March Pump - horrible noise

[canyonbrewer]

Hi All -

I have 2 march 809 pumps. I have never used them...other than a few tests while I have been building my brew stand. Last time I tested them(a month or so ago)...all was fine.

Now, one of them makes a horrible noise.

It has been mounted to my stand...so no way it got dropped or anything.

If I remove the pump head...the sound goes away.

I happen to own 4 total heads (2 factory, and 2 chugger). I have tried both factory and 1 chugger heads, and they all make the same noise.

Can someone please help me? Could this be a head to motor alignment issue?
I am running it dry...but only for 1-2 secs at a time....could this be causing the noise?

Thanks
jason

 

[Demon]

They can be quite loud why run dry or unprimed.

 

[canyonbrewer]

Hey All -

Just wanted to comment that this is resolved. Sound is from running the pump dry (stupid me).

HUGE Shout-Out to Walter from March pumps. I called him out of the blue and he helped me out in a big way.

THANKS WALTER!!!

 

[zymurgy101]

Do not run them dry! It is like turning over the motor in your car without oil in the sump.

 

[WalterAtMarchPump]

No problem Jason!

As I explained to Jason we usually assemble them with Pharmaceutical grade Glycerin to act as a lubricant because people tend not to read the labels or instructions and plug the pump in to verify that it works without any liquid in them. They will make a loud streaking noise when run dry. That's the impeller bouncing back and forth on the impeller shaft. A short run....(under 5sec) wont hurt anything other then scare you into thinking theres something broken inside!

-Walter