pump opinions

Hey guys,

I need two pumps, which can handle high temp water (one will need to be able to handle boiling wort). What should I get? I have no experience with pumps, and while I thought the march 809 is a great pump, people have told me otherwise.

What do you recommend?

With the high numbers of people using them for brewing over the years, the march 809 has been proven to be a good pump for brewing. I really like my Little Giant pump which has a higher flow rate and primes easier than the 809, but if buying new they're a little more expensive.

Should I be concerned with the polysulfil material that touches the wort? What model Little Giant do you have?

If you understand the term "not self priming", March pumps perform very well.


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Yes, I do understand that they have to be manually primed, and plan on installing them under my brew kettles.

Now, should I go with the "high flow" model? Also, can I place a stainless steel QD on these, or do they need to be plastic?

i have SS camlocks on my poly pump head. as long as you are aware that over-torquing the fittings will strip the threads off the pump, and if you are able to avoid doing that, then you will have no problems.

most sites 'suggest' plastic fittings simply because people lean on a 12" wrench with all their weight and and stand bewildered and angry when the threads strip off...

Zeppman said:

Should I be concerned with the polysulfil material that touches the wort? What model Little Giant do you have?

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I have a 3-mdqx-sc. The polysulfone used on both the march and little giant pumps is safe for wort. For higher temp ratings you can go with the ryton head option for the little giant (hc models). The options above the poly head for the march pumps are ryton, bronze, or SS. With the relatively low pressures involved in brewing systems, the heads can actually handle higher temps than they are rated for. I and many others here pump boiling wort without any issues using the 180F rated poly heads.

Zeppman said:

Now, should I go with the "high flow" model?

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Depends on how you plan to use it. If you're just using a pump for recirculation and transfers, you probably don't need the high flow. If you want to whirlpool with a pump, the high flow will be much better.