Brown Pump

[brucearnold]

I went the barbed ones mate FWIW, however it also means you need to buy additional fittings

Costly...

Why would it be more expensive, and what added fittings are you talking about. Only ask as people I know who use March Pumps have barb fittings on these and just push the silicon hose onto the fitting. No clamps required and they hold on fine.

 

[Darkman]

Why would it be more expensive, and what added fittings are you talking about. Only ask as people I know who use March Pumps have barb fittings on these and just push the silicon hose onto the fitting. No clamps required and they hold on fine.

The inlet barbs on the brown pump is much larger then the outlet barb for some reason. To get around this issue I sqeezed a smaller hose over the smaller barb to make both barbs roughly the same diameter so I could use the same diameter hose for my inlet and outlet. I didn't need to buy any extra fittings.

 

[brucearnold]

The inlet barbs on the brown pump is much larger then the outlet barb for some reason. To get around this issue I sqeezed a smaller hose over the smaller barb to make both barbs roughly the same diameter so I could use the same diameter hose for my inlet and outlet. I didn't need to buy any extra fittings.

????

I understand the hose part, but different sized barbs? On the ebay link they are both M21 ports, just different length threads (14.5 and 20mm). Is this not the case?

 

[Nevalicious]

Whoops, my bad... Was supposed to read I have the threaded type. 2 of them, and the associated fitting in stainless cost just over $30 from BeerBelly

Disregard above post. I was at work and distracted!!

 

[argon]

Shite! just broke my pump. I was fitting a ball valve to the outlet side. As i was tightening it i must have applied too much torque to the other outlet, which has a ball valve manifold on it and the plastic sheared off at the body. So now i have a thread stuck inside the manifold and a useless pump.

I'll get another one as i think they're pretty good. Just next time i'll be more careful when tightening any fittings as the plastic is not the strongest.

 

[Batz]

Shite! just broke my pump. I was fitting a ball valve to the outlet side. As i was tightening it i must have applied too much torque to the other outlet, which has a ball valve manifold on it and the plastic sheared off at the body. So now i have a thread stuck inside the manifold and a useless pump.

I'll get another one as i think they're pretty good. Just next time i'll be more careful when tightening any fittings as the plastic is not the strongest.

You would make a good boilermaker

batz

 

[winkle]

Shite! just broke my pump. I was fitting a ball valve to the outlet side. As i was tightening it i must have applied too much torque to the other outlet, which has a ball valve manifold on it and the plastic sheared off at the body. So now i have a thread stuck inside the manifold and a useless pump.

I'll get another one as i think they're pretty good. Just next time i'll be more careful when tightening any fittings as the plastic is not the strongest.

Brad could have told you that. <_<

 

[DKS]

Shite! just broke my pump. I was fitting a ball valve to the outlet side. As i was tightening it i must have applied too much torque to the other outlet, which has a ball valve manifold on it and the plastic sheared off at the body. So now i have a thread stuck inside the manifold and a useless pump.

I'll get another one as i think they're pretty good. Just next time i'll be more careful when tightening any fittings as the plastic is not the strongest.

Thats bad luck argo. Been following this post with interest and have bought two pumps. Gave them a dummy run last week end to confirm power supply. All went well off one transformer . Point is I havent arranged steel framework as yet so if you would like a pump quickly you could have one of mine and Ill grab a replacement off you when get a replacement for yours.If you are in a hurry. If not Ive got a million questions for ya anyway.
Daz

 

[argon]

Thats bad luck argo. Been following this post with interest and have bought two pumps. Gave them a dummy run last week end to confirm power supply. All went well off one transformer . Point is I havent arranged steel framework as yet so if you would like a pump quickly you could have one of mine and Ill grab a replacement off you when get a replacement for yours.If you are in a hurry. If not Ive got a million questions for ya anyway.
Daz

Thanks mate, very generous... But I'm in no rush. Won't be brewing for a while. And if I do, I have no problems converting the rig to a gravity setup by way of a couple of milk crates.

I too just bought 2. My aim is to set it up so I don't have to change hoses, just turn valves. Should keep things nice and clean and simple.

 

[brettprevans]

March oump is still acting up. So ive.bought one of these from nev. Will report back. Not happy to read about tge plastic shearing, but I guess thats part of 'get what u pay for'.

Actually im considering one of these as a water tank pump. Obviously its not goinh to give mains pressure but it better than gravity feed.

 

[mark0]

so those of us using this for wort, i'd suggest having the motor at the top with the shaft vertical. this will keep wort out from around your magnet as the air bubble will be trapped in there. I just had to strip mine down when it stopped working.

for those curious, you should be able to remove the whole impellor and rotor by pulling, the stainless steel disc behind the impellor will need to come too. a small flat screwdriver might be needed to pry it off.

