Submersable pump for immersion chiller

[tateg]

Hi guys
Currently looking for a submersable pump to help chill.
I have a 7m 3/8inch copper immersion chiller but are unsure what pump to get
Can I get a cheapo one from the big green shed ?
Any one know what kind of flow rate I should be looking at ?

Cheers
Tate

 

[MartinOC]

How are you doing things now?

How/why isn't it doing what you want?

How do you want to do things better?

What are you trying to achieve?

 

[tateg]

Currently just using tap water to chill to pitching temp but last brew day I couldn't get it below 30 degrees
Plan would be to get to 30 or 40 then use the pump sitting in an ice bath to recirculate through the immersion chiller and get temp down closer to 20

 

[Northside Novice]

I got the smallest $12 bunnings one , it works just.
, after a few brews I got the $26 next size up one and the extra flow rate is choice ! not sure of the flow rate sorry but you need fairly quick but not fast as the ice water needs enough time in the coil to do its job .
2-3 bags of ice in a half full 50ltr plastic bin.
get it down to about 40* with tap water then swap over to ice chilled water to drop down to the temp you want, 100* down to 18* in about 20 mins .

prices may have changed as I got mine about 3 yr ago.
the small one is about the size of a match box, the one I use now is about 40mm x 40mm x 75mm
hope this helps
cheers

 

[MartinOC]

OK, well it IS summer, so I don't suppose you can expect much out of tap water temperatures right now.

You can get submersible pond-pumps from the green shed (or online) that you can just stick in a bucket of iced water & pump through your IC coil, but you'd obviously be up for extra plumbing/fittings. Can you increase the efficiency of your current regime (ie. whirlpooling) whilst chilling? I'm assuming here, feel free to tell me to rack off!

I wouldn't worry too much about pump flow-rates, since at those temp's, your heat/cool differential is less that dropping from boiling. As long as you've got flow through the coil & a temp. differential, it'll work.

 

[tateg]

Thanks Northside,
That's exactly what I was looking for
cheers

Martin believe it or not I am already using a whirlpool arm on the chiller powered buy one of those green pumps from Keg king, gets down to 30 real quick
but you are right because of summer water temp out of the tap just isn't low enough, hopefully with the above pump I can get it to pitching temps.

 

[sb944]

2-3 bags of ice in a half full 50ltr plastic bin.
get it down to about 40* with tap water then swap over to ice chilled water to drop down to the temp you want, 100* down to 18* in about 20 mins .

I just wanted to comment on this. I recirculate with a 7L pot half full with a few big chunks of ice in it, and I haven't had any problems with that. 25L and 2-3 bags of ice seems like overkill.

 

[Northside Novice]

I don't recirculate . The ice water is very cold to achieve maximum heat exchange quickly .
If your happy with your method go for it . Maybe i am captain overkill ? What time are you achieving from boiling to 18 degrees ?

 

[Wigarus]

I have been using a spare pump from my aquarium in an esky. I put 5 frozen 2.4L fruit juice bottles with the lids off in and fill it with water about an hour before I want to use it.

Works awesome.

 

[sb944]

I don't recirculate . The ice water is very cold to achieve maximum heat exchange quickly .
If your happy with your method go for it . Maybe i am captain overkill ? What time are you achieving from boiling to 18 degrees ?

OK, that makes sense then.

I haven't timed it accurately yet, but I'd guess like 35-40 minutes total last time. I'm sure I can get that down a bit, as I didn't pass ice water through until around 30C, but your method will probably always be quicker.

 

[Northside Novice]

That is good chill times mate , I find there is a dead chill time from the hose water around the 40*-30* mark where you can loose time . When I am on to it I will go to the ice water a bit sooner to beat the dead time . I might be saving 5 mins just there if that makes sense ?

 

[tateg]

Yep tiny pump and a ice bath made the difference down to 19 degrees in no time.

 

[pcmfisher]

I got the smallest $12 bunnings one , it works just.
, after a few brews I got the $26 next size up one and the extra flow rate is choice ! not sure of the flow rate sorry but you need fairly quick but not fast as the ice water needs enough time in the coil to do its job .
2-3 bags of ice in a half full 50ltr plastic bin.
get it down to about 40* with tap water then swap over to ice chilled water to drop down to the temp you want, 100* down to 18* in about 20 mins .

prices may have changed as I got mine about 3 yr ago.
the small one is about the size of a match box, the one I use now is about 40mm x 40mm x 75mm
hope this helps
cheers

2 or 3 bags of ice?
Buy them from the servo and it costs as much as the brew. B)