Dishwasher pump for single tier brewery?

[ChrisfromAbby]

A friend has offered up a dishwasher pump to install in my new single tier brewery. Any reasons why this wouldn't work well? Is built to handle the temperature, and I suppose it must be "food grade".

I'm not planning on automating. I was planning on using it to pump from the HLT to the mash tun. A heck of a lot cheaper than a March or even a Chugger.

 

[30Bones]

Depends on how the inlet and outlet are threaded? clamped on? I swap hoses from one spot to another so I use camlocks. If you only need it from A-B you might be okay. Also remember once you have a pump you have other uses for it. I recirc cleaner through all 3 kegs for cleaning

 

[BargainFittings]

Probably would work. That made me think of this guy's setup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9ezq3XYGIg

 

[ChrisfromAbby]

I'm thinking the type of drive inside the pump is the biggest question. If it's direct drive, I'm not sure if restricting the flow is a smart idea. Hopefully it's magnetic drive - but probably not...

 

[ChrisfromAbby]

I've done the preliminary work. It was a bit of a nightmare the way he's set it up. I found the bulkhead fitting from a (clean but spare) toilet supply valve worked beautifully and I had a braided connector to patch from the bulkhead to the pump. I needed a $4 fitting from HD for 1/4"compression to the FIP fitting on the pump inlet.

Fired it up after a little (re)wiring and, voila! Pumps at pretty close to 1 gal/min wide open. Enough to mash in or lauter I believe.

I'm still planning on a bigger pump for the wort though.

Chris