need help... attention plumbers!

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Dgonza9

Dgonza9

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No, the sink isn't clogged. But I am planning to hard plumb my system tomorrow. I've been sketching all darn afternoon and I'm losing it so a little help would be greatly appreciated at this point.

I'm planning on adding an AUTOVENT. to solve any priming issues now that I have a RIMS setup. My question is, can I plumb the auto vent just like I'd plumb an air admittance valve or a vent for a sink, toilet etc.?

Like this... Just imagine the p trap is the pump, and the Autovent is behind the pump inlet. INSTEAD of the water feeding down the waste pipe, mine will hopefully flow up into the pump head. Or do I need to position the autovent behind the flow of liquid heading to my pump inlet?
sinkvent.jpg


I imagine the pressure issues created with water flowing down the waste pipe here are the same as those created with water going into the pump inlet. So can they be solved the same way?

Basically, I'd like to be able to send wort to my pump from a brew kettle on the left and the mash tun on the right. So liquid will feed the pump head from either side. That makes locating the auto vent kind of tricky.

So will putting the autovent on a tee behind the pump inlet work to allow flow from both sides to enter the pump inlet?

Thanks a lot for the help. Can't think straight anymore tonight. Cheers!:mug: Time for a homebrew.
 
I dont think so, but I am am not entirely sure on your setup.

If you are planning on using the vent to remove standing air in your system, it would have to be at a higher than all other points on the line. but if that is the case, your pump head would likely be submerged anyway.

I think a diagram would be helpful in this case.
 
IIRC, the autovent thingy will allow air in, but not out and it won't work for this application. Additionally, you would want to position an air release valve on the output side of the pump, not on the suction side. There is an air release valve that will work for this and someone posted something in another thread on the subject. A little searching should turn it up. The thread was recently active, so it should not be buried very deep.
 
Oh, I wasn't planning on using the air admittance valve posted here. Just the idea.

Do I really want to position the valve on the output side of the pump? How would that help to prime it?
Will post diagram tomorrow.
 
kladue said:
Take a look at BeerThirty's rig and the autovent positioning, here is one shot showing the autovents https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=25150&cat=all&ppuser=20875[/QUOTE

I understand the idea now. My only question is whether the vent needs to be significantly down the line from the pump outlet to allow air in the pipes to be pushed out or if it can be positioned right on the pump outlet, like a bleeder valve. I need to have the option to send the output to opposite sides of my brew rig. I think I'm going to try it right off the pump outlet first.
Click to expand...
 
You might consider mounting the pumps vertically with pump head down and then placing the vent near the outlet. The primary problem you will have to overcome is the trapped air in the dip tube which is the high point in the outlet plumbing from the kettle, and which usually causes the pump to lose prime. If you modify the plumbing and keg drain to vent trapped air back into the keg without trapping air in a dip tube, you will not need air vents.
Mounting the pumps vertically is not a bearing issue because of the magnetic centering which holds the rotor in place when it is powered.
 
I put a tee directly at the ouput of my pump. On that tee I installed 2 valves. One goes to the system and the other is stand alone (Aux).
After I fill my pump with fluid I open the aux valve till I get fluid then close it. Pump is primed and all air is out of the pump.
Works every time.
Good luck.
 
Hawgbranch said:
I put a tee directly at the ouput of my pump. On that tee I installed 2 valves. One goes to the system and the other is stand alone (Aux).
After I fill my pump with fluid I open the aux valve till I get fluid then close it. Pump is primed and all air is out of the pump.
Works every time.
Good luck.
Click to expand...

That's the way I do it too. The bleeder valve is also convenient as a dumping port or for grabbing a sample when desired.
 
I had been doing it that way as well. Very effective way to do it. I even added a hose bib to mine so I could force prime it if need be, but that turned out to be unnecessary. Still, I got tired of bleeding it every time, using cups to catch the wort, spilling on the floor. That's why I went to hard plumbing and an auto vent. Too many spills from bleeding and quick connects going here and there.

I finished my system last night. Hard plumbing with the Grainger autovent (not the one in the picture, the one in the link!)

Works like a charm. Just turn on the pump and you're good. Basically, just put the auto vent where you would have put a bleeder valve and it'll work fine for you. Now I just turn on my pump and it primes itself!

0215aa4b.jpg
 
kladue said:
You might consider mounting the pumps vertically with pump head down and then placing the vent near the outlet. The primary problem you will have to overcome is the trapped air in the dip tube which is the high point in the outlet plumbing from the kettle, and which usually causes the pump to lose prime. If you modify the plumbing and keg drain to vent trapped air back into the keg without trapping air in a dip tube, you will not need air vents.
Click to expand...

How can I modify the plumbing to allow keg drain to vent the trapped air back into the keg? How does mounting the pump head vertically help with this issue?

Interesting ideas. Thanks for the input.
 
Dgonza9 said:
I had been doing it that way as well. Very effective way to do it. I even added a hose bib to mine so I could force prime it if need be, but that turned out to be unnecessary. Still, I got tired of bleeding it every time, using cups to catch the wort, spilling on the floor. That's why I went to hard plumbing and an auto vent. Too many spills from bleeding and quick connects going here and there.

I finished my system last night. Hard plumbing with the Grainger autovent (not the one in the picture, the one in the link!)

Works like a charm. Just turn on the pump and you're good. Basically, just put the auto vent where you would have put a bleeder valve and it'll work fine for you. Now I just turn on my pump and it primes itself!

0215aa4b.jpg
Click to expand...

I must've gotten a bit lucky the first few times I used this setup. Now I find that I cannot get the pump to prime on the first try. I open the keggle drain, turn on pump, then open the output. The water has a ways to go, up thru my RIMS tube, to the lid of the mash tun cooler on the table above. It can't quite get there.

I then turn off the output valve, turn off the pump, turn pump back on, open output valve. It usually works on this second try. I can hear air come from the auto vent both times.

I'm considering modifying the dip tube, but I'm not sure what to do. Suggestions appreciated.
 

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