Kaixin Pumps

[stretch69]

Received an email from Jack today saying his shop will reopen next Friday and he has them in stock as I want two pumps from him

Yeah he emailed me today saying sorry again, and that he can send them in a week,
I worked out how to prolong my order by a week so everything is good

 

[Camo6]

QldKev the issues you described in your priming section is exactly what happens to me. I however I have to disconnect completely and blow through the system to get it to start....This is doing my head in trying figure it out....Thoughts anyone.

Hey Sainter, I have two pumps on my rig. One for HLT and one for wort. The one for the hlt sits directly under it and haven't had any problems priming. The wort pump however needs a little encouragement due to my plumbing arrangement to the false bottom. I employed a setup recommended by Philski ( i think) where I've placed a t piece on the inlet of pump with a two piece valve on one end. To prime the pump I just open the valve and place a jug underneath until I get a good stream then close it and start the pump. No worries. It also helps get rid of the first bit of grain that sneaks past the FB without it blocking up my mash return. There's pics in the herms thread I think owise I can post some.

 

[QldKev]

Yep as Camo6 said, it's all to do with the arrangement of pipes and fittings. Naturally water will flow down hill and the air upwards, we just need to prevent reducing the path for it to happen.

 

[Sainter1775]

Thanks Camo sounds like a similar setup two pumps (brownie for HLT and Greeny from Craftbrewer for MT ) after more reading on this wonderful forum I have rearranged my plumbing for the 6th time and it seems to be a lot better...reduced bends and it looks the good so far smoky IPA next brew will be the test. Next mission is to try and build control unit for two pumps one heating element....lot Google has turned up many Yanks sites..no good. while I'm very good at IT I'm crap at electrical wiring looking for dummies guide to a good build for HERMS controller.

Thanks

 

[Camo6]

I'm in the same boat too mate. Been too busy to sit down and research a control unit build. 2 pumps, 2 PIDs and 2 elements. My understanding of electrical systems is sound when it comes to 12v but not entirely confident of wiring up a 240v system without a wiring diagram. My systems manageable ATM but I'm getting sick of rolling out extension leads and power boards on brew day.
You should check out some of the controller build threads. I've heard there's a gentleman from QLD who's fairly adept at designing these kind of things.

 

[drifting79]

been a while since this thread has fired up i notice all links to these pumps says that the pump is not available
does anyone have advice on how to purchase 2 of these
im in japan so kegking is not preffered

cheers

 

[QldKev]

been a while since this thread has fired up i notice all links to these pumps says that the pump is not available
does anyone have advice on how to purchase 2 of these
im in japan so kegking is not preffered

cheers

Only way I think is go to the aliexpress website and search for them. I would look for "magnetic pump" or "magnetic mp pump" etc, until you find a well priced one.

Here's a well price mp-20, the big brother of the mp-15 and the one I use on my 1V

 

[ashley_leask]

The economics of those pumps have changed a bit since we can now get these locally for $65 I don't know if I'd bother anymore, and I have one of the Kaixin pumps and I'm happy enough with it. The pumps in the link are also rated to 120C, where the Kaixins aren't.

 

[maldridge]

I bought mine from KegKing last week for $65. Add on a ball valve and a couple of 1/2" barbs it was about $20 extra. I initially had problems with the thread on the pump accepting the SS ball valve, but I took it back and they swapped it over for another in the shop (and then another cos the replacement still had a bad thread).

All in all very happy with the service. If I had purchased online for the sake of $10 - $20 savings and found myself with a fucked thread or two, I would not have been happy!

Pump survived it's first double batch brew over the weekend also. Couldn't be happier.

 

[HardEight]

I bought 2 pumps from Aliexpress and all the threads did need going over with a 1/2"Die (Borrowed for a day from a friend)...
Also you can buy a cheap 1/2" Die from ebay ($10) that will do the trick...

 

[QldKev]

With all the bad threads, I'm thinking maybe it would be worth getting the barb version and running a short length of hose into a T. Then the T can be mounted firmly to the brew stand and remove any chance of a drunken brewer swinging off it too hard and breaking the plastic head?

 

[QldKev]

Review of a Kaixin MP-20R

I purchased a Kaixin MP-20R from the link supplied by Wolfy.

Background
I've been running a march 809 on my main 3V for a while and have been happy with it. When it came time to build a smaller testing system to allow me to run single sized batches for test recipes and beers like weizens and a lambic where I don't want multiple cubes full, I wanted something to run it without the need to remove the march from the main system and risk damaging it. After trying a brown pump, which I proceeded to break during mounting (my fault as I could see how thin the housing was), then gluing it back together to find it didn't flow to my requirements for THIS system, I proceeded to order a kaixin pump.

Delivery Time
Ordered Sun 7th arrived Tue 16th.

Un-packaging
Looks like as per Woly's pic, but mine is slightly larger and is white. Same box arrangement.

Wiring
This morning I got up and put a plug on it. The cable is thin, which is acceptable as the motor draws bugger all current. The plug I purchased is suitable all the way down to 2 core 1mm2 (the motors cable is 3core) The cable lock will not screw down far enough onto it to grip, so if you wire one up you need to think about this.

Sizing
I went the MP-20R for the higher flow for my 'testing brewery' as I wanted to redirect a lot of the flow back at the internal heating element to ensure wort movement at all times. Also I didn't go the threaded option as I snapped the brown pump the first time I tried to bolt parts to it. Being 18mm inlet and outlet I was concerned if the 1/2" silicone hose would fit, It went on easy.

Priming
I placed the pump under the brew vessel, and hooked up the hoses. I opened all valves to bleed the system of air, and left it for a couple of secs once the bubbles stopped (as I do with the march pump). When I fired up the pump I had no flow, so I shut it down immediately. As soon as I turned it off more bubbles started. Upon firing it back up I had some flow but the pump was cavitating, so I shut it down a second time, more bubbles. Next time it fired up no problems and I had decent flow. Stopping and restarting the system, but keeping it full of water, I had no issues. I've never had the same issues with the march, but will just keep an eye on it. Also to be fair this is a different system against where the march pump is running, but I have got similar placing of the pump.

Noise
I think this pump is quieter than the march 809. Maybe next brew I should put the db meter against them. Both are quite enough for me.

Performance
This pump is rated at Max flow 27L/min (same as march 809) and Standard flow @ 3.1m 17L/min (march 9.5L/min).
The system it is running on, has a head of 0.75m. That is 0.75m from the outlet of the pump to the upper return line.
The inlet and outlet are spec'd at 18mm, I am only using 1/2" plumbing on my system so it will impede the flow.
Tested on my system I'm achieving 14L/min. On the same setup I got 4.5L/min from the 12v brown pump.

Comparison to march 809
The march 809 seems to have more flow once loaded up a bit in the real world. Next time I run the march pump I will try and remember to get a flow measurement from it.
The march has a polysulfone head and is rated to 121c
The kaixin has a polypropylene head and is rated to 80c

The march cost about $200 (inc post)
The kaixin cost $84 (inc post)


Overall
It's been running for the last 1hr straight, no problems.
I don't recirculate the kettle, so the extra temperature rating of the march is not a huge concern but is a nice buffer to have.
I think the kaixin is a great pump for the money, and hopefully will prove to be as reliable as the march pumps have been.

It will be interesting to see what the higher temperature rated ones will cost when they hit the market.


QldKev

An update to the above review.

1 year on, the Kaixin pump has not missed a beat. I've sorted out the priming issue by changing the order I open the valves to allow water to enter the system. So this is not really an issue with the pump design. It is quieter than my March pump, but both pumps are very quite. I've never taken it above mashout temperatures, so I have always been within the required operating range and up to mash out temps I find it runs smooth with no overheating.

If I was buying a pump again, I would go with the Kaixin.

 

[sp0rk]

Mine was picked up from KegKing a few weeks ago, but I haven't had the chance to use it
One thing I did notice was it looks like there's some water still in it and it looks like a die was run over the threads to clean them up a little
I don't know if this is from factory or if KK have tested/cleaned it up in shop, but either way I guess it means some sort of testing has been done to make sure it's in good condition which is always a good thing

I'll report back in a few weeks, I'm going to have a go using it to recirculate a double batch BIAB before I wire it into my 3V build

 

[drifting79]

My two Kaixin pumps arrived yesterday . I must say they look like they have been made real good

Thanks for the detailed write up Qld Kev and a year on they are still running as they should

It will be a while til I will have mine up and running as we are moving so they will be packed away for now

One thing i did have a problem with was the sticker on the pumps only says MP-15 ..... not MPRM-15

I spoke to Jack Gu and he assures me they are they high temp model and that he just removed my two pumps from another big order of 300pcs

There is no instructions for the wiring ?? blue, brown, yellow wires ??

 

[sp0rk]

There is no instructions for the wiring ?? blue, brown, yellow wires ??

Those are standard wiring colours

http://www.accesscomms.com.au/reference/powerplug.htm

 

[technobabble66]

I noticed QldKev's post relates to his MP-20R pump, whereas the ones from Craftbrewer & G&G, and that cooperville has acquired, are the MP-15RM version.

I've read the spec' differences; but for our purposes, would it make a big difference between the one Kev's running and the more commonly available pumps?


@cooperville - i obviously know nothing about pumps, but by the look of the pics, it seems the difference between the regular MP-15 & the heat resistant one is that the regular one has a black polypropylene head, whereas the heat resistant one has a tan, hard plastic head. Only going by the pics, though :unsure:

 

[drifting79]

Yeah I noticed that also but the pumps I received have a the tan color
To the head of the pump
The material resembles the same material that the little brown pumps are made of

@ Qldkev have you got any images of the valve configuration that has worked well for you?

 

[maldridge]

The ones from KK I was assured are the newer model, made to handle boiling liquids, which is a step up from the older model I think which sometimes had issues with boiling liquid.

I'm also sure KK would have tested and cleaned up threads on all their pumps, as when I bought mine I had to swap it over for 2 different units before I got a working thread. I assume at this stage they decided to just clean up all the threads to avoid having returns in the future.

 

[Camo6]

My pumps came straight from jack gu and still had a bit of water in them.

I haven't had issue with mine and they've probably done 15 odd batches. For the price you can't go wrong with a couple of these.

 

[sp0rk]

Does anyone know if they're still experiencing problems with seizing up at boiling temps?