How to clean out moldy pump

[h22lude]

Starting up brewing again after a 4 month hiatus (damn infant lol). I ran my pump and some gunk came out of it. What is the best way to clean that out? I'm running it right now with water while it heats up. Running boiling water through it will definitely help sanitize. Should I put in Dawn, PBW or Oxi in the water and let it run through the pump?

 

[jackers252]

I usually run PBW through mine, followed by a clean water flush. I run my pump during the last 15 minutes of the boil, so that does my sanitizing.

 

[m00ps]

Every month or so, I run hot PBW through my system and let it sit overnight. Gets a ton of crap out that the hot water blackflushes between weekly batches cant

 

[h22lude]

I'm going to run PBW with hot water for 30 minutes or so. Hopefully that will get all the crap out.

 

[dmcman73]

Chugger pump? Just remove the head from the motor and then remove the back plate from it where the impeller is. You'll be able to clean it a lot better than just running hot wort through it especially if a lot of gunk came out.

Bobby at Brew hardware has a great video on removing the pump head and dismantling them...even aligning the head: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdwfzxblL_U&ebc=ANyPxKrhW3hqw0NfgoqK7KvOX7p8ODbT_nE8sRZRVqZDV4e45Y-BILS5dEK6kCQzrPdBoPVOpkAg5hjVC4eUj5ghU34J9BH8cg[/ame]

I would do this if my pumps were sitting for quite a while.

 

[Firewalker11]

Chugger pump? Just remove the head from the motor and then remove the back plate from it where the impeller is. You'll be able to clean it a lot better than just running hot wort through it especially if a lot of gunk came out.

Bobby at Brew hardware has a great video on removing the pump head and dismantling them...even aligning the head: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idw...LS5dEK6kCQzrPdBoPVOpkAg5hjVC4eUj5ghU34J9BH8cg

I would do this if my pumps were sitting for quite a while.

Like he said...:rockin:

 

[h22lude]

Thanks for that video. I'll definitely be doing this tonight.

 

[jcav]

+1 on removing the pump head and take off the cover which lets you get to the impeller. The impeller slides right out and you can easily clean the whole entire compartment. I do this after every brew day now to get any small particles of grain out of the impeller compartment. Only takes a few extra minutes for each pump, but saves stuff from growing in there, you'd be surprised how gummy the impeller shaft can get from the wort, so you can clean the shaft while your at it. When I clean out this area my pumps work perfectly.....

John

 

[dmcman73]

Thanks for that video. I'll definitely be doing this tonight.

If you have the plastic pump head, just be careful not to strip the screws, use a hand screw driver not a power one like in the video.

 

[dmcman73]

Let us know how you make out with this....

 

[h22lude]

Worked out well. Did have a little gunk around the O ring. Thanks everyone