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DIY pump recommendations?

seijoed

I have two Seattle foodgeek's style builds but with 1500w
Elements, finding good self priming and cost effective pump
Solutions that can handle high temp is something I've been looking for advice on for
Quite a while now.

Any other hombuilders out there?

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Comments

Brendan_Lee_56950

That has been my achilles heel as well. I am looking into this pump (http://amzn.com/B001AVDQO0) currently as I have heard a few people having good luck with them but there isn't really any great home options as the temperatures needed for SV at the higher end are above what most pumps are rated for.

I have also been thinking about how to adapt something like a magnetic stirrer to be used to circulate the water. My idea would be to adapt this type of setup (

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVLB9c0j1iU) but instead of a stir bar have a second computer fan with the electrical parts removed to circulate the water.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Haha i didn't realize this was you Johan, I guess you already know what I was thinking.

Chris_Young_80640

This is a great question for Nathan Pegram, who runs our hardware development efforts at ChefSteps (more about that in a future blog post). I'll see if I can get him to share his thoughts about sourcing pumps.

Chris

seijoed

Thank you Chris!

borgech

I found that this pump: http://amzn.to/12ujnkX worked fine at 75* but not at 90* (the plastic started to melt). I try to limit my cooking done at 90*, so I am replacing that pump with something similar (it is out of stock right now); http://amzn.to/UAtCPb.

I tried to use an aquarium air pump to agitate my bath, but I didn't have any luck (the temperature distribution from top to bottom was all kinds of screwed up; I'm currently trying to work out the physics of this), so it seems that we are confined to water pumps. I look forward to seeing what other people's ideas.

PS Chris et al.: What do you think about a DIY section on the board? Personally, I find the eGullet forums daunting, and it would be nice to have a more organized, up to date board where people using DIY kitchen equipment can post questions about their equipment. Just a thought.

seijoed

@chrisdapos - That looks like the pump I use.

I burned out a few of the DC ones and got tired of it.

I want something inline, probably simplex with a regulator, I've found that for up to 130C

on import/export sites - they are self priming and can handle small dry runs.

Yes, I'd love to see more DIY, I'm currently on revision 4 or so of my baths, of course I'd love to

have 2-3 Professionals instead - but

Chris_Young_80640

chrisdapos:

We are planning to launch a DIY section of ChefSteps in the very near future.

As for temperature distribution, I find the biggest improvement is made by using a well-insulated container to minimize heat loss through the sides. A standard cooler is just about perfect.

Also, is there a particular reason that people prefer a pump over an impeller? It's much easier to isolate a stirring blade from the motor than a pump. If I was dead set on a pump, I'd probably look at a self-priming peritstaltic pump for the job.

I will point out that PolyScience units opt to use a impeller inside a housing to create a pumping effect.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Thinking about what Chris said about the impeller, I'm thinking something like this mini drink mixer may fit the bill perfectly (http://amzn.com/B000E39LYO). It uses batteries out of the box but that can be easily converted to DC power. I'm not sure about the power of the motor but I suppose you could always double them up since they're only $7 each.

seijoed

@Chris, @BeeLee - No I don't think there is any reason for a pump other than lack of product design expertise

We build these systems and get hooked on what works without using MathLab, when I saw the propeller idea, yes I agree I small motor with a larger intake flange and a moveable output would be great.

It would just need an engine that could run for a long time.

dpietranczyk_49940

When we built ours, we first used an aquarium pump and it warped BAD. We then switched to a cnc machine pump that we hung over the side. They have a high flow rate and are heat stable. I'll try to post a link when I find where we got it from...

Chris_Young_80640

Would love to see some photos of the CNC pump.

seijoed

How much of a difference does the temperature have in a DIY environment compared to the chef / professional / creative series?

In modernist cuisine you clearly point out that they require more tweaking and monitoring which is very true.

