Explain something to me about March pumps please.

[BrewBeemer]

I would agree with this analogy, except it's like a beamer owner bitching at a VW beetle in heavy traffic when they are both going the exact same speed.

Hey Lonnie; be careful I own a 87 325is BMW, not stock plus a 54 VW also not stock, the VW has 56 Porsche Speedster in it, brakes tranny, engine and suspension. Sad to say my son last week got his first speeding ticket in my BMW, wrote up as 83 in a 65 when the radar showed 146, the CHP bike cop knew the last name and me with my BMW show bikes at BMW rallies. This scared the hell out of Nick so it's worth his butt in traffic school. It was in a safe area no traffic so this is cool. I have a past also.

 

[BrewBeemer]

That and alot of condescending subtext.

brewbeemer, the March pump is a well known pump, the LG not so much. Why not post some useful links instead of admonishing people for not being as informed as you.

Everyone else, stick to facts and knock off the drama.

ollllllo; I did have all my notes of the both the March and LG hooked up to my IC and brew system with notes on qts per minute flows in a file on my Dell that had a total HD failure. It was ticking for two weeks then locked up. They want $200-$300 to pull out 9 years of stored HD memory, if I had this I would gladly post them. No secrets just testing on what I found out on pumps. It was a fluke with the LG pump my friend loaned me, without it I was looking at a used house hot water recirculating pump as it was free.
In my files where different tubing, hose and pipe ID with the restriction per/ foot numbers as well what every 45 and 90 degree fitting will cost you in flow volume restrictions as well the SG of the fluid and viscosity. A great chart when adding up a brewery pumping system, add up the numbers pump head then match the pressures as well the flows required to select the correct type of pump. This is also locked up and a great help vs having many pumps handy to test with. I found these flow PVC, copper and stainless tubing on the net. Never going to be that lucky to have a bunch of pumps to test flows then select.

 

[BrewBeemer]

Here's my point... Unless you are trying to blast your wort through 50' of 5/8" garden hose or something (I don't know what the deal is really), the March works perfectly for brewing applications. Jebus, most, including me, can chill down an 11 gallon batch from boil to 65 in about 10-15 minutes. Any more flow rate than that is useless. It does it's job very well.

There you go Lonnie your talking 11 gallons, i'm talking 25 1/2 gallons in each keggle with 18 to 18 1/2 gallons to cool down with 60' of 1/2" copper IC tubing.
The March may "works perfectly" for your batch volumes not mine.
When I sold my bewery the buyer insisted I add the LG pumps in the deal after he saw the flows on a quick cycle of the brewery. I wasn't planning on selling him the pumps he paid for the LG pumps at full price which I planned to keep for the next build.

By the way Lonnie; the "totally useless pump" you quoted from my reply why did you leave out the reason instead of just chopping up my reply?

I stated, "I don't care if it costs only $40 it's not a "better value" if it does not preform to the job it's required to do it's a totally useless pump, can't put a "better value" on something that fails on the performance or output.

If I said a March pump is a totally useless pump that would be a stupid statement. You an attorney who thrives on twisting words around or chopping ones statements up? Sounds like you took the same class Pol took.
Sorry bro I don't play that crap!.

 

[jkarp]

Geeze, every thread is a pissing contest these days. HBT must be having its period.

 

[Bobby_M]

All of the drama could have been avoided by the exclusion of one word; sheep. Calling people sheep is the same as calling them willfully ignorant. There are a LOT of march pump owners lumped in there even if they knew of alternatives and made a conscious choice.

Whatever good advice someone may have to offer, all kinds of peppered in arrogance and insults take away credibility.

 

[lustreking]

All of the drama could have been avoided by the exclusion of one word; sheep. Calling people sheep is the same as calling them willfully ignorant. There are a LOT of march pump owners lumped in there even if they knew of alternatives and made a conscious choice.

Whatever good advice someone may have to offer, all kinds of peppered in arrogance and insults take away credibility.

I couldn't agree more!

 

[BrewBeemer]

All of the drama could have been avoided by the exclusion of one word; sheep. Calling people sheep is the same as calling them willfully ignorant. There are a LOT of march pump owners lumped in there even if they knew of alternatives and made a conscious choice.

Whatever good advice someone may have to offer, all kinds of peppered in arrogance and insults take away credibility.

Bobby_M; you said it best; it's totally my fault call it a bad choice of words like a person can think but not speak the same words or else face the conseqences which I did with no intentions of belittling any of my fellow brewing members. I regret this statement and must apologize for the bad choice of wording. It would of been better if I mentioned instead pump brand X vs the most commomly used pump buy of the brewing members, this being the March pump instead. My deepest apolgizes to those that took this as offensive. I'm a person that just speaks what's on my mind no hinting around or playing games it's just me, I came off this time as wrong no thinking as I typed, yes I have strong opinions this is just me. Wow, this totally hurts me as being a cripple (not to offend now any other disableled people) this forum is a window or outlook on life for me being confined to inside a house 24/7 the past 3 years this is the last thing I would of wanted is to cause discomfort and disorder among the many members i''ve met and become friends with on this forum. All I can say or think of at the moment after a bad night thinking about these replies towards me. Yes my bedtime began at 5 AM life in pain 24/7 sucks I went too far call it striking out with the wrong words I wanted to express or get out with my pump experiences. Thanks for reading this reply, BrewBeemer.

