to repair mine. I disassembled and found some gunk lodged in some tight places. I agree that these should only be used for water. They can too easily be shut down with the tiniest but of trub or hops.

I am assuming mine is ded ded. You can take the cover off the front, where the blades are. If you had something wedged in there, you can clean it. Taking the washer that holds the blades off is more difficult and I kinda bent mine.
There is no way to get into the motor area on mine. It is all glued up I guess.

I was thinking of trying one of these pumps to transfer wine through a 1-micron filter into another carboy but just wanted to see if you guys had any thoughts on that. My only concern/issue might be priming it to get it started?

Super_Coo said:

I was thinking of trying one of these pumps to transfer wine through a 1-micron filter into another carboy but just wanted to see if you guys had any thoughts on that. My only concern/issue might be priming it to get it started?

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If you have a port on your fermentation vessel you should be good to go. However, I would be concerned with oxidation when I filtered and placed into another carboy....

Had one of my 2 pumps go out on my during my last brew session. I have one setup to recirc my HLT, and one to transfer/recirc my mash, the one that failed was on the mash. I took the head off it and noticed that when i put power to it, it tried to move, but there was too much friction on the inside. If you pull out the impellar while it is connected to the magnet on the center shaft, I noticed that there was enough small bits of wert on the inside that would cause the friction. Cleaned out the middle and the magnetic drive and it worked like a charm.

I bought one of the tan pumps a few months ago, I used it on the HLT to recirc/set the grain bed, I was brewing a pumpkin beer and even with the pumpkin in the mash It worked great! However with that said all I wanted to use it for was see if putting a pump into my system made sense for me. Well it did so I bought a Chugger now I am looking to buy a second chugger and recirc though my HCFC.