Pump use questions

I had my first brewday with a march pump this weekend and it was awesome. Here are some questions that arose from it:

1) Can the pimp exterior get wet? What do you all use to keep it protected? Right now I have it bolted naked to the brewstand, but I don't think that is the best option.

2) Sometimes the pump would keep making the audible noise but the flow would slow a LOT. Why is that? I'd sometimes have similar problems when trying to start it - sometimes it'd just trickle out for a couple minutes and then just randomly start working right - the whole time the pump would sound exactly the same.

3) How do you clean yours before/after brewday? I did a pump through of pbw and then starsan - sufficient?

Stevorino said:

I had my first brewday with a march pump this weekend and it was awesome. Here are some questions that arose from it:

1) Can the pimp exterior get wet? What do you all use to keep it protected? Right now I have it bolted naked to the brewstand, but I don't think that is the best option.

Damp, an occasional splash, ok. I wouldn't aim the hose at it. I haven't seen anything other than bolted to the rig, except one guy that put his in a toolbox

2) Sometimes the pump would keep making the audible noise but the flow would slow a LOT. Why is that? I'd sometimes have similar problems when trying to start it - sometimes it'd just trickle out for a couple minutes and then just randomly start working right - the whole time the pump would sound exactly the same.
This sounds like a little Cavitation . The orientation is important, and make sure the head is below the source of fluid.

3) How do you clean yours before/after brewday? I did a pump through of pbw and then starsan - sufficient?

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I have an electric keggle. I pour in a couple gals of water & some PBW, heat it up and pump it through, and if using a HERMS, don't forget the HEX ! On brew day, I pump starsan through the system while my mash water is heating up. This also ensures that the pump is primed.

One tip that I can give you is to try and not disconnect the hoses at the pump - always keep the inlet and outlet "wet". If you need to control the flow, do it on the output only.

I use a slightly different pump but I'll give my takes on these questions, I'm sure there will be other answers as well.

1. The head of my pump gets some water/wort on it at times, the rest is hidden under the brewstand so nothing can get on it. I'd make sure all the electrical components are well protected.

2. You could be having issues with prime, I don't know about this one.

3. I run hot water (sometimes boiling) through it after brewing. I then may pump some star-san through it. After that I disconnect the tubing, leave the pump on and use a shop-vac to suck out most of the water/star-san.

It is best for all concerned that water and electricity do not mix.

First, make sure the pump is plugged into a GFCI. This will open up the line to make sure nothing bad happens if the AC system is shorted.

Second, you should but a cover over the pump housing. Search this site, you will see many innovative methods to do this. I used some flashing from Lowes to fashion a cover over the top of my pumps. It keep the front and back open for air flow.

At times, it sounds like you pump was cavitating. That is it had too much air in the line to move the liquid through. The March pumps are not self priming. Again, do a search on this site and you will find lots of brewers with the same problem and their variations on how to solve the problem.

I rotated the front housing on my pumps so the inlet in on top, outlet on bottom. I make sure that the liquids are flowly freely before I turn the pump motor on. If I do get totally stuck. I connect a water line to ht e pump and back flush to fill the pumping chamber.

What are you pumping? If it is all on the hot side, you really don't have to worry to much. If you are using it to pump wort through a heat exchanges, you can use the pump to clean the HEX. Get a bucket with ond galon of 120 degree or so water and add some PBW. Use your transfer hoses to pump the soultion through the HEX. Reverse the flow (switch the hoses around. Pump again. You should see a color change as the PBW removes and flushes out any wort from the HEX. Dump the colored water and resume circulatin for a minute of so. Then rinse everthing with fresh water pumped through.

That's it. No need to sanitize after the brew. You will be pumping very hot water next time you use the pump. That will suffice.

Wayne, how did you do your Flashing? I think I'd like to put some kind of cover over it just to be safe.

1. The pump motor is not a sealed unit. Avoid getting it wet. Minor splashing is nothing to worry about. Use a GFCI for added protection when working in wet or potentially wet areas. The GFCI's are very cheap insurance.

2. The rattling sound the pump is making is due to air in the system causing the pump to lose it's prime. The air (or steam vapor pockets) can be from a leaking connection or from cavitation. Check and tighten all connections and reduce the flow rate if the pump is cavitating.

3. Your cleaning procedure should be fine. I hook all of my hoses together and create a continuous circuit loop from kettle to pump, through the hoses and back into the kettle. I run hot tap water and automatic dishwasher detergent through the loop for at least 15 minutes and sometimes as long as overnight. Flush with clean water and sanitize with Star San. I flush it again immmediatley prior to use.

I mounted my pump vertically with the pump head in the down position. This arrangement keeps the pump motor up a little higher and the foot print is smaller. Pump head down makes for easier priming. The vertical post swivels making for convenient orientation of hoses where needed. The base has rubber feet to keep it above the frequently wet floor. The handle on top makes it easy to carry or move to where it is needed both when brewing and when cleaning up.







I've never felt the need to enclose the pump in a box or cover it with a shroud of any kind and I've been using it this way for several years without issues.

Yeah, i think one reason mine was getting so wet is because I just reinstalled my weldless fittings and they were leaking a bit...I need to tighten that up. I'd still be interested in an easy way to put just a little splash guard over the top -- nothing fancy.

You could just put a plastic tub or bucket over it for splash protection. You did say "nothing fancy" right?

I simply bent the edges of flashing under. I looped the flashing over the pump motor. I drilled holes through the flashing to meet with the bolts holding the pump in place on the brewframe. Simple, easy and inexpensive.

My method was to mount it to an old desk drawer. It's not waterproof, but it helps keep small splashes/spills from above off of the motor.

Nice guards on those. Do you guys just leave water or sanitizer sitting in the pump till the next brew-day? Mine is bronze inside so I'm worried about leaving star-san sitting in it due to the acidity, but I'm worried that plain water in a closed space will get rank after a while (mold etc).