Discuss: Pump Priming

beerthirty said:

Never saw this thread before lehr brought it to the top. Here is how I handle it.

these are vacuum breakers, mounted on each side of the pump. They contain floats that rise when liquid enters and seals the valve. With air present they fall and allow liquid head pressure to purge the air and then reseal. The NPT port has a bubble breaker to prevent surface tension of the liquid from blocking the port. I have one on the inlet of each pump to allow priming when the pump cavity is full but the line is empty, and one on the outlet of each pump so when the pump is turned off air that is trapped in the outlet lines or valves cant flow back to the pump and vapor lock the pump. I have yet to brew with it but have done 3 brew temp wet runs with 100% success. The red button is for the automatic purging and the black button allows you to manually purge.
link to the duovent. Auto Dual Air Vent,Hot And Cold,1/4 In - Vent Valves - Valves - Plumbing : Grainger Industrial Supply

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Damn, it's my own fault. I wish I would have seen this post a week ago. I finished the plumbing on my brewery last week.

Bobby_M said:

The issue that the release valve is meant to fix is that even after you let the liquid settle into pump head, there's some air in the input line between the pump and "from" vessel. The pump will start but then get airlocked. To Nathan's point, there are tricks to get rid of most of the air. One trick I use is to open the "from" vessel's valve with nothing attached and catch the dribble in a cup. This at least fills the siphon tube and ball valve with liquid.

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I'm designing my system now - it'll be a 3-tier, but I have one March pump that I'll use to pump sparge water up to my cooer HLT and strike and mash-out water into my MLT. I'll have a Tee and valves to switch the pump output between either the HLT or MLT, and I wondered if it is possible to backflush the pump and input line to get rid of the air bubble in the inlet. I could add a ball valve on the output side with input from a small plastic bucket of water. The procedure would be to connect the pump input to the kettle, open the kettle valve and the output valve to HLT or MLT and allow the pump housing to fill, then open the valve to the backflush bucket (mounted higher than the kettle) to flush air from the input line (it would go back into the kettle), then close the backflush valve and start the pump. I've never used one of these pumps before, so I don't know whether this is even possible and wanted to get some input. Thanks.

My set up with the cable pull stop cocks mounted in ported ball valves.

Those valves look awesome if they work as described, but from the grainger details on those float valves "Not for use in potable or open-loop systems"... doesn't exactly make me want to put it in contact with my beer.

they are from McMCarr http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/116/410/=a9by39 and
http://www.mcmaster.com/#stop-cocks/=a9c2ix
brass and I see no problem with them as they are the only brass parts in my entire stainless steel system other than the Marchpump housing. If this still is a problem someone chime in and I swap it out to a SS Tee and bushing instead
scroll down and youll see the "Brass Ball Valves with Gauge Port"
and (Better link) www.mcmaster.com/#drain-handle-stop-cocks/=a9c5h5

I think gungadin was referring to beerthirty not your valves. I think the only thing that would worry me about your valve system is that they could get sticky and not seat back properly. Have you ever had any problems with this set up?

your Right Alch! my bad... Yea they work perfect just a little tug on the cable and it burps into a drip pan below..regaining prime is easy... then I flush the whole thing out with hot water and some mild Star-san at the end of brew day , to avoid an sticky probs

beerthirty said:

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Looks like a great setup, but it seems that the Grainger item is discontinued. Anyone have an alternative?

RobbyBeers said:

Looks like a great setup, but it seems that the Grainger item is discontinued. Anyone have an alternative?

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do this search on Amazon "WATTS duo vent", several sources, including the new model which does not have the same 2 vents on top.

Lovely, thanks.

I went with the new model, and I'm going to try it just on the outlet end.