Pump safety

[adamOVD]

I've been using a cheap flojet diaphragm pump as a spirit pump. It is driven by an attached electric motor, not by compressed air though, so I am assuming that negates the "explosion proof" qualities of a diaphragm pump. I never pump anything stronger than 100 proof with it, but I do occasionally pump 100 proof spirits, and it gets pretty warm in the distillery so I could conceive of even 80 proof spirits reaching their flash point. I'm I taking a huge risk? should I switch over to an air driven pump asap?    

Still very new to this, but It scares me how ignorant I am about the properties of explosive vapor when I work with it constantly. Thanks.

[Southernhighlander]

I wouldn't use it.  We have explosion proof ethanol pumps for less than $400 each they are great pumps and they use very little air.  paul@distillery-equipment.com

[adamOVD]

Thanks for the feedback Paul. Will it run off a 1.5hp 6gal compressor? I don't need it to move much volume (60 gallons at a time max). I only saw your big PD pump on your web sight, could you email the details to me? How loud is it? fusionbyadam@hotmail.com.

[MichaelAtTCW]

Those little Flojet quad pumps actually come with a warning not to use them with any products that have a flash point below 100 °F. Here's a link to the documentation.

An old Flojet rep told me people used to try and use those electric quad pumps for moving marine fuel. It didn't end well for someone, and now they plaster warnings all over the documentation to prevent anyone from trying to use it to move flammable liquids.

The pump you're looking for is the Flojet G70, which can be grounded, and is rated for use with more volatile substances when used as directed in the documentation.

As far as sizing the air compressor, these pumps don't take much to run. With air diaphragm pumps the most important factor to sizing the compressor is the CFM (cubic feet/minute) of air the compressor is capable of generating. The G70 only requires about 3 CFM. A cheap compressor like the kind you can pick up at your local tool store for $100-$200 is capable of this. Sometimes people even use tanks of compressed gas.

The compressor will almost certainly be much, much louder than the pump itself.

[adamOVD]

Thanks Michael super helpful information.

[Southernhighlander]

On 8/20/2018 at 4:15 PM, adamOVD said:

Thanks for the feedback Paul. Will it run off a 1.5hp 6gal compressor? I don't need it to move much volume (60 gallons at a time max). I only saw your big PD pump on your web sight, could you email the details to me? How loud is it? fusionbyadam@hotmail.com.

The pump that I sell is the G70.  The actual CFM needed is 2.2 CFM.   Please call or email us 417-778-6100 paul@distillery-equipment.com  We have them for less than $400.00  The web site shows them as out of stock, but we will have them back in stock tomorrow or the next day.  We have been selling them faster than we can get them.

 

[daveflintstone]

On 8/21/2018 at 9:07 AM, MichaelAtTCW said:

Those little Flojet quad pumps actually come with a warning not to use them with any products that have a flash point below 100 °F. Here's a link to the documentation.

An old Flojet rep told me people used to try and use those electric quad pumps for moving marine fuel. It didn't end well for someone, and now they plaster warnings all over the documentation to prevent anyone from trying to use it to move flammable liquids.

The pump you're looking for is the Flojet G70, which can be grounded, and is rated for use with more volatile substances when used as directed in the documentation.

As far as sizing the air compressor, these pumps don't take much to run. With air diaphragm pumps the most important factor to sizing the compressor is the CFM (cubic feet/minute) of air the compressor is capable of generating. The G70 only requires about 3 CFM. A cheap compressor like the kind you can pick up at your local tool store for $100-$200 is capable of this. Sometimes people even use tanks of compressed gas.

The compressor will almost certainly be much, much louder than the pump itself.

 

What's the pump on the Mori gravity filler?

[adamOVD]

1 hour ago, daveflintstone said:

 

What's the pump on the Mori gravity filler?

I believe it is the pump pictured on the original post. That is the reason we got it. Someone was using it in their distillery and said they said it was the same pump they had in their filler. It works great to be honest.

[MichaelAtTCW]

1 hour ago, daveflintstone said:

 

What's the pump on the Mori gravity filler?

Depends on the version. There are three: The Gravity-Fed version doesn't use a pump. The Electric version uses the Flojet Quad pump. The Pneumatic version uses the G70. You can see the breakdown here.