morebeer march pump assembly

[KaSaBiS]

I have searched the forums on this for a few days and havent dug anything up so its time to make an official question.

More beer has released their high flow march pump assembly with a tee with a ball valve on the inlet side and a ball valve on the output. [sad thing is I was waiting for this to go up for the deal of the day, dropping it from its $175 price tag. well that never happened, and the pump supplier made them jack up the prices on their pumps (at least thats what an employee told me)]

I am designing my new BK setup which involves piecing out camlock parts for the pump.

with the high flow pump, is the tee valve with a ball valve on the inlet side a luxury item that may mostly be for show, due to the reduced likelyhood of cavitation with the new pump impellers, or is it an additional add-on that I will come to appreciate if I plink the extra cash down for. looking to cut costs wherever I can and I am debating if I will regret purchasing the standard model if I have to throw on a tee and ball valve later to release air that is trapped during operation.

As long as the input faces up, I flood the pump below the BK, how much cavatation have you all seen with the high flow pump or otherwise.

 

[OneHoppyGuy]

The valve on the inlet side is a 'nice to have'. We use it mostly as a gravity drain after clean-up.

The wholesale price went up $5 also

 

[jmark]

+1

I put ball valves for drainage purposes on my pumps as well (similar to how OneHoppyGuy has in his picture). They help clear the system out great. I don't actually have any valves on the outlet of the pumps and so far haven't run into any priming issues - probably b/c my pumps are almost three feet under the kettles so gravity kicks in pretty easily and there's always somewhere for air to go somewhere on the outlet side anyway without the need for additional valves.

 

[37OliveStBrews]

I notice in your picture you don't have any clamps on your hoses holding them on their barbs. I just got my pump and put it through a water only run and found that under pressure the hoses leaked a bit. Clamps on the hoses are necessary right? I haven't had problems with them leaking up until this point just using gravity.

 

[OneHoppyGuy]

The suction side should not need clamps. If it leaks, use a clamp.

 

[37OliveStBrews]

Thanks for your response. That makes sense.