Pump Inlet/Outlet Size and Hose Size

[Alien_Space_Craft]

I'm looking into purchasing a pump that has 1" inlet and 1/2" outlet (the March nano-brewery pump).

1) Assuming I could fix a 1" valve to my kettle, is there any harm in using 1" hose on both the inlet and outlet of the pump?

2) If I add another pump to the system that has 1/2" inlet and outlet, can I use the 1" hose on both sides without any issues?

This pump will be used on a 50 gallon system for recirculating the mash, chilling, transferring to fermenter, etc.

I'm really interested to hear if anyone has experience in using different hose size than what the pump has on inlet and outlet.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[WalterAtMarchPump]

The issue that you may run into is when there is no restriction on the outlet side of the pump and you don't have enough head pressure on the inlet side of the pump....the pump will try and pump more out then whats coming into it....and a number of things "may" happen.....you could get some cavitation....you could decouple the impeller...the impeller could get sucked forward against the thrust washer and start wearing out the front bushing area of the impeller.....you could also draw a higher amp load on the motor and overheat it (usually Very rare but i can happen)
If you are stuck with using the larger line on the outlet, you can use it......just have to install a valve on the discharge side and choke it down a little bit to give the pump some back pressure and you will be just fine

 

[Alien_Space_Craft]

Thanks Walter! That was very helpful.