Pumping wort

[narl79]

So I was trying to recirculate on my last brew and my pump wont do it. I have an xl 150 ft chiller from more beer and a march 815 pump. It will pump water around my system just fine but wont do the wort??? My question is have any of you had the same issue and 2: I have a 25 ft chiller as a back up would that be big enough to use for recirculation?

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[BackAlley]

Are you trying to pump wort through an immersion chiller?

 

[narl79]

Yes.

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[narl79]

Is it to small of a pipe to do??

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[augiedoggy]

Are you trying to pump wort through an immersion chiller?

isnt the water supposed to go through the immersion chiller?

Seriously though, something is either wrong with your pump or it wasnt primed correctly..... both my little 12vdc powered pumps pump my wort through 3/8 copper that I converted from an immersion chiller to a herms coil...

Is the march self priming and did you prime it if not? otherwise I'd have to say to had too much trub and blocked the flow somehow. did you filter the trub from the wort correctly?

 

[yourfavo]

Are you trying to pump wort through an immersion chiller?

Immersion chillers aren't made to pump wort through. You hook up to cold water and put the chiller in your hit wort.

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

Are you using it as a HERMS coil? If so are you making sure that you're not pulling grain during the recirc? (if you start pumping too hard, too fast you might not set the filter bed properly)

 

[narl79]

Yes im trying to use my chiller as a herms coil/chiller. I have quick Disconnects so it would be easy to swap. I vorlof like im batch sparging ( thats how I sparge) till its clear and then i prime. Its not self priming. Its a 150 foot chiller so I was thinking the wort is too dense for the pump to pump it that far and was wondering if anybody tried using that big a a herms coil? Or if I should use my 25 footer and if so do any of you use that small of a coil and get good results?

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[kiblerjd]

I really think your problem is not having enough net positive suction head on the pump. The chiller is going to add more resistance to the discharge of the pump so you are going to have to add some pressure at the suction of the pump at least initially to get everything going. Best way to do this is either low the pump below whatever vessel you are taking suction from or raise the vessel above the pump. It's possible you can put everything back to normal height once you are pumping but maybe not.

Keep in mind wort is thicker than water and it is hot. Both things require more pressure (suction head) at the pump inlet. Without enough head the pump with cabotage and basically stop pumping because its filled with bubbles and gas.

Just my two cents but I would try it.

 

[SaguaroMan]

Do yourself a favor and get one of these.
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=271361285227

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[narl79]

Heres a pic of my set up. I have more than the 2 ft my pump requires. So im guessing im just going to try tye 25ft and see if it works.

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[augiedoggy]

I really think your problem is not having enough net positive suction head on the pump. The chiller is going to add more resistance to the discharge of the pump so you are going to have to add some pressure at the suction of the pump at least initially to get everything going. Best way to do this is either low the pump below whatever vessel you are taking suction from or raise the vessel above the pump. It's possible you can put everything back to normal height once you are pumping but maybe not.

Keep in mind wort is thicker than water and it is hot. Both things require more pressure (suction head) at the pump inlet. Without enough head the pump with cabotage and basically stop pumping because its filled with bubbles and gas.

Just my two cents but I would try it.

I'm confused by this? the pump is meant to push they are not good at pulling... the pump should be in place before the coil. this is also why everyone mounts the pumps down low on the stand down below the coils hieght Are you trying to pump with the coil in a bucket on the floor?...I think the issue is you arent priming the pump correctly I think and that burns the pumps out fast. if theres air pockets in the line your pump wont work.

 

[augiedoggy]

Heres a pic of my set up. I have more than the 2 ft my pump requires. So im guessing im just going to try tye 25ft and see if it works.

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that pump if primed correctly should have no problems pushing wort through that coil. that looks like 1/2" coil?
if my little 8liter per minute 12vdc pump can push my wort through a 3/8" 25ft coil with not problems and plenty of flow your huge pump should be able to pump it much harder...

 

[kiblerjd]

I'm confused by this? the pump is meant to push they are not good at pulling... the pump should be in place before the coil. this is also why everyone mounts the pumps down low on the stand down below the coils hieght Are you trying to pump with the coil in a bucket on the floor?...I think the issue is you arent priming the pump correctly I think and that burns the pumps out fast. if theres air pockets in the line your pump wont work.

You are correct centrifugal pumps are really good at pushing and they suck at sucking. That was what i was trying to say. The pump has to be below the tank it is taking suction off of (the supply). The greater the resistance on the discharge of the system the lower the pump needs to be. The lower you get the pump the higher the suction pressure is.

You are correct about priming the pump but even with it primed well if the pump isnt low enough you will lose that prime because the wort will bubble in the pump and you will fill it with gas/air.

If you can't lower the pump you raise the supply tank to accomplish the same thing. Also if you didn't know this never ever ever throttle the flow in the inlet of these pumps. Always throttle the discharge if you need to reduce flow.