[goose]

I am wondering if anyone here on the forum has experienced failures with the Blichmann Riptide Pump.  Mine decided to die when brewing on Saturday (noted elsewhere on this forum) and one of the guys from a local brew clubs I belong to mentioned that he has heard of them failing.  It stopped pumping and made a gawd awful squealing noise while cleaning my fermenter.  I ordered a new pump after borrowing one from a friend.

When I contacted the online vendor for the pump (not Blichmann) he asked if the pump was primed, which of course it was since it is the lowest thing in the system, the weight of three gallons of PBW solution in the conical will prime it, and the bleeder valve is always cracked to make sure no air is in the system.  The contact person told me it was probably a defective pump.  To verify this, I substituted the impeller from the friend's pump on to my pump head to see if this was the problem.  Didn't fix it.  Secondly, I substitured his entire pump head on to my pump motor. Again, the problem persisted.  Third, I subsittuted the friend's motor for mine and used my pump head.  Same problem.  So the initial analysis of the problem by the vendor was correct, a faulty pump.  My friend's complete pump after re-assembly with all of his parts worked just fine and I got the brew day finished.  I should note that my pump never came with the small washer that sits on top of the impeller.  I had contacted Blichmann and they sent me some free of charge (normally 7 bucks plus shipping for six of them).  When I installed one of them the pump ran worse that it did before failing, so i removed it.  I don't believe that this contributed to the premature failure, but I could be wrong.

Inquiring minds want to know.  Blichmann makes good stuff and I am a bit perplexed that this pump croaked after only about a year and half of service.

[narvin]

Haven't used the Riptide but it seems odd that both the motor and the pump head are defective when tested separately.  Is there any damage to the pump head or impeller that could have also affected the motor as a result? Still seems unlikely in a magnetic drive pump.

[denny]

Ive used a Riptide for a year or 2 with no problems.

[goose]

Haven't used the Riptide but it seems odd that both the motor and the pump head are defective when tested separately.  Is there any damage to the pump head or impeller that could have also affected the motor as a result? Still seems unlikely in a magnetic drive pump.

I agree that it is odd.  But I haven't seen any obvious damage to either.

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[Kevin]

Cavitation? Do you run the flow into the pump real low?

[goose]

Cavitation? Do you run the flow into the pump real low?

No.  The input has a wide open butterfly valve.  The output is controlled by the built-in valve on the pump head.

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[hopfenundmalz]

Goose, there is a Blichman Engineering facebook group. A few posts about Riptides. You might join that. John B replies to some posts.

[Gary Glass]

I've got a couple of Riptide pumps and will sometimes have them seize up--not sure why, could be the o-ring came loose.  Every time, I've just taken the pump head apart, reassembled and it's always worked fine.  I've never had an issue with the pump motor.  I do love that these pumps are so easy to disassemble and clean. 

[goose]

I've got a couple of Riptide pumps and will sometimes have them seize up--not sure why, could be the o-ring came loose.  Every time, I've just taken the pump head apart, reassembled and it's always worked fine.  I've never had an issue with the pump motor.  I do love that these pumps are so easy to disassemble and clean.

I have done this too, Gary.  For some reason, it didn't solve the problem.  I agree that they are easy to disassemble and clean although most of the time I just CIP with my chiller, inline screen and the fermenter/kettle.  Good tip though!

[mabrungard]

Any of these pumps (March, Chugger, Blichmann) will hang up if they are turned off with high concentration wort in the volute. The problem is that sugars plate onto the central shaft and that reduces the clearance and the impeller can't move as freely. To avoid this, I now NEVER turn off my March pump during the mashing period. I only close the discharge valve to stop the flow, but leave the motor running. Once I implemented this technique, I've never again had an impeller seize. 

Once you run sparging water or cleaning water through the pump, that layer of sugar dissolves off the central shaft.

[goose]

Any of these pumps (March, Chugger, Blichmann) will hang up if they are turned off with high concentration wort in the volute. The problem is that sugars plate onto the central shaft and that reduces the clearance and the impeller can't move as freely. To avoid this, I now NEVER turn off my March pump during the mashing period. I only close the discharge valve to stop the flow, but leave the motor running. Once I implemented this technique, I've never again had an impeller seize. 

Once you run sparging water or cleaning water through the pump, that layer of sugar dissolves off the central shaft.

Point well taken, Martin.  However, I never turn the pump off when transferring wort to the fermenter (that is all I ever use the Riptide for).  This one quit pumping when I was cleaning the fermenter with PBW.  I always clean the pump and my chiller assy. a second time with PBW at the end of the brew day and rinse with hot water as well to get all the crap out of it.

I also have a stock March pump onm my mash tun for RIMS recirc. and it stays on during the whole mashing period.  Never had it seize.

[BrewBama]

I run my Chugger for the entire mash. I’ve never had it stop during the mash but once it didn’t start when I was transferring strike liquor to underlet the MLT when I hit my foot switch. I unplugged it and turned the fan, plugged it in, hit the switch and it started.

My theory is your pump head failed, kept the motor from turning, and after a while of applied power without turning, burned it up. When you installed your head on another motor it also kept that new motor from turning. When you installed the other head on your motor it didn’t turn because the damage was already done to your motor.

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[duelerx]

Not sure why this is not mentioned but the RipTide had a faulty impeller design, you can buy the new impeller on the replacement part website
https://www.blichmannengineering.com/riptide-impeller.html

I would check if you have the old or the new RipTide with the upgraded impeller.

[denny]

Not sure why this is not mentioned but the RipTide had a faulty impeller design, you can buy the new impeller on the replacement part website
https://www.blichmannengineering.com/riptide-impeller.html

I would check if you have the old or the new RipTide with the upgraded impeller.

Any idea how you can find out which one you have?