More Beer Sculpture Pump Plumbing Question

I was recently lusting through the more beer catalog for there brewing sculptures. I noticed in there illustrations that the pumps have a T on the input side with a valve on the left hand side. What is this secondary input used for?

Kurt's designing a stand for me, and he does the same thing. I asked the same question and he told me it serves two purposes, IIRC, (1) it's a bleeder to assist with priming, and (2) helps to fully drain the pump after use.

pfgonzo said:

Kurt's designing a stand for me, and he does the same thing. I asked the same question and he told me it serves two purposes, IIRC, (1) it's a bleeder to assist with priming, and (2) helps to fully drain the pump after use.

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Thanks for the plug... :rockin:

kickrjason said:

I was recently lusting through the more beer catalog for there brewing sculptures. I noticed in there illustrations that the pumps have a T on the input side with a valve on the left hand side. What is this secondary input used for?

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As mentioned - it is supposed to be a priming valve with the added benefit of a dump. Although: the priming valve should really be on the output of the head to be completely effective. You want the head full of liquid and devoid of air (as much as possible) before you start running it.

So is it a useless feature? i have never seen it before and i find it odd that More Beer would put something on there with no added function.......

kickrjason said:

So is it a useless feature? i have never seen it before and i find it odd that More Beer would put something on there with no added function.......

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No, it helps prime a pump. Its usefulness depends on the setup. If I had self closing quick connects, I would definitely want help priming with that valve. I have camlocks, so disconnecting the output primes the pump rather well, but when connected to my BK circulating boiling sort, its pretty good at burning my hand as well. Lol

Having it there as a dump valve would be nice, but not necessary, so again it depends on your set up.

I have enough spare SS fittings sitting around to modify my pump. Once you said boiling wort I saw how it would benefit my setup.

phoenixs4r said:

Having it there as a dump valve would be nice,
but not necessary, so again it depends on your set up.

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We just go the extra mile, part of what makes our stands BadAss

OneHoppyGuy said:

We just go the extra mile, part of what makes our stands BadAss

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Did you guys put your stands on Craigslist for awhile in the bay area? I though they looked familiar. Cool you made a nice little business out of it.

That's where we got our start. Built one for my self... painted it, took pictures and posted it. 10 minutes later it was sold. It was like the light went on... huh... maybe I have something here and the rest is history. :rockin:

P.S. Craigslist is NOT a good place for selling new brew stands

I must admit I'm at a bit of a loss as to how putting the valve before the inlet helps prime. I mean it'll certainly help bleed air from the line but it doesn't let the pump head fill up. Unless I'm missing something you could still have air trapped in the pump head and that is what we want to minimize. The valve on the outlet let's the head flood and push out any air pockets. That is how my setup is and works like a champ. Obviously it must work if Morebeer is doing it this way but I just don't really see how it's as effective.

That valve could be useful for emptying the pump and line, I suppose. On my setup I'd just pop the QD at the pump input (at 6 o'clock), but I didn't see any QDs in that pic.

I agree it doesn't seem all that helpful for priming. Assuming some positive pressure driving the fluid in the line to begin with (gravity, presumably) any air trapped therein would get pushed up through the pump head if given the opportunity, by opening a valve on the pump output.

Curiously, there is no valve on the pump output. I'd consider that many times more important than a dump valve...

Cheers!

oh... you mean like this?



disconnects on in and out, dump/priming valve and throttle valve

air on the output side often prevents flow reaching the pump head, thus the small priming valve. It works for us.

Preface: this isn't to spark a debate It's purely for educational purposes I promise!

I'm at a bit of a loss as to how that could happen. Your pump is below your vessel output. And then the pump outlet is above the inlet. So when you open the vessel output gravity is forcing the liquid down. And then atmospheric pressure will push it back up until the pressures are equalized. Assuming we aren't talking about a small volume of liquid (which usually isn't the case) such that the pressure doesn't equalize before it has a chance to escape the outlet, then the force of atmospheric pressure will put any air trapped in the head out.


photo

So when I prime - I just pop the valve at the outlet of the pump head open, open the vessel output and pressure takes care of the rest. As soon as I get a steady stream out of the valve I close it up and I'm fully primed.

A valve before the inlet should help remove any air trapped in the line. But as soon as you close the valve up the same principle as above will happen - atmospheric pressure will push the liquid up. But it will be displacing air in the head now as well. Hopefully enough is displaced such that is escapes the pump head completely when you open your output valve. It's not like it'll kill the pump or anything but it will cavitate for sure.

I should also mention that if it's on the output I can open it up and use it as a sampling valve for readings. If it's on the input then there's a potential to lose prime I think or at least have some really nasty cavitation.