Bottom drain keggle & center inlet pump orientation question

[HarvInSTL]

I've some some tri-clamp caps that are npt tapped. Any reason why I can't just connect my pumps directly to the bottom drain? Here is a horrible attempt at photoshop to get my point across. I am missing the tri-clamp caps but I think you will get the gist.

 

[Brettomomyces]

I think this could be hazardous for a few reasons

If it were to leak at that triclover it would go right over the pump, A) my triclovers never leak, I acknowledge that, and B) I'm sure you can build a shield for it still makes me nervous.

I imagine it would be much more difficult to deal with if the pump clogs also.

Plus I think you would need some additional support for it as well, I imagine hanging from the center inlet would put a lot of stress on the head.

And if for some reason during the brew you had to remove the pump...

 

[30Bones]

I don't see what you are gaining over simply adding some hose and a coupe more fittings. Plus now that pump is only useful on that kettle (may not be a concern for your setup)

 

[HarvInSTL]

The hope was to eliminate air in the pump head and prevent cavitation. But it would appear that as long as the output is facing up and is below the vessel, there should be no cavitation issues with these center inlet pumps.

To address the other concerns. Ideally there would be a tri-clamp valve between the pump and the keggle. This would allow me to stop flow and disconnect the pump if need be.

In regards to clogging, I wouldn't expect that the probability of a clog to occur would increase or decrease based upon the pump being connected closer to the output of the vessel or further away. That being said, I have ordered this.

 

[30Bones]

Never had an issue with clogging or cavitation with my pumps mounted in a horizontal manor like most do.

 

[HarvInSTL]

Never had an issue with clogging or cavitation with my pumps mounted in a horizontal manor like most do.

I've had tons of issues with cavitation and priming with both my old march 809's and with a dual head march mag pump in the standard horizontal fashion.

 

[BBBF]

If you had to open up your pump in the middle of a brew, how would you go about it? It's better to be able to isolate the pump so that you can repair it or switch to a different pump.

I have had to deal with that a few times. 1. Whole hops + bottom drain kettles = clogged pumps. I use a hop spider, but I've had a few hop cones make a break for it on the way into the hop spider. 2. I've added honey and LME too fast for the pump to handle.