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Cider Digest #1787
Subject: Cider Digest #1787, 25 June 2013
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1787 25 June 2013
Cider and Perry Discussion Forum
Contents:
Re: Cider Digest #1786, 20 June 2013 (Stephen Wood)
Pomace pumps (Headelf)
review of four small must/cider (not pomace) pumps (Dick Dunn)
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Digest Janitor: Dick Dunn
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Subject: Re: Cider Digest #1786, 20 June 2013
From: Stephen Wood <swood@farnumhillciders.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:47:29 -0400
Re: Pomace pump options (Phil Kao)
Don't spend the money on a progressive cavity pump -- flexible impeller
pumps work fine for pomace, and the wear parts are cheap and readily
available. Jabsco makes good ones. I'm not sure how they'll work for pomace
if you go below 1-1/2", but we still use a couple of old 1/2" ones for
small-volume juice/cider transfer -- never tried them with pomace, but they
don't mind flies or small bits of wood.
S. Wood.
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Subject: Pomace pumps
From: Headelf <headelf@elfsfarm.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 10:00:46 -0400
Phil, the Oesco pump works fine with the impellers. We have an older brass
housing and except for dry pomace it has worked well. You are correct
about lack of space in the bin, though.
Tom
Elfs Farm
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Subject: review of four small must/cider (not pomace) pumps
From: Dick Dunn <rcd@talisman.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 16:28:33 -0600
[Note: This posting is NOT related to Phil Kao's inquiry in the last Cider
Digest. Phil is looking for a very different, more serious type of pump.
None of these pumps are suitable for pomace/solids.]
One of the first things you realize when you scale up your cidermaking
beyond the venerable 5-gallon carboy (or when you start to get old) is
"Hey, I can't lift full containers any more!" So you need either some
mechanical help to lift the containers, or better, a pump to transfer cider
from one container to another.
The territory for suitable pumps has some vast uncharted areas. The
low-end, low-capacity pumps considered here move a few gallons per minute
and cost $150 US ballpark. They're useful for serious hobbyist or very
small-scale commercial. The next step up puts you at $1000 or more for
the beginnings of a small but honestly commercial-use pump. There's
nothing suitable (that I've found) in between, in the US. Our European
friends are far more fortunate here. If you've got time on your hands,
and not a lot of money for equipment, one of these pumps might work for
you.
So anyway, here are my notes on four small pumps which you may find in
beer/wine making supply shops or online retailers.
All pumps are 110 VAC 60 Hz. None of them consume enough power to worry
about electrical load.
_ _ _ _ _
Shurflo Model 3000-100
Type: flexible-impeller, self-priming
Ratings:
flow rate 4.5 gpm
max pressure 15 psi
Tested > 4 gpm with 3/4 fittings
(but < 2 gpm using internal fittings and 5/16 line)
Notes
Fittings are dual-thread: external 3/4" M, internal 3/8" F
The dual-thread design might be helpful for adaptability, but how would
you get in a bind and need it? The smaller internal fittings -might- be
useful if you wanted to reduce flow rate deliberately. This also seems to
reduce foaming, presumably because the output line presents enough
back-pressure to the pump.
This is the highest capacity pump, 50% over the others. It may be hard to
find (tho I don't know why since Shurflo pumps are ubiquitous).
_ _ _ _ _
Vintage Shop (Canada) H308 Super Transfer Pump with pre-filter
Type: 4-chamber diaphragm, self-priming, variable-speed
Ratings
flow rate 0.8-3.0 gpm
max pressure 45 psi (limit switch shut-off)
Tested 1 - 3.3 gpm
Notes
Fittings are O-ring lock in to elbow with 1/2" barb--you can remove or
replace the hoses in a couple seconds, and you can rotate the elbows to
point the hoses where you need them.
Pump comes with appropriate in/out hoses and thumbscrew hose clamps, very
convenient.
Built-in prefilter is a great idea, although the filter housing is very
hard to open to clean.
