Beer Forum

I have acquired a Whirlpool washing machine motor and pump as I create my version of Doc's keg washer. I hooked the red wire that goes directly to the starting capacitor, Blue wire for high speed (you could use the orange for low speed), and 120V Hot or right plug prong together. I ensured that the other side of the start capacitor went to the wiring harness on the motor as it origionaly was wired. I hooked the yellow wire for the start winding and the white wire for the motor winding to the 120V Return or left plug prong together. Green went to the ground prong of the plug. I ran the pump off a GFCI outlet for extra safety, especially as it will be around a lot of water when I use it. The White with Black striped wire I did not connect to anything.



I'll post when I have pictures of the complete thing, but I don't have a bucket, nor hoses yet, so it may be a while...

my brain is smoking
BUB

A good picture of the plug will make all clear.

I picked up all the plumbing today and all I need is a bucket now!

I did it, but I wonder about my spray pattern. I will post pics later on that. Remember that I put all of this together for under $20 total, and I used the motor out of a washing machine that has 2 speeds, so not only is it good for pumping, it might be able to be used for motorizing a grain mill.

Ok, here's the pump and bucket:

Close up of the bucket

Pump and wiring

Plug

Diagram of pump wiring from a good friend in the appliance industry. Please note that the motor and pump both can have their direction reversed!

So berger, are you happy with it? I think this is going to be my next project.

Does the pump heat the water up at all? I would think the hotter the better.

Cheers,
Push Eject

maybe you could stick a carboy on it upside down to see what your spray patter looks like??

Looks great man! But maybe for safetys sake slide that wiring in a watertight box...

Push Eject wrote:So berger, are you happy with it? I think this is going to be my next project.

Does the pump heat the water up at all? I would think the hotter the better.

Cheers,
Push Eject

Push, yep I'm happy with it, especially the price. Free pump is the only pump I can afford these days. It does NOT heat the water, so you're going to have to start with something hot or add a heater to the system.

Thristy Boy wrote: stick a carboy on it

I'll do it Thristy! May take me a week or two, but don't give up on me.

keggermeister wrote: safetys sake slide that wiring in a watertight box

I will eventually, however, I have the unit properly grounded and I use a ground fault interupt circuit to power the whole system, so it's better than it seems.