Pacific Hydrostar Pumps

To my surprise I could not find any info on the board about these. They sell them at Harbor Freight. They are labeled as "marine pumps" but use SS heads. Thoughts? Anyone have experience with them?

Pump 1

Pump 2

Beefy but Cast...

I don't have an experience with them but one thing I noticed is the PSI is pretty high as compared the the March pumps which range from 1.8 to 6.53 PSI.

http://morebeer.com/public/pdf/h315.pdf

If they have moving parts (and thus lubricants such as oil) in the head itself, then you don't want to use them with wort.

It's been discussed on HBT many times. Not sure why a search does not show it for you. As I recall they can't handle the heat.

Well crap. I searched Hydrostar to no avail.

search "harbor freight pump"

No experience with this particular pump...The manual suggests that this pump is for "utility water pumping" and does not say anywhere that it is for pumping potable water, or specifically: boiling hot potable water (or wort).

I work in the marine industry and these pumps are generally used for de-watering such as removing water from a bilge or that has condensed in some other place on a boat. Utility pumps like this one are generally not designed to handle boiling hot water. There are a number of utility gear pumps that are suitable for hot liquids such as oil changes on large diesel engines, but those are not suitable for potable water.

The March-brand pumps popular with home brewers are magnetically-coupled and do not have any shaft or seal going into the pump body. Nothing to contaminate your hot wort- and nothing for your hot wort to damage.

When looking for a pump for brewing I would suggest two minimum requirements: 1) designed for use with drinking water, and 2) designed to work with liquids up to 100 deg C. I would call the number on the manual and ask if this pump meets those standards before buying this pump...

I have the 2nd one and I use it for a portable camping shower. There are two downsides to using this pump for brewing:

1. It's not a mag drive, so there is a seal on the impeller shaft and it would be near impossible to insure proper sanitation.

2. It requires a 12 volt DC power supply and a hefty one at that. You could run it with a car battery, which is what I use, but I think there are much better alternatives.

3. It's a self priming pump and it does not like to be throttled back with a flow control valve. It can be done, but the power draw goes up big time and if continued for very long it will likely overheat the pump. These pumps are not really designed for continuous use.

4. These pumps are noisy.