Why March Pumps?

[lotwookie]

I am in the process of building a Brutus clone system and it's overwhelmingly obvious everyone uses the march pumps. My question is why? It's an expensive pump. You can find similar pumps for as much as $20.

 

[Yooper]

Well, remember that your pump has to be able to handle boiling temperatures, like for me when I recirculate and then use a CFC. Maybe a $20 pump isn't able to do that? It must be food grade, fairly quick and quiet, and dependable.

 

[broadbill]

Are those $20 pumps rated for high temps, like the March pump?

 

[passedpawn]

Buy a peristatlic pump head cheap and drive it with your drill. Need to get a head that can handle fairly large silicone tubing, like this one for $10. This would be the cheapest way to go. In my experience, though, often expense is the best economy: you'll be buying a march or chugger pump eventually. Good luck.

 

[BigEd]

I am in the process of building a Brutus clone system and it's overwhelmingly obvious everyone uses the march pumps. My question is why? It's an expensive pump. You can find similar pumps for as much as $20.

Define similar. As the others have said, a pump used for this purpose has to be qualified for both high temperatures and food contact. I doubt those $20 pumps meet those needs.

 

[lotwookie]

I'm not as concerned with price I am more interested in why march pumps are so frequently used. I figured people were just using them because northern brewer carried them. I grabbed two pumps from northern tool just because they were there I was there and they were a good price. This was early in my acquisition of parts. Are there any other brands that people use?

 

[Yooper]

I'm not as concerned with price I am more interested in why march pumps are so frequently used. I figured people were just using them because northern brewer carried them. I grabbed two pumps from northern tool just because they were there I was there and they were a good price. This was early in my acquisition of parts. Are there any other brands that people use?

I see Chugger pumps used a lot and Lil Giant also. My friend has a pump that is different than mine, but I don't know the brand.

I have two March pumps which work well for me.

 

[Bobby_M]

Food grade and high temp are features not found in cheaper pumps.

 

[wildwest450]

And magnetic drive, you can choke them down without burning up the motor.

_

 

[Yuri_Rage]

If you're talking about the $20 Sunterra brand pond pumps from Northern Tool, the product manual specifically says, "Do not pump heated liquids." I wouldn't use that pump for beer. I highly doubt the internals are food safe, especially at high temps. I do like that it's a cheap mag drive pump, though. I can think of some applications for it in the shop.

 

[passedpawn]

Silicone tubing through a peristaltic is always food safe and good to ~450F.

 

[lotwookie]

This is the one that I purchased. http://m.northerntool.com/shops/web/northerntool?cmd=item&itemId=109730&vendorId=110

I think I'll return it and check out the other options. Thanks for responding! I was just curious about what everyone else used. I found some awesome deals on substitutes when I did my research for parts like the therminator where you can find the exact same type heat exchanger for half the price. I thought these pumps might be the same deal. So expensive because it's so highly demanded for brewing projects.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

That pump actually doesn't look too bad and may actually be food safe. However, it pumps at a VERY rapid rate and has a limited duty cycle. The reviews are fairly good, but do suggest that the motor is rather fragile. It might work for rapidly filling a mash tun or transferring hot wort, but I bet you'd burn it up trying to throttle the output (usually necessary for wort cooling).

 

[ultravista]

passedpawn - do you have a working peristaltic pump? I've been thinking of going this route too as my pumping needs are infrequent.

Can you show some examples of an inexpensive working peristaltic setup?

 

[nutty_gnome]

Yeah, I'm curious about the peristalics myself. The one Passedpawn linked on emay has a fairly small diameter tubing; too small for what I'd like to do which is achielve a whirlpool. Where can you find an inexpensive peristaltic pump head that can handle at best the 1/2inch silicone or at worst 3/8 inch?

 

[Bobby_M]

I've never considered peristalics before but a guy in my brewclub bought one and it's awesome. It's self priming and you can switch pumping direction just be removing the tubing and flipping it around in the pump head. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the noise and the pulsing action.

You can see it in action here:



Skip to around 3:30 to see the pump if you don't care about the rest.

 

[passedpawn]

Yes I have a peristaltic pump, but I don't use it for making beer. It's only small diameter tubing. I use it for dosing calcium into fish tank, and I've considered using it to dose wort into starters. It runs relatively slow, even in it's fastest mode.

I thought that one I posted took MUCH larger tubing. Sorry. Apparently I misread something in the listing because I wouldn't have posted that if I saw the 3/16".