US Solar Pump

[jgalati]

Just giving my 2 cents about this pump:

I bought the 15W ($75 w/ shipping) pump from us solar. I'm using a 12V DC, 500mA phone charger. (Note that it IS under rated, but I'll come back to this). Last night, I used the pump to transfer 170 degree water from my BK to my Mash tun (home depot cooler), transfer wort from mash tun to BK, recirculate the wort while it was boiling (to sanitize the silicone tubing), and eventually transfer to the carboy fermenter.

All I can say is hot diggity and I wish I had bought this puppy sooner. My brew session took 3 hours, 38 minutes from when I started to heat my mash in water to when I had my boil kettle cleaned and stored. Easily saved me 30-40 minutes.

Most notably, I didn't have to use ANY sanitizing solution (except on the fermenter), I didn't have to star san any tubing, the vorlauf did itself, and I was able to aerate the wort by recirculating the wort while I was cooling it.

For $75, this pump is definitely worth the investment. I have a single burner, 1 boil kettle, 2 home depot cooler setup, and adding a pump just makes life so much easier.

Just in case anyone's wondering if they should get a pump...

EDIT:
forgot some key points:

I spilled nothing, literally nothing, on the ground during this brew process. The pump is very easy to prime.
The power draw for this pump, i'm pretty sure, is related to the head of the output. That being said, I never had more than 2-3 feet of head, whereas this pump is rated for 9-10 feet. no problem with power supply.
It's a DC pump, so you can control the speed with either a ball valve, or using different voltage power supplies.
Stupid easy to clean it after brewing.
Didn't have a problem with the power supply and it's rated for 6 watts.
No leaks!


-JG

 

[mux]

Agreed!

 

[r8odecay]

Do you mind kind of walking through your process? Any need for hose changes, etc? QDs? I would appreciate it, I'm thinking I am working on a similar process/build, with similar parts...thanks!

 

[jgalati]

No quick disconnects.
I have a keggle for boiling, home depot water cooler (10gal) for HLT and MLT.

The keggle and MLT have 2 piece ball lock valves, and then 1/2" 304 stainless barbs.
The pump has 1/2" 304 stainless barbs as well.

I used 3/8" silicon tubing (it fits perfect). 2 ft section, and a 5 ft section.

the 2 foot section goes from the output of either the keggle or MLT to the pump, and the 5 foot section is used to transfer to either the same vessel or another one.

Does that make sense?

 

[AnOldUR]

Just a post to show appreciation to JG for pointing out this pump. Never thought I'd go the pump route. I have been gravity feeding from HLT to MLT to Kettle and couldn't think of a reason to complicate things. HLT sits high enough on a shelf, so I'll continue to gravity from HLT to MLT, but had been putting my kettle on the floor and then lifting it to the hot plate. Well, with 12 gallon boils that was a PITA and my back.

Got the pump last week and did a jury rig to test it out today moving 12+ gallons of wort. My fears of husk material causing a problem were unfounded. I have to agree with JG's "hot diggity" reaction. Thanks!

 

[Yaksha808]

any updates as to how these are working out for you?? Very interested if they are still meeting your requirements

 

[AnOldUR]

any updates as to how these are working out for you?? Very interested if they are still meeting your requirements

For my MLT to Kettle use, the only thing I bought beside the pump was barbed fittings that attach to it. They came from McMaster-Carr (PN 5372K213). I used disconnects, and 3/8" silicon tubing, but just cut the tube I had been using and stuck the pump in line with a plastic shut-off valve at the end. To prime it I put the one gallon bucket I use for vorlauf on the floor and opened the ball valve on my kettle. When enough was drawn for vorlauf I shut the plastic valve at the end of the tube and moved it up to the kettle before re-opening it. Flow was controlled with the ball valve on the kettle. Never lost prime until the MLT was drained.

I used a 12V 1000mA power supply from an old Linksys router. Did a sloppy job of wiring up a toggle switch I had in the basement to turn it on and off, but will be picking up one of those small in-line rotary switches used for lamps.

 

[jgalati]

I'm back in college, but this pump has transferred 100 gallons of wort with no problem. I also leave it on for a half hour to recirculate my wort during the boil for the fun of it. it also recirculated while I cool. Never had a problem.

Also, the cleaning time on this pump compared to an auto siphon isn't even comparable. seriously. I will never have to use an autosiphon again because this thing is so freakin easy to sanitize. Just put one hose end into sanitizing solution, suck to prime, and boom done.

Then I just put one line into primary, and let her rip.

As a note, I use 1/2" silicon tubing with NPT barbs. Don't even use disconnects. It creates a perfect seal and hasn't leaked a drop. Also makes cleaning easier.

-JG

 

[AnOldUR]

Couple more pictures of the US Solar Pump. Put CPC disconnects directly on the pump and a new loc-line set up going into the kettle.

Found a male connector end for the power supply and put that on the pump so that it's easy to clean and store without a lot of wire or hose attached. Came in a four pack, so if anyone is looking to wire this way, send me a PM and I'll mail you one.
.

 

[jgalati]

I like it. simple and efficient.
I have never had a problem with putting my ball valve on the intake of my pump as some people have complained about.

-JG

 

[AnOldUR]

I don't know if it's been mentioned, but I found my pump to be very sensitive to leaks on the input side. It's something to consider if you're having trouble. While playing with the disconnects and loc-line I reached a point where the pump would run for a short time and then stop. The pressure coming from the output side was low too. I thought it was a power issue and tried switching power supplies, but no luck. I noticed some bubbles in the line, so I pressurized the system and discovered water leaking from the NPT fitting on the input side of the pump. It didn’t leak when the pump was running, so wasn't noticable. Instead, it caused a venturi, sucking in air and causing the pump to fail. A few extra wraps of nylon tape cured it.