Mounting Equipment to the Stand
Introduction
Now that everything is built, you may be asking “What about the plate chiller and my pumps?” since we haven’t gotten into mounting them yet. With these being high dollar fragile items, there was no need to put them in harms way while we were doing all the other stuff we were doing. In all reality, they don’t need to be on the stand until you are ready to brew, so you haven’t lost out on anything by not having them on there yet. Well, now they need to go on, so here is how.
A brief word on the pumps. Most homebrewing pumps are not self priming. What self priming means is that they can pull air thru the hose toward the pump and suck the fluid thru. These pumps won't do that, and will run well beyond their operating speed if they don't have fluid in them causing resistance. This will burn out the heads of the pumps. In the pictures below, I haven't yet mounted valves on the pumps. The ball valves should go on the pump outlet side, you control flow by controlling how much fluid comes out of the pump. They can run all day with no output, but they need to have fluid in them while running. Having the inlet at the top and outlet at the bottom helps let gravity pull the fluid down thru the hose to the pump. Don't ever turn the pumps on until they have fluid in them. It is easy to see thru the silicone hose where the fluid is, and you can see when it has made it to the pump inlet.
Prep work
I have a Therminator and two inline chugger pumps. The mounting bracket for the Therminator has holes in it already for you to use to mount it to your stand, and the pumps have integral permanently affixed mounting brackets. I will be using 1/4-20 x 1/2" zinc plated hex bolts to attach all three items. For a drip shield to protect the pumps, you can use some leftover sheet metal, or go fancy and buy you some diamond plate. Either way, you need a piece that will go over both pumps, while ensuring that it doesn’t stick out too far forward where it will interfere with the hoses that go into the pumps from the top. I mounted mine using another 1/4-20 bolt that goes into the back side of the center vertical post, and then a 1/4-20 threaded rod that goes from the top of the center bottom intercostal up to the shield, with nuts and washers on both sides of the shield and a nut at the bottom locking the threaded rod in place in the intercostal.
Build out
Put one pump in place where you are going to mount it. Mark the two spots where the holes in the mounting bracket go against the center post. Do the same on the opposite side of the center post for the other pump. Center punch, drill and tap these holes. Now is also a good time to mark, drill and tap the holes that you will use to hang your drip shield.
Locate where you will be mounting your plate chiller (if you are using one, if you are sticking with immersion ignore this part) and put the mounting plate in place. Again, mark the two holes, center punch, drill and tap them.
If you are using inline pumps like I am, then you will need to change the head of one pump. The flow should be from top to bottom, as this helps to prime the pumps. When looking at the face of the pump, there are 4 philips head screws. Take these 4 screws out, and then you can pull the head of the pump off. Rotate it 180 degrees, and them put it back in place and reinstall the 4 screws. The head is a self contained unit and will not come apart when you do this. There will be a little resistance when you pull the head out - the pumps are magnetic drive (which mechanically isolates the head from the motor) and you have to overcome the magnetic force. It shouldn't require much force to do so.
After the holes are tapped, you can hang your equipment using two 1/4-20 x 1/2" hex bolts. Plug your pumps into the earlier installed outlet on the back of the stand, and you are ready to brew!
Now that everything is built, you may be asking “What about the plate chiller and my pumps?” since we haven’t gotten into mounting them yet. With these being high dollar fragile items, there was no need to put them in harms way while we were doing all the other stuff we were doing. In all reality, they don’t need to be on the stand until you are ready to brew, so you haven’t lost out on anything by not having them on there yet. Well, now they need to go on, so here is how.
A brief word on the pumps. Most homebrewing pumps are not self priming. What self priming means is that they can pull air thru the hose toward the pump and suck the fluid thru. These pumps won't do that, and will run well beyond their operating speed if they don't have fluid in them causing resistance. This will burn out the heads of the pumps. In the pictures below, I haven't yet mounted valves on the pumps. The ball valves should go on the pump outlet side, you control flow by controlling how much fluid comes out of the pump. They can run all day with no output, but they need to have fluid in them while running. Having the inlet at the top and outlet at the bottom helps let gravity pull the fluid down thru the hose to the pump. Don't ever turn the pumps on until they have fluid in them. It is easy to see thru the silicone hose where the fluid is, and you can see when it has made it to the pump inlet.
Prep work
I have a Therminator and two inline chugger pumps. The mounting bracket for the Therminator has holes in it already for you to use to mount it to your stand, and the pumps have integral permanently affixed mounting brackets. I will be using 1/4-20 x 1/2" zinc plated hex bolts to attach all three items. For a drip shield to protect the pumps, you can use some leftover sheet metal, or go fancy and buy you some diamond plate. Either way, you need a piece that will go over both pumps, while ensuring that it doesn’t stick out too far forward where it will interfere with the hoses that go into the pumps from the top. I mounted mine using another 1/4-20 bolt that goes into the back side of the center vertical post, and then a 1/4-20 threaded rod that goes from the top of the center bottom intercostal up to the shield, with nuts and washers on both sides of the shield and a nut at the bottom locking the threaded rod in place in the intercostal.
Build out
Put one pump in place where you are going to mount it. Mark the two spots where the holes in the mounting bracket go against the center post. Do the same on the opposite side of the center post for the other pump. Center punch, drill and tap these holes. Now is also a good time to mark, drill and tap the holes that you will use to hang your drip shield.
Locate where you will be mounting your plate chiller (if you are using one, if you are sticking with immersion ignore this part) and put the mounting plate in place. Again, mark the two holes, center punch, drill and tap them.
If you are using inline pumps like I am, then you will need to change the head of one pump. The flow should be from top to bottom, as this helps to prime the pumps. When looking at the face of the pump, there are 4 philips head screws. Take these 4 screws out, and then you can pull the head of the pump off. Rotate it 180 degrees, and them put it back in place and reinstall the 4 screws. The head is a self contained unit and will not come apart when you do this. There will be a little resistance when you pull the head out - the pumps are magnetic drive (which mechanically isolates the head from the motor) and you have to overcome the magnetic force. It shouldn't require much force to do so.
After the holes are tapped, you can hang your equipment using two 1/4-20 x 1/2" hex bolts. Plug your pumps into the earlier installed outlet on the back of the stand, and you are ready to brew!
You can see the "OUT" flow arrows pointing down. The four screws to remove to rotate the head of the pump are also what you see here on the face of the pumps. I had to adjust the one on the left.
Here is the Therminator bracket. If you are only using two hex bolts like me, then mount it using the two holes closest to the vertical leg. This will reduce the amount of force and bending moment on the bolts.
These are the studs on the back of the Therminator. Many people buy wing nuts to replace the hex nuts so that the Therminator can be removed by hand to clean. I am not sure of the thread size but after a trip to the hardware store to get wing nuts I will update with the sizes.
Everything all mounted up, without the drip shield over the pumps. I made my own by cutting and bending up the leftover sheet metal from the burner mount/windscreens. Overall size of the metal was 12"x18", then bent so that there is a 6" leg in the back and 3"legs on either side of the pumps. I also rolled the bottom edges back over on themselves to eliminate the sharp edges so that the pump cords don't get cut.