Cold ethanol pumps

Any more input on Magnatex pumps? i spoke with them and they seem pretty reasonably priced. 7k with an explosion proof motor. They have an option to put an air motor in it but i have not quoted yet. I noticed the other quote posted had a head pressure of 147ft. This is really high i think. Can anyone tell me what they are estimating for theirs? My estimate is 10ft high(10), 30ft pipe(3) 4 turns (4) loss(3) = 20.

This is what I was considering.

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$400 Methanol fuel pump…

No complaints after 2hrs at. -50C

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Looking good! Do you have a link?

Up thread!!!

Link to 110V also up thread!

And I apologize for not linking again or at least stating that it was the Western Equipment fuel pump @Soxhlet tried to talk me out of :wink:

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Still looking for some more input. Im looking for a 100 gpm pump, rated to atleast -70 and would prefer an air driven motor as it will be easier to put into the c1d1 room.

Or am i over estimating the trouble of using an ATEX rated motor in the c1d1 room.

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

That was my quote. I accounted for the maximum length and hieght of pump distance which for me, at -80c it would require around the head pressure they quoted. I also want to be able to maintain a certain level of pressure all the way through filtration.

What kind of height and length do you have? I wont be winterizing and filtering using this pump. That high of a head pressure is making me double think my estimate.

Chemsteel makes gear pumps that are up for the task. They are not cheap. Nor easy to obtain in a hurry.

The western states fuel pump is rated for 11gpm and is the same general design, just smaller.

It was NOT doing anything close to 11gpm at -50C yesterday, but I need to check the intake screen before I call that as a flaw.

Edit: found the problem…my silicone hose did not like being moved when pumping -50C solvent.

Edit: nope!

That was part of the problem.

The intake screen is also clogged!!!

Installing a filter upstream is highly recommended!!!

The plastic came from the cooler my heat exchanger was in. Picked it up when I drained the cooler this morning.

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Because it’s a DC pump, one can simply reverse polarity and backflush.

Same trick applies to the chemsteel if paired with a 3-phase motor and vfd.

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I believe this pair will give me the ability to run the Western States DC gear pump forwards, backwards, slower, and faster…

Which means I can emulate all the tricks possible with the larger Chemsteel pumps on VFDs

https://www.pumpsandpartsonline.com/shop/oberdorfer-pumps/chemsteel/chemsteelpumps

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@G710

did you ever get your pump working the way you wanted it to?
which “air operated diaphragm pump” were/are you using?

based on my experience using the oberdorfer/chemsteel pumps and the western tools fuel pump, I’d say gear pumps are a solid, if somewhat expensive solution.

I’m curious about the Foodboxer. @SamboCreeck.com uses them on their filtration units, they will pump air (so can be used for moving via +ve pressure), pull a vac (so -ve pressure too), and pump liquid.

the question is, when (what temp) do the diaphragms start to complain (or worse yet fail)? It looks like they’re not even rated to 0C…

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I am using the fooboxer for extraction right now and it is pretty finicky. We run around -40 for extraction and the pump will freeze up if I leave the muffler in. Even with the muffler taken out it still makes an ice plug on the exhaust after running for 3-4 hours. I just ordered a new pump from grainger that I think will work better.

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If your air source is causing ice to form in your pump you may want a dryer somewhere between the compressor and pump.

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at -40 it’s possible the condensation is coming from the ambient air in the room, but that is a great point, having wet air driving a pump at that temp is certainly going to be problematic.

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I’m actually using 2 inline dryers from the compressor but the compressor came with the building and I think it has some issues to begin with. You can still see water getting into the second dryer after running for a bit.

is your air tank being drained of water on a daily basis?

we get a lot of water into our compressors here in Eugene.
No point in making your driers do more work than they have to.

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Yah we have been shutting it down and draining at the end of the shift to keep water buildup down. When I first came to the building it was about half way full with rusty water and the air dryer they were using was completely shot.

They had this harbor freight one installed but it wasn’t doing anything but sending errors so we bypassed it and went with smaller ones inline. I should probably just get a bigger one up and running again.

The foodboxer also leaks a little if you don’t keep the bolts torqued down. The manual actually suggests re-torquing everything after 2 hours of use but I get away with just doing it once a day.

New pump and tanks coming this week for me I will keep you guys posted with how the standard pump compares.

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Looking a little more at that link it seems like they have dryers for “medical” air and the dryer from harbor freight specifically says not intended for medical use. I’m kinda wondering if I need to upgrade now lol

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The air never makes contact with the product, it merely drives the pump. Shouldent matter what you got, they will work the same. Unless you are useing your air in a manner which mixes with the product.

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I just picked one of these up from usalab ill let u know how it works for my closed loop coil chiller submerged in dry ice