Beer Forum

Hello all!

I have a long run (20') and my little march pump struggles to push wort through the heat exchanger and up the few feet to my fermentor. As the fermentor fills and the head pressure increases, the pump is even slower.

I currently have the 1/2" ID silicone hose that all the brewing stores sell.

I have swapped out the 3/8" barbs on the kettle and heat exchanger with 5/8" barbs and that helped.

Before I drop a few hundred bucks on a better pump, I was wondering if a slightly wider diameter hose would lower the resistance enough to speed things up.

Does anyone use 5/8" ID hose or bigger on the hot side of their brewery?

Thanks!

Dave

20ft is going to be pushing it with that pump no matter what size hose. It's only rated for a 12ft head.

Maybe the heat exchanger is the resistance. Try running a test with just water with the exchanger in and out the circuit. Use 5 or ten gallons and time how long it takes to move the water from one vessel to another. You could use this method to test other parts of the system.
Good Luck!

Understandable - 5 psi pressure drop at 5 gpm (if that could be maintained, which is isn't). I moved to 3/4" on the suction side on all my pumps, 1/2" outlet. Helps to prime.

USplastics has a good assortment of varying ID's.

Why 20' of outlet plumbing? Trim and keep components close. We homebrewers are mostly limited by budget so the non-positive displacement pumps are the choice we make.