March Pump Priming Issues

[Paul H]

Guys,
I have an issue wih my March pump in respect to it losing it's prime. It can lose it's prime after recirculating for 1 or 10 minutes (or anywhere in between). I have tried silicon & braided hose (the clear stuff), tubing with hose fittings & with simple screw clamps & it fails each time. In terms of the pump motor/fan it goes from a normal hum to a pause then back to normal (although by this time it is pushing nothing).
In terms of the head, it is at most 1m.

:icon_cheers:

Paul

 

[AndrewQLD]

Guys,
I have an issue wih my March pump in respect to it losing it's prime. It can lose it's prime after recirculating for 1 or 10 minutes (or anywhere in between). I have tried silicon & braided hose (the clear stuff), tubing with hose fittings & with simple screw clamps & it fails each time. In terms of the pump motor/fan it goes from a normal hum to a pause then back to normal (although by this time it is pushing nothing).
In terms of the head, it is at most 1m.

:icon_cheers:

Paul

Sounds to me like the impeller is seizing Paul, this happens to mine sometimes, the impeller shaft gets a thin build up of dry hard wort that stops the impeller spinning when the pump shaft heats up and expands. The solution is to strip the pump head and soak all parts in PBW for a few hours, scrub and rinse and reassemble.
I do mine every 6 months now and don't have anymore problems.
Cheers
Andrew

 

[Paul H]

Sounds to me like the impeller is seizing Paul, this happens to mine sometimes, the impeller shaft gets a thin build up of dry hard wort that stops the impeller spinning when the pump shaft heats up and expands. The solution is to strip the pump head and soak all parts in PBW for a few hours, scrub and rinse and reassemble.

Cheers
Andrew

Thanks Andrew sounds very logical :icon_cheers:


Cheers

Paul

 

[roller997]

It probably doesn't apply,however I made the mistake of mounting my pump horizontally rather than vertically and that caused initial priming issues.
I am sure that if there are any O2 bubbles in your line being sucked through over time they could collect in the housing and cause it to loose its priming.

Cheers

Roller

 

[AndrewQLD]

The build up will also be inside the impeller so a good soak in PBW is essential.

Andrew

 

[brettprevans]

remember to flush your pump after each brew to minimise the buildup

 

[AndrewQLD]

remember to flush your pump after each brew to minimise the buildup

I always do CM2 but flushing, no matter how much just doesn't seem to clean out the inside of the impeller itself, which is where my problems arose.

Andrew

 

[Batz]

I flush my March Pump with a cleaner and then with clear water, it still needs an overhaul at least every six months. As Andrew said there is a slight build up around the impeller bush, this slows the pump for a brew or two then if not fixed it will jam altogether. I have had to strip my pump in mid brew, and I'm betting I'm not the only one. It pays to replace the 0 ring each time as well.

Of course your problem just could be an air leak on the suction side of your pump, check your connections.


Batz

 

[roger mellie]

I love my Peristaltic Pump...

 

[Batz]

View attachment 39577

I love my Peristaltic Pump...

You have to change the tubing every six months or so, we clean the impeller. Four screws each and about the same effort.

Batz

 

[roger mellie]

You have to change the tubing every six months or so, we clean the impeller. Four screws each and about the same effort.

Batz

I have never changed the tube in 3 years - its Rossco's super duper Noprene.

I admit - I do have to apply lube - so 5 screws about once a year.

And I never lose prime

RM

 

[rude]

Hey Roger how much does one of those set you back if you dont mind me asking

While I'm asking where did you get youres from

cheers rude

 

[AndrewQLD]

At $300+ and a slow flow rate of 1l/minute they would not be much use for general brewery use eg. HERMS, wort recirc/transfer to boiler or from boiler, or dough in, but they look great for filtering.
Craftbrewer sells them Rude.

Andrew

 

[unrealeous]

I had an issue with my march pump where the the inlet side hose wasn't clamped tight enough - and over time air slowly gets sucked into the pump, and it loses pressure. There were no leaks - so it wasn't obvious. After tightening - works like a bought one.

 

[mxd]

admit - I do have to apply lube - so 5 screws about once a year.

