OEHokie
Well-Known Member
The Setup: Electric kettle with hole in the bottom. 90 degree bend pipe leads to a solenoid valve and then tubing goes from it to the march pump. The march pump is about 1 foot below the bottom of the kettle. From the march pump tubing goes to a "T" intersection with a solenoid valve on each side (this part is less important, but one side goes to some loc-line and the other goes through a plate chiller before going into the loc-line). I generally brew extracts or partials.
The Problem: Every brew day I always have trouble pumping wort around. I'm not sure if something is getting clogged (solenoid valves, pump, etc) but there always ends up being a lot of air in the line and I don't even know how it got there. I know the march pump won't work with air... but even when I'm sure it's primed the flow isn't always very strong.
I clean the valves and pump by running hot water through them in both directions. I've never taken them apart... not sure if I'm supposed to.
Is there a better way to set this up? A better pump to use that will produce suction even with air? (Peristaltic?/something else?)
Is there a filter or mesh I can put in the piping somewhere that won't itself get clogged? The opening at the bottom of the kettle is a 1.5" hole which necks down to 1/2-1/4" tubing.
It's easily the most frustrating part of my brew day.
Thanks for the help, Cheers!
The Problem: Every brew day I always have trouble pumping wort around. I'm not sure if something is getting clogged (solenoid valves, pump, etc) but there always ends up being a lot of air in the line and I don't even know how it got there. I know the march pump won't work with air... but even when I'm sure it's primed the flow isn't always very strong.
I clean the valves and pump by running hot water through them in both directions. I've never taken them apart... not sure if I'm supposed to.
Is there a better way to set this up? A better pump to use that will produce suction even with air? (Peristaltic?/something else?)
Is there a filter or mesh I can put in the piping somewhere that won't itself get clogged? The opening at the bottom of the kettle is a 1.5" hole which necks down to 1/2-1/4" tubing.
It's easily the most frustrating part of my brew day.
Thanks for the help, Cheers!
