How much weight can a pump head hold

[h22lude]

I built an all TC fitting priming/sampling valve for my pump. If I had to guess the entire attachment weighs 5 to 10 pounds. Do I need to brace this to my table somehow or will the head and body be able to hold that weight?

 

[cyberbackpacker]

If it is a poly head, definitely brace it. If it is stainless, you can prob get away without bracing it.

If it were me, I'd brace it regardless if it is poly or ss!

 

[iijakii]

I'd brace it. Piping strain can lead to all sorts of issues.

 

[IslandLizard]

If it is a poly head, definitely brace it. If it is stainless, you can prob get away without bracing it.

If it were me, I'd brace it regardless if it is poly or ss!

This ^^^

Although the head maybe SS, the pump body is still poly. All weight is supported by that body and only 4 skinny bolts.

 

[h22lude]

Now the next question, how the hell would I brace it?

 

[user 125772]

Umm, at this point, I think some pics of this monstrosity would be helpful

 

[h22lude]

Doing this from my phone so I'm not sure how it will get attached.

View attachment 1506708674691.jpg

 

[Auger]

At that point you could probably hang the pump body off the plumbing instead of the other way around.

 

[h22lude]

At that point you could probably hang the pump body off the plumbing instead of the other way around.

Wouldn't that cause the same issue? Instead of the piping weight, it would be the weight of the pump.

 

[Auger]

I pick my pump up by the head all the time. The weight of the pump body isn't enough to break those bolts off...I have the stainless steel volute housing though so that portion might be tougher than the poly.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

Just as an FYI... on industrial sanitary pumps (1/2hp and above) the SOP actually recommends bracing of piping. And these pump heads are all metal, attached to motors heavy motors with 3/8"-1"/2 mounting hardware/bolts. Additionally, sanitary piping (aka tri clover) is also called to be supported/braced too.

 

[h22lude]

Just as an FYI... on industrial sanitary pumps (1/2hp and above) the SOP actually recommends bracing of piping. And these pump heads are all metal, attached to motors heavy motors with 3/8"-1"/2 mounting hardware/bolts. Additionally, sanitary piping (aka tri clover) is also called to be supported/braced too.

Yeah I think I'm going to brace it. Just need to figure out how. I'm picturing an arm attached to the leg of my table that has a clamp and wing nut on the other end that would hold the piping. Just need to find something like that.

 

[The_Bishop]

I'm not trying to knock your idea or anything, but there are a number of ways to reduce the amount of fittings you have there.

At the inlet: Just use one of these.

On the outlet: Use a tee with a mini ball valve as a bleeder and this valve to throttle output, and this fitting to connect your camlock hose.

It'll be a lot cheaper.

The biggest drawback to the ez-clean valves is the fact that you *always* need to take them apart for cleaning. The void space the ball is in is pretty large and always has some leftover wort/fluid in it. It's not hard to do, but it something to keep in mind especially if you're going to be hard-plumbing something like this.

Alternatively you can just use the new Blichmann pump with two camlock fittings and have all the functionality of your original setup for *far* less money and much less complication.

Edit: Also, unless you are using the type of gaskets in the tri-clamp fittings that neck down to your fitting diameter, there are a *lot* of voids in that assembly that will collect 'stuff' and need to be disassembled to clean.

 

[h22lude]

I'm not trying to knock your idea or anything, but there are a number of ways to reduce the amount of fittings you have there.

At the inlet: Just use one of these.

On the outlet: Use a tee with a mini ball valve as a bleeder and this valve to throttle output, and this fitting to connect your camlock hose.

It'll be a lot cheaper.

The biggest drawback to the ez-clean valves is the fact that you *always* need to take them apart for cleaning. The void space the ball is in is pretty large and always has some leftover wort/fluid in it. It's not hard to do, but it something to keep in mind especially if you're going to be hard-plumbing something like this.

Alternatively you can just use the new Blichmann pump with two camlock fittings and have all the functionality of your original setup for *far* less money and much less complication.

Edit: Also, unless you are using the type of gaskets in the tri-clamp fittings that neck down to your fitting diameter, there are a *lot* of voids in that assembly that will collect 'stuff' and need to be disassembled to clean.

I may not have said this in my original post (can't read that post right now when typing)...but I'm moving away from using any threaded parts. I like to disassemble everything after brewing anyway. I was doing it with my 3 piece valve and it was a bitch. These ez clean valves are great.

The only pieces that wouldn't be necessary if I used all threaded would be the two TC fittings on the pump head. I'd still need some kind of camlock fitting on the inlet. I'd still need a tee, a sample port, a valave and a camlock fitting in the outlet. I do plan on getting a SS head at some point that has welded TC fittings so I will be able to remove those threaded to TC fittings later on.