March Seal-less Pump - High Temperature

I tried to use this pump along with my Blichmann brew stand. Once the impellor heats up from the liquid (169.5 degrees) it can not even push up four (4) feet to the first tier of my brew stand. It starts off OK then after about two gallons it trickle's to a stop as the impellor heats up from the liquid. I had bought this to push the sparge water up to the top tier for sparging. It will not even make it up the six (6) feet from the start at 6 feet. About all I can use this pricey pump for is to move the wort to my fermenator. Feel free to email me if you want pictures of my set-up.

Russ@gilbertbrothersbrewing.com

I've spent more time trying to make this March Pump work as i need it too. As posted in my above review it works OK with cool/cold water. What I noticed using this at my most recent brew session is that when pumping up the hot liquids it's actually loosing it's prime. If I unplug the pump for a few seconds the liquid coming back down the line pushs any air bubbles back into the kettle and I can again pump a few gallons before having to do that again. This happens ONLY with the hot liquids and is still better than trying to lift up the full hot liqor tun to the top tier.

Russ

I have used this pump for several batches, although I don't ask too much out of it. I primarily use it to pump wort through the chiller or to backflush the chiller with cleaner. I can't say how effective it would be pumping hot liquid over a significant change in height. For my own uses, I have had no complaints.

I have used this pump for 2 years now and have nothing but good luck. I use it for everything from moving strike water to my mlt to doing a whirlpool in my boil kettle at knock out. Great pump but unless you have a %10 off coupon then they are spendy.

My buddy and I have a system with two pumps, and we had many problems the first year. I recently changed the pump orientation so that the inflow of the pump points straight down, and outflow is therefore pointing straight up. This orientation appears to allow for the air pocket to naturally get pushed up through the pump when the kettle valve is opened and wort gravity flows down to the pump. A couple of start/ stops of the pump after the wort fully fills the tubing/ piping is all it takes now to get good flow, regardless of wort temperature. I believe that the sideways orientation of the pumps previously, resulted in air stuck in the pump head and no flow too often.

This is not a self-priming pump. There are a number of configurations that will make priming easier, and after a proper prime, this pump really moves fluids! I unscrewed the head from the motor, oriented the ports vertically (with output on top) then screwed it back down. I open my kettle valves and the valve on my output port (recommended), and the water/wort will find its way into the head, forcing air bubbles out through the top port. Then I flip the switch and start pumping. I pump both hot and cold water with mine with no problem. I also fabricated a drip shield over my pumps so no wort/water can drip into the motor. I run two pumps for over an hour with no problems, and they perform just like they're supposed to. Price is a bit high, but I always try to order from Midwest Supplies, so I bit the bullet.

I just bought this pump and the only purpose of it is to circulate cold water from a ice cold water bucket throughout the wort chiller... I tested the pump as soon arrived and it worked only after several attempts... (priming)... but when I wanted to use it for my first batch it failed because of priming again... I think I learned my lesson that the entire water way has to be filled with no air in it for the pump to work on demand when you turn on the switch... I think for this price it should be more user friendly... for same price you can buy a cold/hot self priming liquid pump on the internet 3 times more powerful...

I purchased this pump and within 1 month the armature froze. Midwest was great to work with, the pump return was easy. I now have a new pump that is working great. Just in case I now oil it every time I use it. It is frustrating getting it primed, but this makes for a simple head that I feel is easy to clean and has very few hidden traps for wild yeast.
I would recommend it to a friend.

As mentioned by several others, almost every type of pump needs to be flooded (primed) prior to use. Any air in the pump will cause cavitation and you will loose a significant amount of head. Furthermore, if you are pumping hot liquids and you are having similar problems I can almost guarantee that you are having a phase change in your pump due to the inlet pressure drop (which also results in cavitation).

Putting the outlet oriented upwards is a good idea for priming and it may even help a little during operation. For the hot liquid issue, try placing the pump below the liquid source. This will (hopefully) provide enough pressure at the inlet to prevent any phase change inside the pump.

Hard to prime but works OK after it is priming