Cheap compact wort pump

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I received my tan ebay pump yesterday. Small is an understatement. I just can't get over how tiny this thing is. I was also surprised by the material its made out of. I was expecting a regular plastic that is cheap and semi-soft feeling, like most of the goods coming from china, but the material this pump is made out of is very hard, and almost feels ceramic. It feels tough as nails, but maybe a bit brittle (again, the best I can describe is it feels like ceramic). I had doubts about connecting this in line on my ball valve on the kettle, but now I feel a little better about it.
 
ulsh72 said:
I received my tan ebay pump yesterday. Small is an understatement. I just can't get over how tiny this thing is. I was also surprised by the material its made out of. I was expecting a regular plastic that is cheap and semi-soft feeling, like most of the goods coming from china, but the material this pump is made out of is very hard, and almost feels ceramic. It feels tough as nails, but maybe a bit brittle (again, the best I can describe is it feels like ceramic). I had doubts about connecting this in line on my ball valve on the kettle, but now I feel a little better about it.
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Hey Ulsh....How long did it take to recieve it?
I'm probably ordering one in the next couple days, and we are pretty close to each other, so the shipping time should be about the same.
 
I ordered mine way back on March 5 and just got them today... must have gotten hung up in customs. I am just happy to have them!
 
Has anybody used this for recirculating wort yet? Or are you just using them for fluid transfer?
 
I have both the tan and cheaper black pump. Both work well the black one seems to put out a little more volume. I use the tan one to pump hot wort through my plate chiller and whirlpool. The black to pump the cooling water through the chiller. I recycle my water have 2 55 gal. barrels pump from one to the other.I do have ball valves on both outlets but have notneeded them. If I had to do it over I would get 2 black pumps. They are cheaper and put out more volume. Now we just have to wait and see how long they last.
 
just my 2 euros worth
I have a tan coloured pump bought from solarpumps.co.uk very good customer service as said by alien
it is the sp20/20 model.
they are used a lot by uk and aussie brewers the only downside i have found is the output thread part is a little prone to breaking if you are heavy handed with the fitting of camlock onto the thread.
Peter the seller has also warned if the pump is not cleaned well the next time you go to use it it may not pump.just soak it in hot water to release the impeller if it is stuck with dried wort.
 
I got my Tan pump in 2 weeks. The previous linked power adapter works well. I plan to whirlpool with it.

I will post a video of how well it does as soon as I am done assembling.
 
Just bought a tan P-38I pump direct from BuyInCoins.com, $19 with 5% coupon (just google around) - slightly cheaper than ebay.
 
whitehause said:
Hey Ulsh....How long did it take to recieve it?
I'm probably ordering one in the next couple days, and we are pretty close to each other, so the shipping time should be about the same.
Click to expand...

Ordered 3/22, received 4/1. Not too bad from abroad. It was only wrapped in bubble wrap and in a big envelope, but seemed to arrive intact. Unfortunately I don't have a setup to use to test, so I still don't know how well or if it works. Got my fingers crossed all goes well.
 
Got mine today

IMG_20130412_175617_zpsc09e0c30.jpg


Will test them out this weekend AFTER I clean out the garage.
 
Mini pump test.

This is just a mock up..more permanent wiring will be installed.

My power supply is this
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000A896GG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
something i already had for charging RC airplane batteries.
IMG_20130413_142057_zps589e600e.jpg


IMG_20130413_142129_zps8d0c1396.jpg


IMG_20130413_142304_zpsd06feeb9.jpg


seems like a good steady flow. The force seemed perfect for what i need it for. Will be able to handle a manifold for spaging if i chose to do so.The fittings on the pump did drip (everything is just hand tight for now) will just have to use thread tape on them wile in use.
 
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6 amps seems a bit much I think. Are you not worried that you might burn out the motor before its time? just checking to see what and if there is a limit to these small pumps?
 
The 6 amps is what the DC converter can handle. It does not deliver amps to the pump. Just voltage
 
Has anyone actually set one of these up to pump from a tun through a HERMS coil and back to the tun yet? It looks like several have pumped a several feet vertically and just dumped into a vessel but I am curious if it could pump through 50' of 1/2" coil and back to the top of a mashtun.
 
