March Pump squealing...

Does it need to be oiled?

Where do you oil it? (Pics would be great).

Yes it does need to be oiled. There are actually two places for oil. There are two little openings on the top of the pump. (Top if you have it mounted horizontally)

If I remember correctly you will find those oil locations here.

foppa78 said:

If I remember correctly you will find those oil locations here.

View attachment 4562

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And they should have either little stickers or identiations in the metal that say "Oil Here"

At least both of mine do.

Here is a better picture with the oil holes in circled in red.

Cool, thanks guys.

Let us know if oiling it stops the squeal. I'm curious.

That worked guys, thanks!!!

Now, anyone got a good link for instructions on how to use this thing?

Dude said:

That worked guys, thanks!!!

Now, anyone got a good link for instructions on how to use this thing?

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Here is what I used when I first got mine. Is there something specific you are looking for?

http://www.marchpump.com/documents/Part%20Sheets/Hydronic%20Pumps/809%20Catalog.pdf

HarvInSTL said:

Here is what I used when I first got mine. Is there something specific you are looking for?

http://www.marchpump.com/documents/Part%20Sheets/Hydronic%20Pumps/809%20Catalog.pdf

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Basically...do you have to prime it first? What are the steps in using it to transfer wort? Anything special, or do you just hook it up and go?

Both of mine require priming but I simply have them below the mash tun or boil kettle and use gravity to get 'em rolling and then turn them on. Remembe you can put a valve on the out-flow side to control the flow rate with no risk of damaging the pump.

Dude said:

Basically...do you have to prime it first? What are the steps in using it to transfer wort? Anything special, or do you just hook it up and go?

Click to expand...

Yes you have to prime it first. These pumps are not self priming.

Make sure you have a ball valve on the output side of the pump. Make sure the valve on your kettle is wide open, and control the flow using the output valve.

PM me if you have any questions about priming. It took me a long time to get this right, but I'm really satisfied with the my March's now. Except for the squealing...in fact I've been waiting to ask this exact question. I had no idea they needed oil.

Now, what oil and how much???

Edit: OK..I just saw the PDF....thanks for posting that, awesome stuff. FYI:

Here's my orignal set up. I don't have room for a tier system of any kind. The photo is filling the carboy after first recirculating. The Tee after the pump is what I use to prime. I'll rotate up (or not depending on my mood) the whole segment going into the carboy in the picture and open that valve. Or I'll simply lower the other section after the Tee and open that valve. Either works. Since this photo I've replaced the flexible tubing before and after the chiller with a more rigid plastic tubing as the soft tubing would collapse as my hop filter would get a little plugged. The sections of tubing around the pump and the connectors are all hard plastic (food grade, rated for > 212F).

I also use this set up to vorlauf. I built a ring, like the copper sparge ring of brewpastor, but out of the hard plastic tubing. The hard plastic is flexible enough to bend into about a 12" circle. I use the same configuration in the photo, and just swap out the fitting used for recirculating. I still have the flexible tubing after the pump used for the recirculating and during the sparge I still use the soft tubing between the MLT and the pump during the mashing steps. I've since added a Tee (with a valve) in front of the pump that I use to connect my new HLT to the pump so now I can pump water into the MLT rather than dumping it in. I need to update my photo.

We're on the same page Dude. I haven't used mine yet and hope to this weekend. I kicked off another thread here related to sparging if you're interested. I also had a thread on Quick Disconnect questions here.

Play around with moving some water around. And, have the in to the pump pointing downwards if you can. I'm not hard mounting mine until I really know long term how I'm gonna use it.