March pump problem

I've been using a march pump for about a year and a half now and I'm convinced that it's a piece of crap. No matter what I do it will only reliably pump liquid if it's gravity fed to the pump. When pumping "up hill" it might take me 20 minutes of priming to get a good flow. Is this a normal problem for this pump or is it just me? Maybe I don't fully understand the limitations of a pump, but I woud think that the whole purpose of one would be to move liquid from point A to point B dispite the Law of Gravity. I mean' if what I'm trying to move (liquid) could be gravity fed than I wouldn't have bought a $130 pump. Thanks, Mike

Do you prime the pump before turning it on?

Not sure how you have the pump "sitting" but I would suggest doing an "east - west" orientation as opposed to the "north - south" so many here seem to use. I had much better results that way.

Yes, I prime the pump every time

schweaty said:

Do you prime the pump before turning it on?

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I have it positioned East to West.

Kilted Brewer said:

Not sure how you have the pump "sitting" but I would suggest doing an "east - west" orientation as opposed to the "north - south" so many here seem to use. I had much better results that way.

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are all connections tight? the pump must be below the level of the feed side since it's not designed to pull from a vessel only pump up to one. how high are you trying to pump up?

It will pump a 12' ft head if I recall correctly, but the pump has to be mounted below the source. It is a magnetically-coupled impeller pump, so it is not designed to generate much pressure (~5 psi max) and also can't pull much suction.

Man, I dunno.

I have mine mounted:



Motor UP
Head DOWN
Inlet to the LEFT
Outlet to the RIGHT

Unconventional, but I have never had the issues that so many have priming these things.

One thing that I would recommend is NOT hard plumbing these things in. I find that some silicone hose and QDs so that you can fill the line with water, via gravity, goes a LONG way to easy priming.

It takes me about 10 seconds to prime my pump for a brew session, after it is primed, I dont have to prime it the rest of the day.

Than the design of the pump is my problem. I guess it's not meant to do what I'm wanting it to. Tanks for the help, Mike

What is it you're trying to do?

Looking at the OP, he wants it to suck fluid, not be a gravity fed pump, which it is.

The Pol said:

One thing that I would recommend is NOT hard plumbing these things in. I find that some silicone hose and QDs so that you can fill the line with water, via gravity, goes a LONG way to easy priming.

It takes me about 10 seconds to prime my pump for a brew session, after it is primed, I dont have to prime it the rest of the day.

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It depends on how your overall set-up is... well... set up. I'm hard-plumbed and I don't have an issue with either of my pumps priming. They "auto-prime" just with how fluid moves through the rig so I don't even have to QD them and prime them manually. As a matter of fact, I haven't disconnected them at all since I plumbed 'em in.

But yeah... following along with the thread, they are gravity fed... they won't suck up... they'll push up no problem but not suck up.

I feel ya' baer19d. My pump is mounted about 18" below my MT and I have he$$ getting it primed. My suction is in the center of the pump body. I have it pointing up with the MT outlet piped directly into it. I know that it's just me because everyone else's works so well. I installed a vent on a tee just downstream of the MT ball valve. That helps quite a bit but has not completely alleviated my problems. Bobby_M was talking about drilling and tapping his pump head, anyone know if he did this? However, this pump will not work if the suction is above the liquid level. If you can't make this happen, you can always sell that pump and get one that will work for your application. Luck - Dwain

When I do my next live brewcast, I will show exactly how I prime my pump... it is frustrating to hear so much frustration over these pumps.

Granted... when I used 3/8" plumbing, mine sucked too... as well as when I had the inlet on the bottom and the outlet on the top. Id recommend also placing the pump as HIGH as you can, yet still under your fluid level... reducing the head AND hose or pipe length on these things goes a long way to improving performance.

Puymp beer from my 15 GAL fermenter via a pick-up tube in the top. Kind of like how a keg works only with a pump.

Kilted Brewer said:

What is it you're trying to do?

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Sounds like you need a perstaltic (sp) pump

baer19d said:

Puymp beer from my 15 GAL fermenter via a pick-up tube in the top. Kind of like how a keg works only with a pump.

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1. Install a valve near the bottom of the fermenter if possible

2. Siphon the beer (autosiphon or the old way)

3. Use CO2 pressure to push the beer

4. Wort Wizard might work (do they still make these?)

I don't have the problems with my mag drive pump that others frequently report. I'm gonna guess that if these little pumps give you headaches, then other even bigger hassles lay ahead.

You guys are killing me. Thought I had it all worked out on pump mounting and was going to do it this week and then I see The Pol mounting his in a completely different way and reporting zero prime problems.

I think I may have to just mount it on some kind of 360 degree swivel so I can change it to suit my whims.

The 'mount' (if you can call is such) of my pump is E-W and I rarely have any issue priming. I installed my March pump into a toolbox for maximum portability:





What aren't visible in these pictures are the brass QDs (i/o) and ballvalve (o) to help prime. By opening the valve on the kettle, the wort flows down into the head after the ball valve is cracked slightly to 'burp' the lines. I use brass QDs to connect to the kettle ball valve and the CFC. Works likes a charm.

Here are mine...

not a great pic but you'll get the idea. I've never had a problem with them priming as I was saying before.

samc said:

You guys are killing me. Thought I had it all worked out on pump mounting and was going to do it this week and then I see The Pol mounting his in a completely different way and reporting zero prime problems.

I think I may have to just mount it on some kind of 360 degree swivel so I can change it to suit my whims.

Click to expand...

My unconventional solution:





It swivels on the base and it's portable. Works well for me.