pumps?????

I am interested to hear all the pros and cons for the type of pumps people are using...

I noticed that March 809's appear to be the popular choice....why?
What about the little giant? or the Iwaki MD-70RLZ?

Are there base line specs needed for a pump and what are they?

thanks,

jm

If you can get your hands on them, Chuggerpumps are great little champs with stainless steel heads. I have 2 that just work. Right now though, it looks like they are still out of them at chuggerpumps.com.
The March are supposed to be nice, but you also pay a premium for them.
Depending on when you are planning on purchasing your pumps, it might be worth watching Chuggerpumps.com.

The March 809s are popular because they are rated to operate at boiling temps and they are the right size for pumping homebrew-size batches of liquid around.

I got a Gorman-Rupp magnetic drive pump on ebay 6-8 months ago (I think) for something like $40. Only disadvantage is that the pump head has hose barb connectors on it so on brew day I'm sitting there with a screwdriver and hose clamps getting it hooked up. I know at least one other brewer here on HBT got one when I posted about it before, but I haven't seen that pump for sale for a while so not sure if you can still get them.

I also know a guy locally who uses a food-safe RV pump that he got pretty cheap, and another guy who got a cheapo peristaltic pump at an auction.

I have a Chugger pump, but I haven't hooked it up yet so I cannot comment on how well it works.

Also the Little Giant 3-MD series seem to be popular for homebrewers too.

I have Aqutec pumps..they are only rated to 140 I have a friend that is an engineer who ran some test(nice to have wicked smart guys for friends), he said that they would more than handle 180. I dont need them for any boiling temps and they have worked out great...so far

An iwaki model 70 would drain your system in a matter of seconds! They are good pumps. Don't know about temp rating - I use em on my aquarium.

Chugger is having a February Promotion to be announced on FEB 8th ! Just showing some love for Valentines!

I bought an Iwaki 15 pump 100Volt(Japan) for $20. It gets pretty warm on 110Volts, and it is volumetrically just fine. The Iwaki site says to 180 degrees F. I also just bought 2 - 110Volt Iwaki 20's for $30. They are bigger volume and head also 180 degrees. I will use my new March 815 for the BKettle and Iwakis for 2 other pumps and have a spare. Careful to do good cleaning and beware some were used in photo processing and very dark (likely silver oxide?). Mine all were very clean looking, sterilized and tested for taste. All seems good.
FYI, Jim

Show us some pics, please!

Are they magnetically driven pumps?

You can get the chugger pumps from homebrewstuff.com . I just got one and I love it. I believe they still have plenty in stock.

i have a chugger with a poly head and it has been working wonderfully. $99 and has been awesome.

"Show us some pics, please!

Are they magnetically driven pumps?"

the Iwakis are magnetic pumps. 180 degree rated so I wont be using for any boiling liquids. I did run one with boiling and it didn't do anything weird so likely would work just fine. The silver oxide cleaned off really quickly. I took head off and boiled it in star-san and then pumped star-san through it as well.
Here are pics front is new March 815, next is Iwaki 20, then Iwaki 15. All 3 work wonderfully pushing liquid at whatever temps. Head/gpm on Iwaki 20 14ft / 8.2 gpm - Iwaki 15 8-10 ft/ 4-5 gal per minute - March 815 18.6 ft/ 7.0gpm (March 809 - 6ft /12.1gpm). All 3 pump steady stream of liquid through 1/2" tubing...Iwaki 20 sucked the silicone tubing in so had to mess around to get it to work. Smallest kink/bend caused collapse. I will be using Braided tubing for the HLT and MLT functions. All are very quiet as well. All are NOT self priming. The pumphead is built about same as the March... (wont fit, but same design). Pricing for the Iwakis is all over the place on ebay/Amazon, so just wait a few days and someone will have listed for $45-60 or best offer. I offered on 3 and bought 2 for $30 each and the 15 for $20 (I'll use it as a backup).
Hope this of some help.

The little giant HC series pumps are great, but cost an arm and a leg. The SC series pumps also work great, but they're not rated for boiling temps. The Iwaki's are pretty much the same as the SC series from little giant. I picked up a used little giant 3 MDQX-SC on craigslist, and I love it. I've never had any issues running it above the rated temps at all. It's much more powerful than the march 809's, and much quieter too. If you're worried about leaching chemicals from the polysulfone head at higher than rated temps, get a march or chugger. If it doesn't bother you, I strongly suggest looking for a used little giant or iwaki.

And yes, they're all mag drive pumps.

I bought two greatbreweh! (http://www.greatbreweh.com/Beer_Pump.html) pumps and they have worked well in the four batches I've used them. They were $75 each including a power supply plus shipping.

No affiliation, just a satisfied customer, yada, yada, yada.

As mentioned above don't get the MD70 but only because it is a monster and to big for a homebrew setup. I have an Resun (Iwaki knock-off from China) MD40 (upgraded by the vendor from the MD30 ordered but out of stock) and that is borderline to big for my keggle setup - I think I have stuck some mashs due to it (it is now PWM so does better).
I checked out all the material specs and the GFRPP is good past boiling point - and had a comment from the competetor say that 180 degree limit would be overly cautious safety factoring (i.e. legal ass covering).
For me I went the Iwaki/Resun way due to shipping - ~$120 for the Resun compared to ~$250 for a 230V march/chugger shipped to NZ!

I have a March Pump. My only complaint is that it is not as powerful as I would like it to be. With hoppy beers, I get a lot of cavitation. I have nothing to compare it to, so maybe I would have the same problem with another brand.

DoWBrewer said:

I have a March Pump. My only complaint is that it is not as powerful as I would like it to be. With hoppy beers, I get a lot of cavitation. I have nothing to compare it to, so maybe I would have the same problem with another brand.

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Not to derail the OPs thread but you would have more issues with cavitation if you got a more powerful pump. You have issues on your suction side, most likely due to hops plugging the kettle outlet of pump inlet. Are you using a hop spider or some other way to filter the hops?

The hotter the more your NPSH available becomes less available, while the NPSH required stays the same. With boiling water cavitation is almost a given, unless you have sufficient vertical head less suction piping losses to still give you enough NPSH required. Pretty unlikely in a homebrew situation.

bethebrew said:

The hotter the more your NPSH available becomes less available, while the NPSH required stays the same. With boiling water cavitation is almost a given, unless you have sufficient vertical head less suction piping losses to still give you enough NPSH required. Pretty unlikely in a homebrew situation.

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So what you are saying is every homebrewer that uses a pump with boiling wort cavitates their pump. That is not true, if the head from the pump being below the pump should give enough pressure to stop the wort "boiling" in the pump head. Of coarse you are right that if the inlet is restrictive enough that the suction losses will be too much.
I don't understand the need for bleed valves, autobleeds, etc as long as you set your pump up correctly.

mattd2 said:

Not to derail the OPs thread but you would have more issues with cavitation if you got a more powerful pump. You have issues on your suction side, most likely due to hops plugging the kettle outlet of pump inlet. Are you using a hop spider or some other way to filter the hops?

Click to expand...

Right now I am using a bazooka screen. I am looking at getting a hop spider.

Chugger pumps!!!! Built by a homebrewer for homebrewers...I love the one I bought for my rig. Ive been using it even before the rig is done...stainless center head with a magnet drive for 140ish?!?!? Screw march pumps, too expensive for literally the same thing.