Tri-Clover pumps on the cheap, now what?

[gunmetal]

I just scored two Tri-Clover C114 series pumps at the scrapyard. I bought both pumps for $25.50, or .35 cents per pound. They have 1`5" inlets and outlets. Now for the bad, they have 3 phase motors which I think are bad because of the repair tags on them, however, they are just 56C 1/2 h.p. motors. The pump adaptor will go on any 56C motor, so I will have to keep my eyes out for some cheap ones. I've read some things about these pumps, I know that they make different size impellers for these to adjust flow. I also know that you can put a throttling valve on the output to lessen flow. The manual also states that you can cause the pump to cavitate which will make it loud and vibrate. I already have 1" tri clover valves on my keggles which should be a good thing for flow. Has anyone had any experience with these pumps? I know you could also put a variable frequency drive on them to make them variable speed, so there are several options that I am going to experiment with. They are just too cool and too cheap not to give them a try. You can remove the clamp, front cover, impeller, and rear backing plate in about 30 seconds, so cleaning would be a breeze, also the rest of my Brutus is all Tri-clover- from the same scrapyard.

 

[GillandCo]

Nice find...a Little TLC wouldn't hurt if you figure they work good enough for what you need. 25$ you can't beat that. I may have to check my local Scrap Yard to try and top that price.

 

[bendavanza]

They don't appear to be mag drive, so will you trust a seal to be sanitary?

 

[Sawdustguy]

They don't appear to be mag drive, so will you trust a seal to be sanitary?

Just because they are not magnetic drive, doesn't mean that they are not sanitary. It is very rare to find a commercial sanitary pump that is magnetic drive. Most are centrifugal pumps. You see these type of pumps in dairy's and breweries all the time mostly used as transfer pumps.

 

[gunmetal]

They are completely sanitary, they have grooves in the shaft that directs fluid back to the rear of the impellet for clean in place applications. Most of the time you do not have to even dissasemble them. But taking them apart is only a thirty second job. Remove the front cover with a tri clamp, then push back on the impeller and slide a pin into the shaft and the impeller slides right off (square drive). The big challeng is going to be to get the flow down to where I need it to be. Going to get a standard 115V motor first then experiment with throttling down the discharge, then the inlet. The carbon seals in the back are in good condition. Rebuild kits only inlcude the carbon seal, and the backplate seal, and the impeller pin, which are readily available.

 

[gunmetal]

An update on my flow test. First, I tried a variable frequency drive that I got for free from my cousin. It is is the first picture. For those that do not know, a variable frequency drive will (depending on the model), take 120 volt single phase power and convert it to 3 phase 220. It will do this and give you variable speed in the process. I hooked it up to one of the motors and it ran perfectly. It also allowed you to dial the speed down to nothing.

While that worked great, About two weeks later the scrapyard that I frequent bought out an electric motor company that went out of business. I found an unbeleivable deal on a 1/2 h.p. Baldor washdown duty motor that was 90 volts D.C. current, for only $10.00. I also powdercoated the pump housing white to match the motor with a home powdercoating setup from Eastwood.

Then I dug around in the boxes of stuff and found this 90 volt D.C. drive for only $5.00.

After mounting the motor on my rig it looks great tucked underneath.

I planned on using this for chilling the wort, with a chiller that I have yet to buy, and for transferring. I thought that it would have way too much flow to use for the rims tube, but you can dial down the flow so little that it does not even have enough head to get to the top of the keggle.
Turning it up it will empty the keggle in no time at all. It should produce quite a whirlpool. Here is a picture of the flow set low.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Wow, fantastic finds! Those triclover pumps are VERY expensive...I don't see them going for anything less than $500 on Ebay, and even those are beat up. Keep one and sell the other....

 

[ClaudiusB]

I found an unbeleivable deal on a 1/2 h.p. Baldor washdown duty motor that was 90 volts D.C. current, for only $10.00.

You really got an unbelievable deal

Then I dug around in the boxes of stuff and found this 90 volt D.C. drive for only $5.00.

I paid for the DC controller without the case for my 1 h.p. pump $89.00.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB