Keg King pump rating

[nala]

I have just checked my pump rating,the data plate on the pump indicates a flow rate of 16/19 litres per minute, head 2.4 - 3.4 mtrs.
The pump is actually pumping...unrestricted, at 6.6 ltrs per minute at a head height of 65 cms.
Anyone tested theirs ?

 

[user 35653]

I have just checked my pump rating,the data plate on the pump indicates a flow rate of 16/19 litres per minute, head 2.4 - 3.4 mtrs.
The pump is actually pumping...unrestricted, at 6.6 ltrs per minute at a head height of 65 cms.
Anyone tested theirs ?

I'm happy to give mine a measure. What's the method you used for testing it?

 

[nala]

I'm happy to give mine a measure. What's the method you used for testing it?

My usual mash setup is 20 litres of water,recirculating with ball valves fully open,13 mm inside diameter transfer tube back to mash tun, all this with just water no grain.
Timed over 6 cycles into a measuring jug for one minute.

 

[user 35653]

My usual mash setup is 20 litres of water,recirculating with ball valves fully open,13 mm inside diameter transfer tube back to mash tun, all this with just water no grain.
Timed over 6 cycles into a measuring jug for one minute.

Ok, my setup is similar. I'll give mine a run tomorrow and report back.

How old is your pump?

 

[real_beer]

Remember the maximum flow rate is 16/19 LM with no head, and the 2.4 to 3.4 metre head is where you'll get something pumped to that height.

:icon_cheers:

 

[nala]

Ok, my setup is similar. I'll give mine a run tomorrow and report back.

How old is your pump?

14 months old.

 

[nala]

Remember the maximum flow rate is 16/19 LM with no head, and the 2.4 to 3.4 metre head is where you'll get something pumped to that height.

:icon_cheers:

Quite confusing !
I would have thougt the 2 parameters 19 litres at 2.4 metres and 16 at 3.4 metres.
The head I am pumping at is just 65 cms, which is also the total length of the transfer tube from pump to mash tun.

 

[real_beer]

Quite confusing !
I would have thougt the 2 parameters 19 litres at 2.4 metres and 16 at 3.4 metres.
The head I am pumping at is just 65 cms, which is also the total length of the transfer tube from pump to mash tun.

I've always found pump figures to be very disappointing in actual real life applications. There could be something wrong with your pump going off your figures so it'll be interesting to see peoples results. I just had one arrive a few hours ago but I can't test it because the wife doesn't know I've bought it yet :huh:

 

[user 35653]

Ok man, just checked mine - It's consistently getting 12L per min @ a height of 60cm.

 

[real_beer]

Ok man, just checked mine - It's consistently getting 12L per min @ a height of 60cm.

I reckon that figure would be about right.
If anyone wants to get the best performance out of a pump on their system use stainless steel or copper pipe hard plumbed directly to the pump, they give less resistance for the pump to overcome. If using detachable hoses the type of connectors you choose can affect the flow rate tremendously so make sure you pick ones that don't constrict the flow at the barbs. It also pays to keep in mind that recirculating during the mash doesn't have to be done at high speed, even if you recirculated at 2 - 3 litres a minute your liquor would still have completely passed over the grain bed about four times over an hour, if you'd done a batch sparge it might just have been stirred.
:icon_cheers:

 

[nala]

Ok man, just checked mine - It's consistently getting 12L per min @ a height of 60cm.

Thanks for taking the time to give your pump a trial.
It's hard to imagine that I am losing the volume through my transfer tube,but as Real_beer says, even with my 6.6 litres per minute the mash process is more than adequate and I would probably have to reduce the flow rate if the pump was performing as per the rating plate.

 

[user 35653]

Thanks for taking the time to give your pump a trial.
It's hard to imagine that I am losing the volume through my transfer tube,but as Real_beer says, even with my 6.6 litres per minute the mash process is more than adequate and I would probably have to reduce the flow rate if the pump was performing as per the rating plate.

No probs, happy to help.

I'm using the KK style QD connectors and 13mm silicone tube. My feeder tube is about 1.2m and outlet is 2m.

Have you opened yours up and given it a clean out? I checked mine about 2 months ago when I found it was struggling a bit and found some plumbers tap wrapped around the impeller and some hop debris sledged to the sides, cleaned that out and it was back to normal.

 

[nala]

I disconect and clean the pump immediately after brewing, but I will open the impeller housing and check.

 

[klangers]

For non-industrial centrifugal pumps:

• Flow is generally quoted at zero head/pressure.
• Pressure is generally quoted at zero flow.

This will give the maximum values for each.

Also remember that head/pressure is not just developed from the height that you're pumping. The frictional losses and velocity of flow are probably the major contributors to back pressure on home brew pump set ups. As mentioned before, your tube surface roughness, length, diameter, number of bends, fittings and other minor losses all add up.

 

[TheWiggman]

My goodness another one of these threads. Klangers is right. I'm going to arrogantly quote myself to save retyping -

The little green pumps are centrifugal pumps which means they have an impeller that spins to apply pressure to move the water. Picture this -

• You have a hose that goes vertically. The pump will push water up the hose until it reaches it's max operating pressure at the discharge of the pump. The height of this column of water is referred to as maximum head / pressure (pressure = density x height x accel. due to gravity. Or simply, 10m = 100 kPa). For these pumps, max head = 2.4m or 24 kPa. Hence the water will be pumped up to a height of 2.4m REGARDLESS of the diameter.
• Imagine you trim the pipe off at 2.39m. A tiny, little bit of water will trickle out. Your pump is now pumping. Pressure will be 23.9 kPa at the pump discharge.
• If you continue to trim the pipe off lower and lower, more flow will come out because there is less water in the pipe vertically applying pressure at the pump.
• Continue this until the pipe is gone and the pump is spitting out water. This is the max flow it is able to achieve, at essentially zero pressure.

16/19 l/min refers to 50 Hz and 60 Hz power sources respectively (same for flows). In Soviet Australia we have 50 Hz power, so 16 l/min is the max you are going to get out of the pump with no restriction.

 

[nala]

Thank you for your explanation.
Not being a master of fluid dynamics I mistakenly thought that the rating plate gave the two figures...head and flow rate at those two heights.

 

[TheWiggman]

No dramas. They could make it a bit clearer but it's a high-volume Chinese item so they tend not to provide much supporting documentation. Typically they'll provide the highest number because that sounds better than the pump next to it on the shelf. March pumps for instance have much better support documentation.
Here is a pump curve of the 809 pumps which will give you a flow rate for a given pressure. You can see that as soon as you apply any sort of backpressure, the flow dies off rapidly. The same applies to the KK ones.

 

[Adr_0]

On this, all the literature says the following:
- highly efficient
- 2.4m
- 16lpm
- 230V
- 1.1A

Something doesn't add up.

Fluid power (nameplate):
Lpm x SG x g x head / 60
19 x 1 x 9.81 x 3.4 / 60
10.6W

Electrical power:
= 220V x 1.1A x 0.9pf x 1phase
= 264W

This is basically 4% efficient,which is not high. The Kaixin pump for comparison has identical specs ans draws only 100mA,so nameplate efficiency is 44%, very reasonable for an induction motor.

So...
- any idea what the actual current draw is?
- is it possible this is a brush motor (noisy, inefficient and lightweight) rather than induction (quiet, efficient and heavy)?

I understand that these flows/pressures are not realistic for a centrif pump, just curious what options there are for speed control.

 

[Adr_0]

Found some photos, Looks like current is 0.1A. So likely an induction motor.

 

[dblunn]

Maybe 1.1A is locked rotor current draw, or maybe they just got the decimal point in the wrong place.