Yellowirenut said:
Mini pump test.

This is just a mock up..more permanent wiring will be installed.

My power supply is this
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000A896GG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
something i already had for charging RC airplane batteries.
IMG_20130413_142057_zps589e600e.jpg


IMG_20130413_142129_zps8d0c1396.jpg


IMG_20130413_142304_zpsd06feeb9.jpg


seems like a good steady flow. The force seemed perfect for what i need it for. Will be able to handle a manifold for spaging if i chose to do so.The fittings on the pump did drip (everything is just hand tight for now) will just have to use thread tape on them wile in use.
Click to expand...

You're using a propane burner inside on carpet? I'm guessing no, that was just a test setup without any actual flame, right? :eek:
 
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tre9er said:
You're using a propane burner inside on carpet? I'm guessing no, that was just a test setup without any actual flame, right? :eek:
Click to expand...

LOL as i was setting it up I had thought "hmm I wonder if anyone would think I am actually firing the burner"
don't even have the propane tank inside. Just wanted to mock up the set up for the pump and it was raining outside.
 
I have to say that I am totally impressed with these pumps for the price. I have used it in one 5g batch to transfer hot water back to my hlt, recirculate my mash, then I gravity fly sparged into mash tun and pumped back to my boil kettle. I have two now with a third on the way. I am running it right off the nozzle of the vessels using camlock fittings and silicone tubing (thanks Bobby_M)and a ball valve on the output(fittings are larger, and more expensive, than the pump!). Getting it primed this way can be a pain sometimes if you get an air bubble in the dip tube of the kettle. I think I may try just putting one on every vessel to help from getting air in there in the first place when switching to different vessels, and using the ball lock output to close the flow instead of the one on the vessel. I just got a hop spider from Chad at Arbor Fabricating last week to keep the hops from going through the pump after my boil. Yesterday I built a garden hose counter flow chiller, and earlier today I tested boiling 5g water and pushing it through. I did notice a drop in pressure on the output after the cfc, but I was still able to take 5g of boiling water down to 60* in about 5 min in my test (still hard to wrap my head around that:D).

My only concern on these is trying to not put too much torquing pressure with stuff hanging off and turning the valve on and off. Its not too bad if you hold onto it while turning the output valve, but I imagine if I bumped into this thing fairly hard it could crack off the ends to the head. But having multiple units in my setup I could switch over if needed, and the ridiculously low cost I can live with this for now. I've already broken the feet off of one by holding onto the base unit and turning the fittings on with a wrench, oops, knew not to do that for the second one. Not to say I would never get a march or chugger pump, but for right now I spent the large part of my money for this upgrade on the fittings that I know will last me a lifetime that I would still need with a more expensive pump.

Next week I will be doing a 5g batch and two 10g batches back to back to back. Fingers crossed things will all go as planned!
 
wheineman said:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjmW-1xToFATdHFxU1RiXzdZYjNfMFhrOXZObWtHcUE&usp=sharing
Click to expand...

Thanks, I found that after reading through the thread again. :)

I just ordered a P-38i from Ebay. $21.60 shipped from HK. I tried ordering from BuyInCoins.com ($19.98) but their website was giving weird errors, and that's about the time when I stop trusting people with my PayPal account.

I'm already wondering if I should get 2, but I think with the same investment in QD's I can set up a simple single-tier system. I'm just going to transfer from my BK to the mash tun, or from the HLT to the mash tun, or from the BK to a fermenting bucket.
 
buyincoins is the ebay company I got mine through and took about 3 weeks to get (seemed like ages!). Originally I was only planning to have one pump and do the same, but eventually I was like screw it, get several and be done with it. I have really liked using camlocks since I got them a few brews ago. They make it stupidly easy to switch hoses for what you are doing. Even though they are a bit more expensive than simple barbs, its one of those expenses I would not want to be without after having it. I would much rather have a $20 pump and a stainless quick changing system than a $150 pump and hose barbs any day. As for the GPM this pump is adequate for my fly sparging needs. They say that you should take around an hour to sparge, and to do this I have the output ball valve nearly closed up to get that trickle effect. I have several friends that have chugger pumps and don't throttle back when batch sparging, and it seems like stuck sparge from compacting the grain bed is a common occurrence from their higher GPM.

