A few weeks ago I had that moment many brewers dread. I was recirculating some leftover sparge water through my counterflow, warming it up before hooking it to the boil kettle and sanitizing it. I stepped away for a few minutes, and when I came back the flow had stopped. After spending a few minutes trying to get the pump primed, I gave up with the realization that the pump head had seized. In this case I was lucky, I was over at a friend's house for a group brew day and was able to borrow his identically equipped pump.
I took the pump apart a few days later, and to my surprise everything came right apart - the pump head wasn't stuck. After taking a closer look I realized that over time, a layer of deposits had built up (somehow surviving the hot PBW soaks) and it was the goo that had cooked and seized, not the plastic.
After cleaning everything and setting it out to dry, I got super busy and wasn't able to put the pump back together for about a week. When I finally had time to get everything together, I was missing a part. The dinky little thrust washer that goes between the pump head and the impeller was missing.
Anyway, to the point of the post: I emailed March Mfg, and they said they'd mail me a replacement part free of charge. Awesome customer service! I was a bit surprised to see what they'd shipped it in though...
Large padded shipping envelope, inside a box filled with cushy packing foam. The box looks like it's just about the right size to ship a pump, my best guess is that they've negotiated a really good shipping rate for that box size and it wasn't worth it to dig up a plain envelope and a stamp.
I took the pump apart a few days later, and to my surprise everything came right apart - the pump head wasn't stuck. After taking a closer look I realized that over time, a layer of deposits had built up (somehow surviving the hot PBW soaks) and it was the goo that had cooked and seized, not the plastic.
After cleaning everything and setting it out to dry, I got super busy and wasn't able to put the pump back together for about a week. When I finally had time to get everything together, I was missing a part. The dinky little thrust washer that goes between the pump head and the impeller was missing.
Anyway, to the point of the post: I emailed March Mfg, and they said they'd mail me a replacement part free of charge. Awesome customer service! I was a bit surprised to see what they'd shipped it in though...
Large padded shipping envelope, inside a box filled with cushy packing foam. The box looks like it's just about the right size to ship a pump, my best guess is that they've negotiated a really good shipping rate for that box size and it wasn't worth it to dig up a plain envelope and a stamp.
