Is this setup going to throttle my pump?

[mr_rogers]

So I'm drawing a diagram for my next upgrade to counterflow chiller and it wanted to run it by all of you.


My main concerns are at the 3/8" diptube and the 3/8" copper inside the counter flow chiller. Will that restriction of flow burn up the small pump that I plan to use?

I'm using a small pump because they're in my price range and I'm not moving my cooled wort a long distance.


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[mr_rogers]

also do I really need to buy the large 1/2" ID cam-locks if I'm hitting a restriction point anyway?

 

[poptarts]

if the output of your counterflow is lower than your kettle ball valve, the pump will basically assist the siphon so that should work fine, and i dont you need the high flow camlocks, you are correct that they will not be the bottleneck in your system.

 

[LandoLincoln]

I think I have the identical setup to what you're proposing, except that I use a chugger pump instead of one of the small pumps. If the pump you're using is magnetic drive then it shouldn't burn out due to any restriction on the output side.

Yes, I would definitely invest in 1/2" camlocks because in the future you may upgrade to a bigger pump so spend the extra few bucks now.

 

[doug293cz]

You should be ok if running the pump full speed does not give too high a flow rate thru your chiller. Pumps should be throttled on the outlet side rather than the inlet side in order to prevent impeller cavitation. You have much more flow impedance on the outlet of the pump vs. inlet because of the much longer length of 3/8" tubing on the outlet side. This is good for preventing cavitation.

If your full speed flow rate is too high to get the chilling you are looking for, you should either throttle on the outlet side of the pump, or add a pump speed controller (pretty easy for the low voltage DC pump you are using.) Do not try to throttle with the kettle ball valve, as this could lead to pump cavitation.

You could also have issues with hops clogging the inlet side of the plumbing, particularly if you use whole hops rather than pellets. Use of a kettle pickup screen or hop bags/spider would protect against this.

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