IAmErickson
Member
Hi All,
I've been having something of an epic, ongoing saga with my Chugger pump. At this point, I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what it is.
Here's the Cliff's notes version of my situation: about 10 months ago, I upgraded from a 5 gallon partial-mash stove top brew system to a bigger, gravity fed all grain system. Basically, the top of my HLT is at about 8', the top of my mash tun is about 5.5', and the top of my kettle is about 3.5'. I have a plate chiller mounted on the work bench next to the top of my kettle, and in order to use it (and save my back when doing 10+ gallon batches), I purchased a Chugger pump from MoreBeer, which sits on the floor below my kettle.
The problem was that after one or two brews, the pump started crapping out. Like, it would take longer and longer to move fluid between point A and B, until it eventually just died entirely. Fortunately, the customer service at MoreBeer is phenomenal, and when I emailed them to explain the situation, they had a replacement in the mail for me within the hour. Only thing is, the replacement pump didn't even make it through the first brew session before it stopped being able to move fluid the 4' from the floor to my plate chiller (had to call a friend to help me heft a 10 gallon batch of boiling wort onto the top of a ladder so I could gravity feed it into the chiller). So I emailed MoreBeer again (I've been working with the same rep all along, so he knows the history). I explained exactly what I'm doing - keeping the pump below the level of the fluid, never plugging it in until it's primed with liquid, and never running it dry - and after a couple of questions to ensure I wasn't doing something wrong, he sent me a third pump.
I just had my first brew session with this third pump yesterday, and it's able to pump efficiently from the floor to the plate chiller, but it can't raise the water up the 8' of hose to reach the top of my HLT - it gets about 4.5' up the line, and can't seem to heft it anymore.
I know these pumps can be a little tricky to prime (eventually I was planning on putting bleeder valves on it, but for now I've just sort of been tapping the inlet line to eliminate air bubbles when priming), but by and large, every homebrew seems to use this style of pump, and none of them seem to have the problem that I've run into 3 times in a row, now.
So like I said, I'm sure I'm doing something wrong... I just can't figure out what it might be. I'm unlucky, but not so unlucky that I should get 3 units with the same malfunction in a row.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with their pump(s)? Is there something really obvious I'm missing here? If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears - at this point it's getting downright embarrassing to keep having to email customer service to get these things replaced every few weeks.
I've been having something of an epic, ongoing saga with my Chugger pump. At this point, I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what it is.
Here's the Cliff's notes version of my situation: about 10 months ago, I upgraded from a 5 gallon partial-mash stove top brew system to a bigger, gravity fed all grain system. Basically, the top of my HLT is at about 8', the top of my mash tun is about 5.5', and the top of my kettle is about 3.5'. I have a plate chiller mounted on the work bench next to the top of my kettle, and in order to use it (and save my back when doing 10+ gallon batches), I purchased a Chugger pump from MoreBeer, which sits on the floor below my kettle.
The problem was that after one or two brews, the pump started crapping out. Like, it would take longer and longer to move fluid between point A and B, until it eventually just died entirely. Fortunately, the customer service at MoreBeer is phenomenal, and when I emailed them to explain the situation, they had a replacement in the mail for me within the hour. Only thing is, the replacement pump didn't even make it through the first brew session before it stopped being able to move fluid the 4' from the floor to my plate chiller (had to call a friend to help me heft a 10 gallon batch of boiling wort onto the top of a ladder so I could gravity feed it into the chiller). So I emailed MoreBeer again (I've been working with the same rep all along, so he knows the history). I explained exactly what I'm doing - keeping the pump below the level of the fluid, never plugging it in until it's primed with liquid, and never running it dry - and after a couple of questions to ensure I wasn't doing something wrong, he sent me a third pump.
I just had my first brew session with this third pump yesterday, and it's able to pump efficiently from the floor to the plate chiller, but it can't raise the water up the 8' of hose to reach the top of my HLT - it gets about 4.5' up the line, and can't seem to heft it anymore.
I know these pumps can be a little tricky to prime (eventually I was planning on putting bleeder valves on it, but for now I've just sort of been tapping the inlet line to eliminate air bubbles when priming), but by and large, every homebrew seems to use this style of pump, and none of them seem to have the problem that I've run into 3 times in a row, now.
So like I said, I'm sure I'm doing something wrong... I just can't figure out what it might be. I'm unlucky, but not so unlucky that I should get 3 units with the same malfunction in a row.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with their pump(s)? Is there something really obvious I'm missing here? If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears - at this point it's getting downright embarrassing to keep having to email customer service to get these things replaced every few weeks.