 

[Lonnie Mac]

Bobby_M; you said it best; it's totally my fault call it a bad choice of words like a person can think but not speak the same words or else face the conseqences which I did with no intentions of belittling any of my fellow brewing members. I regret this statement and must apologize for the bad choice of wording. It would of been better if I mentioned instead pump brand X vs the most commomly used pump buy of the brewing members, this being the March pump instead. My deepest apolgizes to those that took this as offensive. I'm a person that just speaks what's on my mind no hinting around or playing games it's just me, I came off this time as wrong no thinking as I typed, yes I have strong opinions this is just me. Wow, this totally hurts me as being a cripple (not to offend now any other disableled people) this forum is a window or outlook on life for me being confined to inside a house 24/7 the past 3 years this is the last thing I would of wanted is to cause discomfort and disorder among the many members i''ve met and become friends with on this forum. All I can say or think of at the moment after a bad night thinking about these replies towards me. Yes my bedtime began at 5 AM life in pain 24/7 sucks I went too far call it striking out with the wrong words I wanted to express or get out with my pump experiences. Thanks for reading this reply, BrewBeemer.

Don't sweat it my friend!

I am however pissed that you actually own a 87 325is BMW and a 54 VW! Gawd what I would give for these! Tell ya what, Brutus Ten, and my FJ...

Now, back in the 80's, I had a reef pump that I thought was the best thing next to Chef Boyardee pizzas... I can't remember the name of it but it was something like lifeline?? Not sure but it was GREAT... Checking into todays reef market, there are some nice reef tank pumps that will suck a softball through copper... I am sure there are some great pumps out there for any application one may need. Actually, browsing though a good salt water reef store one can find very many things that can be applied to brewing.

Now on to the tidal wave!

 

[passedpawn]

I run my march pump dry all the time. Not totally dry, but either the mashtun runs dry, or I turn off a valve and don't get around to switching the pump off for a few minutes. It's still running great. Don't sweat it. I guess if there are a few drops of fluid in there swishing around, the pump is quite happy.

 

[SOB]

Thanks passedpawn for getting back to the OPs questions...as a new March pump owner I was also curious...I wouldn't mind hearing more experiences from fellow March owners and how long they feel comfortable running their pumps dry.

Also, you guys say there will be liquid in the head long after it seems dry. What about storing these pumps outside in the winter? My garage easily gets below freezing and my rig is stored in the garage. Now I'm worried about the liquid in the pump freezing and busting the head.

Anything I should be concerned about?

 

[Catt22]

I run my march pump dry all the time. Not totally dry, but either the mashtun runs dry, or I turn off a valve and don't get around to switching the pump off for a few minutes. It's still running great. Don't sweat it. I guess if there are a few drops of fluid in there swishing around, the pump is quite happy.

That's really not what is meant by running the pump dry. A few minutes with no liquid in the volute is unlikely to do any harm. OTOH, running it dry for an hour or more is an entirely different matter. I wouldn't do it intentionally with the March, LG or any other brand, particularly for extended periods and it's probably best to avoid dry running whenever possible.

 

[passedpawn]

That's really not what is meant by running the pump dry. A few minutes with no liquid in the volute is unlikely to do any harm. OTOH, running it dry for an hour or more is an entirely different matter. I wouldn't do it intentionally with the March, LG or any other brand, particularly for extended periods and it's probably best to avoid dry running whenever possible.

I know. My point was, in fact, to demonstrate exactly this: that a few minutes with a wet head and no flow is not going to kill the pump.

 

[passedpawn]

Thanks passedpawn for getting back to the OPs questions...as a new March pump owner I was also curious...I wouldn't mind hearing more experiences from fellow March owners and how long they feel comfortable running their pumps dry.

Also, you guys say there will be liquid in the head long after it seems dry. What about storing these pumps outside in the winter? My garage easily gets below freezing and my rig is stored in the garage. Now I'm worried about the liquid in the pump freezing and busting the head.

Anything I should be concerned about?

I've valved it off and left it going for about 5 minutes before.

Can't comment on the freezing as we don't have that problem down here.

I'd like to mention that dropping this pump is not a good idea. The threaded nipples like to break. Just saying. You can find replacement heads on Ebay for $25.

 

[Bobby_M]

I just picked up a used TE-5-MD-HC for $75 shipped. 1/8th HP. If that bitch doesn't get the whirlpool going, nothing will.

 

[willynilly]

I just picked up a used TE-5-MD-HC for $75 shipped. 1/8th HP. If that bitch doesn't get the whirlpool going, nothing will.

That will. The LG 3-MD-HC will almost throw the wort over the side of the kettle when whirlpooling, and it is 1/12hp.

I am beginning to see that these higher flow pumps do place a much greater pressure on the hoses between the pump and the valve. If you are going to restrict the flow on these higher flowing pumps, Id try to engineer it so the valve is on the pump itself. Silicone hoses are not real high PSI hoses to begin with.

This will save your hoses and save your face from being melted off if a hose bursts or pops off a fitting. IMHO