pumping

[crookedeyeboy]

Im very close to getting a pump from Norm, can someone give me an idiots guide to using it. I notice he has put a bit on eBay about it needs priming or gravity feed, whats this all about?
Sorry not very engineer minded...

[Eadweard]

Brewery pumps won't work on air so you need a head of pressure or some liquid in the pump to get them started. Hope that makes sense!

[Blackaddler]

Im very close to getting a pump from Norm, can someone give me an idiots guide to using it. I notice he has put a bit on eBay about it needs priming or gravity feed, whats this all about?
Sorry not very engineer minded...

Some pumps work without priming, but those that don't can be damaged if run dry.

Ideally, mount the pump below the liquid source. On the pump, there is an inlet and an outlet.
Depending on the make/type of pump, there should be a plugged opening or a tap/valve of some sort. Probably on the outlet side.

This Stuart Turner example should give you an idea...



Inlet on the left, outlet on the right [vertical], and horizontal threaded outlet for priming. Mine has a small tap installed here.

Once all pipework is connected, you should be able to prime the pump by opening this plug/tap. This will allow liquid to feed [by gravity] to the pump inlet. Once liquid comes out of the valve, turn it off, as the pump is now primed.
[It's a good idea to place a small pot under the valve outlet.]

[adm]

Before you commit to buying apump from Norm, you may want to consider these instead:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/March-May-MSP-3-W ... 274wt_1167

or

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/March-May-MMP-3-W ... 274wt_1167

Not sure what Norm has for sale at the moment, or the price, but the March May mag drive pumps are the absolute dog's bollocks. Kind of the Rolls-Royce of pumps...

[crookedeyeboy]

Thanks guys for the great replies! I like the look of those March May ones...little more money but worth it?

How do you power them? What do you connect them to to control the on off, or can you attach them to something that will change the speed of the pump?

What about cleaning them?

Thanks

[adm]

Power should just be standard 240V - so just stick a plug on the cable and turn it on or off at the wall socket (that's what I do).

As for speed control, the beauty with magnetic drive pumps is that you can just run them full speed all the time and "throttle" the output with a ballvalve to control the flow.

For cleaning, the pump heads come off and come apart. My one is a little different as it just has four butterfly nuts on it so can be taken apart in under 10 seconds, but those two look like you'd need a screwdriver and a bit more time.

[crookedeyeboy]

Thanks ADM thats great...

[mentaldental]

These are excellent too. Link

[haz66]

These are excellent too. Link

Yeah but if you`re gonna get one of these then contact Norm, i got 2 for £105 inc P&P and they are the Dogs B0ll0cks

[tubthumper]

the difference is the heat that you can use them in
tottton 85 C
march much higher ( not got one but I know it can do boiling wort)