This is the nicest design of the four pumps--because of the variable speed,
prefilter, supplied parts, and easy uncoupling of hoses.
As with any diaphragm pump, it "pulses" and tends to cause foaming, more
than the ShurFlo impeller pump IMNSHO. But the variable-speed control does
mean you can start it without that initial jump which can pull more lees.
The speed control is -not- variable-frequency (what do you expect for under
$200?!?). Rather it's a standard triac PWM circuit.
One unnerving aspect is that the pump has no nameplate or identification of
ANy sort. No rating, no UL/CE cert...nothing--not one single glyph on the
entire device. For me, it seems to work just fine, and I bought it from a
reputable retailer. If I were using it commercially though, I'd really
like to have a proper nameplate.
The 4-chamber design presents a cleaning/sanitation problem: The
inlet/outlet are high, in line with the upper two chambers and above the
lower two chambers. So unless you pay attention, the lower chambers won't
drain just by running the pump empty. Turn it upside-down (along the shaft
axis) and run it, with sanitizer and then to empty for a few seconds.
_ _ _ _ _
Shurflo Model 2088-594-144
Type: 3-chamber diaphragm, self-priming
Ratings:
flow rate 3 gpm
max pressure 45 psi (limit switch shut-off)
Tested 3 gpm
NSF rated
Notes
Fittings are 1/2" M.
Typical small diaphragm pump, Shurflo makes many variations on this
design.
Despite descriptions by sellers, this pump is not "gentle"--but neither are
any of the other pumps I tested, really.
This pump does not have the cleaning/draining problem mentioned with the
Vintage Shop pump (above) since the inlet and outlet are in line with
the two lower chambers.
This is the only pump of the four which is NSF (National Sanitation
Foundation) rated! That means it's the only one which is actually
certified to be food-safe. So what of the others? I would say they
are safe for cider, and they're certainly being used that way. There's
a difference between being safe and being certified-safe (which costs
the manufacturer serious money). But you should think about this if
you're doing small-scale commercial cidermaking.
_ _ _ _ _
March Model 809
Other models in March line, plus related pumps Chugger/Steelhead: same
comments may apply
Type: rigid-impeller (centrifugal), not self-priming
Rating:
3 gpm
Notes
On the Cider Workshop, Nat West called this "the world's most over-hyped
pump". Gotta agree! It's NOT that the pump is wrong for what it was
designed to do; just that this has nothing to do with the way it's
promoted in the home beer(+wine+cider) market. AFAIK this is a circulator
pump for hydronic (hot-water-home-heating) systems, and was picked up by
homebrewers because it can handle hot liquid (wort). Not our problem.
Perhaps the biggest failure is that it's not self-priming; you must get
liquid into the pump chamber to start it, AND you must keep the chamber
filled. This means putting the pump on the floor, and never getting a
significant bubble in the line. The way a low-capacity pump like this
works with a standard AC motor is that the motor spins fast but the pump
chamber is tiny; thus a small air bubble will fill the top of the chamber
and lose the prime. The impeller is curiously much smaller than the
chamber diameter. "Frustrating" doesn't begin to describe it.
A related problem is that this pump's motor has an open-vented housing,
meaning that you can look right in the vent holes, and see the windings
and the cute little fan. This is daft where the pump must sit on the floor
or below your fermenters.
Conclusion: unsuitable. This pump is in the same price range as the other
three, but simply doesn't have what it takes.
Related pumps: March 815 is a similar design: higher capacity but the same
problems. Chugger/Steelhead pumps are basically the March design with a
similar rigid-impeller head but in a stainless steel chamber. Same
problems: a very open-frame motor, and not self-priming. The Chugger/
Steelhead heads -do- appear to have impellers which are closer in diameter
to the chamber diameter. If so, they should be less likely to lose prime,
but I can't verify this.
- --
Dick Dunn rcd@talisman.com Hygiene, Colorado USA
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End of Cider Digest #1787
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