I've been trying to study some on the temp calibration algorithms you wrote about earlier - but; are they more "applicable" to a laboratory environment than a food environment? I.e how much can temperatures go up and down without it becoming a problem?

Brendan_Lee_56950

I'd say that for us DIY'ers the overshoot is more of a problem. When I first rigged up my old machine the pre-programmed PID settings would overshoot nearly any set temp by like 2-5C and then take like 5-10minutes to come back to the set temp. I think that this process over time would be more detrimental to the food in a compounding way. But with my second rig, I have found decent settings that have kept the entire bath stable to within 0.3C for over 24hr spans.

The Creative Series states 0.1C stability while the Chef series is at 0.07C and the classic series at 0.05C

seijoed

Yes, the overshoot was even worse with smaller elements. I agree with the 0.3-0.4 on the JLD.

Seems quite stable and adding small amounts of water doesn't matter much in a larger bath.

Brendan_Lee_56950

How much do you normally heat at a time? I usually fill the container about 3/4 full.

seijoed

I have it top mounted and have regular cambro containers.

I fill all the way up to the element end.

http://www.katom.com/144-12189CW135.html

About 1.5cm over the notch.

Brendan_Lee_56950

We have the same container basically, mine's an off brand but still 20qt capacity. I think that much water really helps in stabilizing the temp over time. I've also had very little evaporation so that helps as well.

seijoed

I have the lid as well, (Yes, I know, I wanted it to look Polyscience'ey)

I had about maybe .5cm of water loss at / 12h if I remember correctly at 62C from when I made a pork belly.

dpietranczyk_49940

When we built ours, we had the same problems with the over shoot. Then when you add the food the temperature drops and then you go through the process again. My brother finally ended up buying a Polyscience chef and I was EXTREMELY lucky to find a Julabo EM3 with an insulated bath on Ebay for $100. Only accurate to 1C but I'm not complaining.

seijoed

I haven't had much overshoot problems since I put the 1500W element in to be honest.

I doo fiddle with the Psb and filter adjust, nothing much besides that.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Me either, since installing the bigger element I've had very little problem with overshoot and this past weekend I did pork belly and it stayed within 0.1-0.3C for the whole 30h

borgech

Just wanted to note that I too have no overshoot problems using a 1500W element. It does overshoot on the first round of heating, but after dropping to the target temp., it holds +/-0.5*C.

seijoed

Do you have a JLD 612 too @chrisdapos?

I have been thinking about my settings from the http://qandabe.com/2011/revised-sous-vide-pid-calibration/

That are there now, I think I have integration set to 1999 - for a stabler cycle.

I'm wondering if that really is needed with the bigger element.

Is your auto-tuned?

borgech

@Seijoud I do have a JLD612. I use the Auto Tune settings with my 1500W element. Qandabe's settings are for a 1000W element, and I would imagine that settings would differ substantially between the elements. Also of note, they say that they have an issue with evaporation. I haven't had any issues with evaporation on my unit as a made an insulator blanket out of ping pong balls that seems to be working well, even at high (85*C) temperatures.

seijoed

@chrisdapos, I might go back to that did you change the alarm values too? They are for 80C-90C if I remember correctly.

borgech

@Seijoed I have heard of alarm values, but not really sure what they do. Could you inform?

seijoed

Chapter 4 here -

http://mythopoeic.org/misc-files/JLD612_Manual.pdf

It doesn't say much, I was wondering if they pertained any to the auto-tuning.

seijoed

I set a target temp of 58, set al to 58 and 59 for a testrun, I wonder what it'll yield

seijoed

@chrisdapos, Did 4 runs with consecutive adjustments of Psb on 0089.

I had an overshoot so to say of 58.3, took 10 minutes to reach 58, kept 58 solid for 6h straight.

borgech

@Seijoed What values did you use, or did you autotune your controller? I would love to only overshoot 0.3*C; right now I overshoot 1-2*C, but it comes right back down and stays at the set temp.