My March Pump Sucks!

[Jonnio]

Pumping hot wort through an external chiller is very easy and practical in comparison if you're the type of brewer that already plans on pumping through. It's as simple as starting the pump a few minutes before starting the coolant flow. We're saying "minutes" but really, as soon as the chiller hit 200F for a few seconds, it's good to go.

Thanks Bobby - this addressed my concern. I thought about the same thing, but was afraid that if it really took a couple (up to 15) minutes of near boiling wort to sanitize something then turning off the boiler, but not turning on the cold water would probably not maintain that temp long enough. If it is only a matter of a minute though that should be fine.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Research shows that sterilization by boiling is achieved within 2 minutes. Anything past that, and you're wasting fuel and time. This applies to boiling water for consumption, too.

 

[Reverend JC]

There will certainly be some steam bubbles that get sucked into the line but if you start will a full prime (no air in the pump or tubing), it shouldn't be a problem. 15 minutes is a bit more than necessary. About 10 minutes to go I run some wort through the pump and chiller until the output temp hits 200+ then I shut the pump off and let it sit in there. The wort doesn't have to be moving to heat sanitize.

+ 1 Thats how I do it.

 

[TerapinChef]

I was going to go with...

It must be defective, you should send it to me.

*DOH*

 

[TBLbrewer]

See, this is why I love this forum, I've gotten several great ideas to make my pump work the way I think it should. If nothing else, I have the stubborn factor to fall back on . I'm so damb stubborn, I'll keep trying until it works.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I took my pumps apart this weekend, as I had to reorient the output for my new rig. Removing the head and getting a look inside at the impeller really sheds a lot of light on how it works, and where bubbles might be trapped. I highly recommend it, just be careful about stripping screws/heads.

 

[terrazza]

Hrmmm... in regards to sanitizing your plate chiller/pump after the boil kettle, running boiling wort works fine. I have a brutus system, and when I run Hot wort throught the plate chiller, I make sure I turn down the ball valve on the far end of the recirculation pump. This way I don't get steam bubbles in the pump. If you are worried about sanitation, you should really examine your equipment and disassemble your march pump before your next brew... It doesn't take too long. And you'll see it DOES build up some serious beer stone and soil. Worse, the inside of your ball valve does too. Dissassemble that after you brew, and I guarantee you will want to after every brew once you've seen what deposits in there. But even after seeing all that, I think that running boiling wort through for 5-15 minutes is just fine... Sometimes I remind myself that I've heard that Guiness adds a little bit of rot wort from their previous batch into every new batch by boiling it to kill all the nasties :_) or so I've heard.

 

[TulsaStageHand]

I have a Saltwater aquarium and I use pumps extensivly to filter this and filter that. One thing i have learned with my pumps is that you have to watch your head space. (the distance your are attempting to pump) it will decrease with distance; length and height. If you are attempting to push air through your setup with hot wort it will take more engergy from the pump. Hot water has a lower viscosity hence more engery from the pump. The smallest ammount of air/steam will decrease the pressure (engery) of the pump.

Have you primmed the complete setup with water before you start the pumping of wort?

 

[happymonk]

As long as you rinse your pump out after usage(hot water) and run some sanitizer through before hand (pack it up the night before) you will not have any problems. Boiling wort causes pumps to cavatate, you can adjust the flow rate(slow it down). But generally breweries do not boil while pumping. In the brewry I work for we clean sanitize and hot rinse everything before wort hits it. No need for boiling(which makes 3 phase pumps howl at the moon)...

 

[TBLbrewer]

I brewed yesterday, and I am happy to report no pump issues. I took the advice of running some boiling wort through the ball valve prior to hooking up the hose and starting the pump. Worked like a charm. I ran it until the wort on the exit side read 210 degrees, and then shut it off.

I also took the advice of taking the pump head apart. It gave me piece of mind to see that it was clean, and I was able to air dry it that way to avoid mold growth.

Thank you for all the advice!

 

[Grimsawyer]

I don't prime my pump and it works great. Ok, so I have a system of getting it to work that out of necessity I've come to use. I have about 3ish feet of silicone tubing between my boil kettle and the pump. The pump itself is located about a foot lower than the BK. When it's time to pump boiling/close to boiling/whatever... wort through my CFC I start with my pump being pretty much not primed at all. I have my pump head oriented so that the intake is pointed straight down and the out is pointing straight up. This allows bubbles trapped to escape up, or out, when running. I open the valve on my BK and turn on the pump untill it stalls out. Next, with the pump running, I shut the valve on my BK, then turn off the pump. This allows the bubbles to escape out instead of allowing the bubbles back into the line that goes into the pump. I then turn the pump back on BEFORE opening the valve, then I open the valve on the BK. Repeat 2-4 times. This rarely works the first time, but dosn't seem to take more than 3 or 4 times. After it starts going it dosn't stop. Before I figured this out I was about to yank the pump off, sledge hammer it to oblivion then set it on fire for all the frustration it caused. Since I changed how my pump was oriented and figured out how to prime it life with my pump has been much more zen. I hope this helps! :fro:

 

[bull8042]

GOOD JOB! Sometimes, priming a March takes a little finesse, but all in all, it is a great pump.

 

[nathan]

I don't prime my pump and it works great. Ok, so I have a system of getting it to work that out of necessity I've come to use. I have about 3ish feet of silicone tubing between my boil kettle and the pump. The pump itself is located about a foot lower than the BK. When it's time to pump boiling/close to boiling/whatever... wort through my CFC I start with my pump being pretty much not primed at all. I have my pump head oriented so that the intake is pointed straight down and the out is pointing straight up. This allows bubbles trapped to escape up, or out, when running. I open the valve on my BK and turn on the pump untill it stalls out. Next, with the pump running, I shut the valve on my BK, then turn off the pump. This allows the bubbles to escape out instead of allowing the bubbles back into the line that goes into the pump. I then turn the pump back on BEFORE opening the valve, then I open the valve on the BK. Repeat 2-4 times. This rarely works the first time, but dosn't seem to take more than 3 or 4 times. After it starts going it dosn't stop. Before I figured this out I was about to yank the pump off, sledge hammer it to oblivion then set it on fire for all the frustration it caused. Since I changed how my pump was oriented and figured out how to prime it life with my pump has been much more zen. I hope this helps! :fro:

That's basically what I do as well. I have a 90 degree QD at the boil kettle, so I just turn it, rotating the qd so the air travels up and the wort in the tubing goes below it. The idea is to get all the wort in the kettle end of the tubing, and the air towards the pump. Then when there's just a bit of air at the pump intake, you can lift the tubing with it all running and open and it will shoot out the air fast and be fully primed.

 

[Dgonza9]

Attach autovent to output of pump. Instant prime every time!

Link to autovent.