Home Distiller

I'm thinking of buying either a Mile Hi or Brewhaus 3" reflux column. I was hoping to set the cooling system up on a small fish pond type pump from Lowes or Home Depot.

I also noticed that Brewhaus sells a small pump, but have seen mixed reviews on it. WOuld I be ok using the Brewhaus pump, or should I look elsewhere?

If I purchased elsewhere ... should I look for a variable speed pump or a standard speed? How about Gallongs Per Hour? What should it be rated at?

Sorry for all of the questions, but I have a few.

Thanks

Make sure u take your head pressure in consideration

I haven't seen many variable speed pond pumps. And you also need to look at the lift hight ratings. You need it to lift as high as your highest point of your condenser input. As far as gph I will let someone with more experience with pumps answer that. I use tap water coolant tell you how much pump you need.

Most pond style pumps are centrifugal (impellor) style.
Good point; you can throttle them back with a valve no worries
Bad point; Their perfomance drops considerably with height and restriction.

I think the brewhaus one would also have extra mark up on it.

Find the biggest pump you can afford. One with a 3/4" outlet would cover most needs, both now and later and likley have good lift. .

If you go for one that has the magnet attatched to the impellor, get a spare impellor while your there. They are prone to instant failure.

i"m currently using a 290 gph, 6.5 ft max head pressure pump. I't works ok, but is fairly restricted through my double wound reflux coil. (i think it's made from 1/4 in. if i remember right) I do wish it was a bit larger. i'll probably rig up a submersable sump pump in the future with an extra valve back into the water barrel to help offset the overkill.

Be sure not to leave it alone. Would hate to have a cooling pump failure while i was in the house browsing the forums

Here's question for you all.


How would this pump work?

http://www.amazon.com/Little-Giant-Hors ... B000LGA666

My wife reminded me that I have this pump in my garage right now! I use it every spring to draw the water off of our pool cover before opening it up for the summer. Is this pump too much?

Maybe,

1/6 hp isn't much, but might do depending on your head and restrictions.

roostershooter7,

If in fact you already have the Little Giant 505000 1/6 Horsepower 5-MSP Water Wizard 5 Series Submersible Utility Pump the easiest way to find out if this particular pump will work with your Still is to actually connect up the pump and see it works.

Perhaps that would be better than asking Forum Members who have never seen your Still if that pump would will work with Still.

Regards,
Coaster

What are you using these pumps for?

I got the cheapest aquarium pump they had at Walmart to run my 24" liebig and it works just fine. Maybe 4' from pump to top of liebig.

Hey Jim,

How much was that pump from walmart? I'm looking for one now, if it's cheaper than $30 I know where I'm going tomorrow

this subject was discussed just a couple weeks ago ....you'll prolly find some good info here: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 15&t=19068

hope that helps.

THanks. I'm still learning how to effectively use the 'search' option.

FWIW, I stopped using the forum's native search some time ago. Just doesn't produce good results ... but GOOGLE does! Just type into a google search <search term> site:homedistiller.org and you'll find what you seek.

jmart wrote:FWIW, I stopped using the forum's native search some time ago. Just doesn't produce good results ... but GOOGLE does! Just type into a google search <search term> site:homedistiller.org and you'll find what you seek.

You mean like the Forum Google search option at the top of the page...???

Pond pumps work good as everybody said make sure you get one big enough to to over come the head pressure. I used a Submersible type like you would use to a garden hose on work great for flow but after a hour of continuous running I was putting more heat in the cooler with the pump than I was taking away from the condenser.

rad14701 wrote:

jmart wrote:FWIW, I stopped using the forum's native search some time ago. Just doesn't produce good results ... but GOOGLE does! Just type into a google search <search term> site:homedistiller.org and you'll find what you seek.

You mean like the Forum Google search option at the top of the page...???

It finds words within the posts. Google does a better job of turning up entire threads dedicated to a topic, where the HD search tends to bring up many different posts from all different threads

You mean like the Forum Google search option at the top of the page...???

Why yes Rad ... exactly like that <facepalm/> ...