INOXPA Flexible Impeller 10/40 Pump

[prcdc]

I am trying to decide on buying this pump to pump mash from my cooker to my fermenters. I can't find much on the this company or how good this pump is in terms of preference and maintenance costs.

I was also looking at the Jabsco SQN 20 GPM Flexible Impeller Pump. I know it would pump a big slower but i have read decent reviews on this pump. The price difference is 200$ between the two. Any insight would be great! Thanks again.

[Southernhighlander]

Hello pcdc

We sell both the inoxpa 10/40 and the jabsc 20 gpm pump.  The inoxpa pump is not self priming and is not reversible.  Also the impeller for the inoxpa costs twice as much as the impeller for the 20gpm jabsco.  Our 20gpm jabsco is reversible and is self priming and the replacement impeller is around $100.00  Our pricing is better than all of our competitors for both of these pumps.  Give us a call 417-778-6100 or email paul@distillery-equipment.com for pricing and availability.

[MichaelAtTCW]

3 hours ago, prcdc said:

I can't find much on the this company or how good this pump is in terms of preference and maintenance costs.

That's never a good sign! We've been selling the SQN 20 since the 70s, so we know that maintenance and readily-available spare parts should be top-of-mind when deciding on a pump. $200 savings up front isn't worth much if the parts are more costly and harder to find.

Luckily the SQN 20 has easily available spare parts, and most customers go 5+ years before they need to do anything but change the impeller, which is not that expensive. A new Neoprene impeller is $77. Keep one on the shelf.

I know Inoxpa. My main beef with European flexible impeller pumps is that they are generally a little more lax with their quality control than Jabsco. They are also generally made from thinner metal. The SQN 20 is made from cast and machined 316 stainless steel. Most of the European flexible impeller pumps I see are made from bent or pressed plate/tubing, so they're much thinner. Bending and pressing is fine for tanks, but flexible impeller pump heads are subject to a lot of axial force from the motor shaft. Wandering tolerances will lead to leaking or suction problems. I pulled one of the SQN 20 heads from our shelf and took a picture. See below. I think the difference is pretty apparent. It's burly little head. The motor on these pumps will grind themselves to dust before the Jabsco head gives up the ghost.

My only caveat about flexible impeller pumps is that you must be extremely diligent about not letting them run dry, and if you are pumping hot mash your impellers will need to be replaced much more frequently. If you want to avoid these issues there are alternative pump options (RPD, peristaltic…) but none as inexpensive.

 

[Southernhighlander]

We don't use the neoprene impeller.  We have a better impeller that is good to 185 F.  Also our jabsco 20 has no threads inside the connections.  The connections are completely sanitary.

[prcdc]

Thanks for all the the info. Sounds like the Jabsco is a better pump. 

[MichaelAtTCW]

3 hours ago, Southernhighlander said:

We don't use the neoprene impeller.  We have a better impeller that is good to 185 F.  Also our jabsco 20 has no threads inside the connections.  The connections are completely sanitary.

I assume you're talking about the EPDM impeller. Yes, it's rated for 5° more than Neoprene. The downside is that EPDM has much poorer mechanical resistance than Neoprene, so the tradeoff for 5° of head-room is rarely worth it. From one Jabsco distributor to another, I would strongly recommend against using EPDM as the default impeller material on your pumps solely for that extra 5°.

We mostly recommend EPDM impellers for applications where the pumped material has poor compatibility with Neoprene rather than instances where the extra 5° is make-or-break. When you're pumping hot material, you'll go through impellers quickly one way or the other. Either because your product is at or near the maximum operating temperature, or because you're using an EPDM impeller, which has poorer mechanical resistance than Neoprene. Better to simply let your mash cool a bit before transferring it.

Ours doesn't have threads inside the connection either.