With all that said, depending on your setup, I would recommend pumping through the top of your vessels. I pumped hot sparge water to my hlt cooler through its bottom valve. The cooler was above the level of the boil kettle, and seemed to slow down as the level rose in the hlt. The weight of the water was trying to force it back down. I knew this wasn't the best way to do it, but it was more of a test to see if it could...and it did! About 6 or 7 gallons worth if my memory serves me, not sure if it would do much more than that or not, but a hose slung over the top would be more ideal and faster.
 
Spellman said:
I have several friends that have chugger pumps and don't throttle back when batch sparging, and it seems like stuck sparge from compacting the grain bed is a common occurrence from their higher GPM.
Click to expand...

I don't see that being an issue. I batch sparge by adding the sparge water all at once (or in 2 batches) and letting it sit for a few minutes, then I vorlauf and drain. The pump would just make it easier than scooping from my HLT with a Pyrex measuring cup.
 
Spellman nice posts. I was hoping someone like you would post a comment about pumping though a CFC. Your comments about the placement and preformance of a coooler was also very usefull.

I have orderd the black pump and waiting for the camlocks before I install it. For me it only took about 8 or 9 days to reach me. Pretty quick, I think. These pumbs are super small and with the help of spellman and after a rough dry run to check for leaks and connections etc, I will be purchacing another pumb, maybe this time a tan one because many people here have one and it seems to work for them.

Cheers!:mug:
 
SilverZero said:
I don't see that being an issue. I batch sparge by adding the sparge water all at once (or in 2 batches) and letting it sit for a few minutes, then I vorlauf and drain. The pump would just make it easier than scooping from my HLT with a Pyrex measuring cup.
Click to expand...

The batch sparge wasn't the problem. I think running the pump wide open sucks the grain down too hard, compacts it, and prevents anything from flowing through. If you limit the flow rate it keeps everything just right. And yes pumping is way easier then bailing. You are going to giggle with an ear to ear grin the first time you pump your wort!

johns said:
Spellman nice posts. I was hoping someone like you would post a comment about pumping though a CFC. Your comments about the placement and preformance of a coooler was also very usefull.
Click to expand...

I'm glad I could help a bit. I have been looking at doing pumps for a while and these were some of the questions I was thinking over in my head. When I ordered these tan ones I knew what I wanted to do with a pump, but wasn't entirely sure if these would do it. I wouldn't hesitate ordering them again as they have so far fulfilled my needs and for a very pleasant price. If I find any things that I have concerns with I will be sure to let everyone know as I imagine others may have the same questions.
 
cwi said:
PWM is the preferred choice, even for the March/Chugger pumps, though I am not sure if you are talking about a brushless DC March pump. I haven't looked into those, but I would be surprised if PWM wasn't the preferred choice for those as well.

RE: power supplies for DC. DC motors generally do not like to have amps limited. A supply with more current than needed will not cause any issues. Rule of thumb is to give DC motors all the current they want, and to control speed with voltage (or duration as in PWM). For AC the rule of thumb is to keep the voltage at the preferred level, and control speed with current (various limiting techniques).
Click to expand...

I was inspired by a previous post to convert an ATX power supply into a bench supply. If i added a variable voltage line to it, would that work to control a p38-i (tan) pump, or would a PWM still be preferred? With a good circuit I would still be limited to 11.6v or so.
 
Mine came yesterday. I cleaned up the threads with a half inch NPT die and can get fittings almost all the way on.

Now, silly question: which is the input and which is the output? I didn't see it in the diagram on line.
 
ianw58 said:
Mine came yesterday. I cleaned up the threads with a half inch NPT die and can get fittings almost all the way on.

Now, silly question: which is the input and which is the output? I didn't see it in the diagram on line.
Click to expand...

BTW mine is the "tan" version.
 
follow this thread a few pages back (1 or 2) Spellman wrote some very informational stuff about it.
Start with post 269
 

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