Peristaltic Condensate Pump

[tigertim]

I've just acquired one of these for free :

I wonder if it would be good for racking from FV to bottle.

+ Self-priming (it will literally suck liquid up from dry, without having to pre-fill the pump as with other types)
+ Liquid does not come into contact with any mechanical parts
+ The flow can be easily started and stopped by turning on and off - no siphoning

- May be quite slow
- The pump-head pipe may not be food grade

Has anybody explored this before?

Cheers,
T.

 

[jamesb]

You should be able to replace the pipe with some food grade PVC if the existing pipe isn't suitable.

 

[Aleman]

It is likely to be slow, but this is not necessarily a problem . . . the real issue is going to be tubing . . .peristaltic pumps tend to be quite hard on tubing and you need a flexible robust tubing . . . . Classically this will be Tygon Tubing (Do not look at the price :shock:), which AFAIK is a form of Silicon tubing . . . PVC tube will harden and crack in very short order . . . at a push you could use thick walled silicon tubing

 

[unclepumble]

It should be good to go easy to clean etc, but the tube will need to be food quality!

You easily find replacement tube on the web just do a search on Peristaltic pump hose.

I would imagine it will be very slow though, it could be perfect for bottling, in conjunction with a footswitch and an inline NRV to turn it on and off!

 

[tigertim]

Thanks for the responses guys! :thumb:

I've just checked the official specs for the pump and it looks like it's only good for between 6-10 litres/hour which would be a pretty long bottling session! I guess I could consider changing the motor/gearbox for something else which would give a faster flow rate, but it'd probably be more hassle than it's worth

 

[texteditor]

As I recall the way to change the flow rate in a peristaltic pump is to change the tube for a bigger or smaller diameter one, obviously you can only do this for a limited range of tubing.
If you take the cover off the tubing you will see adjustable lobes (unless it is a fixed lobe pump) which can also be used for flow adjustment (and to accomodate the different tube sizes).
They are usually used for slow and accurate feed, not for bulk shifting of liquids.
texteditor.

 

[unclepumble]

They are usually used for slow and accurate feed, not for bulk shifting of liquids.
texteditor.

Some are, Bredel (watson marlow) make peristaltic's to a huge size, we have some at work that stand 3ft High with 80mm ID hose! & pump huge volumes very gently.