 

[kjparker]

so those of us using this for wort, i'd suggest having the motor at the top with the shaft vertical. this will keep wort out from around your magnet as the air bubble will be trapped in there. I just had to strip mine down when it stopped working.

for those curious, you should be able to remove the whole impellor and rotor by pulling, the stainless steel disc behind the impellor will need to come too. a small flat screwdriver might be needed to pry it off.

I'd assume though running it that way would potentially cause a priming issue?

 

[Wolfy]

for those curious, you should be able to remove the whole impellor and rotor by pulling, the stainless steel disc behind the impellor will need to come too. a small flat screwdriver might be needed to pry it off.

This is what mine looked like when pulled apart:

Not sure if they're all the same internally, but they all look the same from the outside.

 

[brad81]

Not sure if they're all the same internally, but they all look the same from the outside.

Strangely enough, I was expecting pink.

 

[Truman42]

I'd assume though running it that way would potentially cause a priming issue?

No it doesnt and I can vouch for what marko is saying. I had a problem with mine and it stopped working. When I pulled it apart there was dried wort and crap inbetween the brass bush and its outer housing (that toothed gear looking thing next to the shaft in Wolfys photo)

The brass sleeve acts like a bush to take any lateral movement of the shaft. When shit gets in there it causes the whole toothed gear to twist slightly and pushes the magnet up against the inner housing which slows and eventually stops the pump.

If you run the pump with the inlet facing down but have it higher up so gravity forces wort up into it you shouldnt have any problems priming it. If you must run it the other way I would make sure you give it a good running through with PBW and hot water for awhile to clean it out, or keep it wet in an enclosed loop.

 

[Yorg]

So does anyone have any reports on how these brown pumps are performing.
They seem almost too good to be true.

I heard from Wolfy that his seized once he paused it at boiling temp, and wouldn't start again until it cooled down.
I thought they were made to run at 100C.
Any one else experiencing performance or reliability issues?

 

[mark0]

Any one else experiencing performance or reliability issues?

Yep. brown pump has been removed from my BIAB rig for simplicity. but nothing ventured, nothing gained. :lol:

not sure that the orientation of the pump really helped me with reliability in the end, the last brew i did, i dismantled it at least 4 or 5 times to clean/check. it would run for a bit then die.

do you want to buy it?

 

[Wolfy]

So does anyone have any reports on how these brown pumps are performing.
They seem almost too good to be true.

I heard from Wolfy that his seized once he paused it at boiling temp, and wouldn't start again until it cooled down.
I thought they were made to run at 100C.
Any one else experiencing performance or reliability issues?

Both have refused to switch back on after having ~80-100degC wort/water recirculated through them and then being switched off momentarily to change hose-output-location. However, both worked fine again after a long cool down period.

I find they work as expected (for such an inexpensive piece of gear) however, the flow-rate is quite low (in the model(s) I have) so when used in my HERMS system the grain-bed-temperature tends to lag behind the mash-temperature more than I'd say is 'ideal'.

 

[Fat Bastard]

I find they work as expected (for such an inexpensive piece of gear) however, the flow-rate is quite low (in the model(s) I have) so when used in my HERMS system the grain-bed-temperature tends to lag behind the mash-temperature more than I'd say is 'ideal'.

I thought the critical thing was the liquor temperature as that's where most of the conversion takes place, and that the grain bed temp was irrelevant, hence the placement of the temp probe in the outlet rather than the bed itself. I find the temp coming out of the return lags a couple of degrees behind the temp on the outlet, but equalises within a few minutes of reaching temperature. This is not in a HERMS system though, so I may be talking out of my arse.

I do agree that the flow rate is quite low, too low to pull the heavier stuff out of the bottom though. It did have enough guts to drain the wort from under the bag and scorch my element on a 9kg grain bill, so too much flow may not necessarily be a good thing!

 

[Wolfy]

I thought the critical thing was the liquor temperature as that's where most of the conversion takes place, and that the grain bed temp was irrelevant, hence the placement of the temp probe in the outlet rather than the bed itself. I find the temp coming out of the return lags a couple of degrees behind the temp on the outlet, but equalises within a few minutes of reaching temperature. This is not in a HERMS system though, so I may be talking out of my arse.

Sounds about right to me.

Mash-in with 20L of water and at 3L/min, it takes about 5mins for the pump to circulate all that liquid through the mash, and the lag (between mash temperature changes and the temperature probe at the HERMS outlet) is noticeable when ramping up temps for a step-mash.
In comparison, a march pump would circulate the entire mash volume in about 1 min, and (I presume) the mash temperature would change just as quickly.