What Kind of Circulation Pump To Get

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Donasay

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I need to get a pump that I will use to pump ice water from a cooler through my immersion chiller, but don't want to spend a lot of money. I was looking at home depot, but didn't find anything that was in my price range and fit my bill. It is only going to be used to pump ice water and not going to be in contact with my wort, so it doesn't need to be food grade. I started searching e-bay, but don't know what models to look for, so I was wondering if you guys could suggest some different models that I could look for.
 
I went out and did this just recently and I found what I was looking for, well price wise, on Ebay. I did a search for Sump pump and then organized it by price. The thing you want to make sure of is that it has a hose connection on the OUT so that it can be hooked up to your IC. Now while I haven't gone out and bought a full bag of ice while doing this, I have only used it on two batches but I have three more to go before Christmas, I did find that it worked rather well. I may move forward and try to restrict the flow on the out but haven't decided how I want ot go about that yet.

Either way, go cheap and get something with at least a little bit of power behind it. That one I got is a 1/6hp and it seems to be just what I needed.:cool:

discmann in DC
 
Personally, I'm still torn between the fountain pumps (you can get a 300+ GPH pump in ebay for like $20 or so) and a sump pump.
Northern tool has a sump pump for $34:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?R=792&storeId=6970&productId=792&in_merch=1
But by the time shipping is factored in, pretty much any sump pump will be over $40.
I'm sort of hoping that someone will speak up who's tried a fountain pump of around 300GPH, and say whether it's suitable - Given that I'm using a 3/8" immersion chiller, where the tubing ID is more like a measly 1/4", it seems a little crazy that a sump pump with a 1" outlet wouldn't be serious overkill.
 
IMHO, a sump pump is quite a bit more powerful than you need. I think 300gph is a sweet spot for this application unless you need to pump like 6' of head (from the floor all the way up to a high pot). Then you might want to move up to 500-600 gph. Since the water is so cold anyway, you don't need it to flow at max rate.
 
I picked up the cheapest fountain pump Home Depot had recently before doing much research on what flow-rate would be necessary. It turned out to be around 100gph, and while it got the job done, the flow was too slow. I'm now planning on taking it back and getting this 315gph one off eBay. It's about the same price as my smaller one too.
 
I got a 200 GPH pump from Lowe's for 34 bucks. It came with the garden hose adapter. Life is good.

Chiller5.jpg


Chiller1.jpg
 
:off:
Ed
How fast do ya chill 10 to 12 gal like that?? I used a power head from the pet store but I guess they have shot throught the roof in cost latley.

JJ
 
Jaybird said:
:off:
Ed
How fast do ya chill 10 to 12 gal like that?? I used a power head from the pet store but I guess they have shot throught the roof in cost latley.

JJ

I use well water for first 100 degrees and switch to the recirculation.

I used 30 lbs of ice last time and total time was 30 minutes to get 11 gallons to 66 degrees.

It would have been quicker if I was not standing around drinking beer with guests. :D
 
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