Ah married life, can't beat it

 

[Sammus]

how strange :\ I've had mine since '06 and pulled it down once to check it out about a year ago and there was no build up... All I do is drain my HLT through it and the chiller (chillout mkIII) at the end of the brew day, which is normally about 10L of very near boiling water.

 

[Paul H]

I had an issue with my march pump where the the inlet side hose wasn't clamped tight enough - and over time air slowly gets sucked into the pump, and it loses pressure. There were no leaks - so it wasn't obvious. After tightening - works like a bought one.

An eskimo once told me that there's is nothing better than a tight seal <_<

:icon_cheers:

Paul

 

[roger mellie]

At $300+ and a slow flow rate of 1l/minute they would not be much use for general brewery use eg. HERMS, wort recirc/transfer to boiler or from boiler, or dough in, but they look great for filtering.
Craftbrewer sells them Rude.

Andrew

I hear you loud and clear Andrew. 1L/min is for ambient fluid - at mash temps I get at least 1200 ml/min.

I would not have thought that at these rates it would be much use myself - but in my experiments with a half volume mash/mash out/single flood sparge (direct fired MLT) - I thought I would try the pump - with the intention to buy a march pump eventually.

I found that the PP works perfectly for recirculating the wort during mashing and mashout. With strategic placement of the return hose I get a whirlpool in the liquid space above the grain bed. My wort has never been clearer - my beer has never tasted better and I can repeat things from brew to brew. As far as temperature steps - it raises the entire mash (20 odd litres) from 65 (say) to 78 in about 20 mins.

My brew day takes almost exactly 4 hours from heating up HLT to fermenter in the fridge. Sure - I could speed things up with a March Pump but this type of pump (as you mention) doubles its usefullness at filtering time.

I shant be buying a March Pump for a while.

Cheers

RM

 

[AndrewQLD]

I hear you loud and clear Andrew. 1L/min is for ambient fluid - at mash temps I get at least 1200 ml/min.

I would not have thought that at these rates it would be much use myself - but in my experiments with a half volume mash/mash out/single flood sparge (direct fired MLT) - I thought I would try the pump - with the intention to buy a march pump eventually.

I found that the PP works perfectly for recirculating the wort during mashing and mashout. With strategic placement of the return hose I get a whirlpool in the liquid space above the grain bed. My wort has never been clearer - my beer has never tasted better and I can repeat things from brew to brew. As far as temperature steps - it raises the entire mash (20 odd litres) from 65 (say) to 78 in about 20 mins.

My brew day takes almost exactly 4 hours from heating up HLT to fermenter in the fridge. Sure - I could speed things up with a March Pump but this type of pump (as you mention) doubles its usefullness at filtering time.

I shant be buying a March Pump for a while.

Cheers

RM

Glad to be proven wrong Roger, sounds like you have your system perfectly in tune and balanced for the volumes you do, as you say, don't change a thing. Are you pumping from the HLT as well or have you a two tier system with gravity feed from the HLT?
In my single level system the pump would be too slow and doing doubles or triple batches even worse, personally I love the idea of pumping through a filter and I wish the march was suitable.


Cheers
Andrew

 

[roger mellie]

Glad to be proven wrong Roger, sounds like you have your system perfectly in tune and balanced for the volumes you do, as you say, don't change a thing. Are you pumping from the HLT as well or have you a two tier system with gravity feed from the HLT?
In my single level system the pump would be too slow and doing doubles or triple batches even worse, personally I love the idea of pumping through a filter and I wish the march was suitable.


Cheers
Andrew

Certainly not trying to prove anyone right or wrong - I was just 'defending the realm' of the Peristaltic.

Embarrassingly - at present the system is 2 tier. The HLT sits on a bench and the MLT and Kettle sit on the floor below - on bricks above the burner. So gravity. The pump sits on the floor.

If I spent more time at home I would like to make a proper brewstand. I guess if I was to go single tier I would have to consider another type of pump to transfer from HLT to MLT - maybe a dishwasher type pump as the HLT temps never go > 80 degc - a push I know.

:beer:

RM