Honey Pump

[nantmoel]

Have any beekeepers here gone down the road of buying a pump for pumping honey? For example a Lowara, the dedicated ones from suppliers seem very expensive. I worked in a Micro Brewery and we used Lowara Pumps, excellent quality and pumped 'wort' from a copper at 110C, just needed to fit heat seals on them, instead of the standard seals. I know honey will not be that hot, but just putting some feelers out.

 

[foghornleghorn]

Would it handle the viscosity? Positive displacement pumps; gear, rubber impeller, vane and progressive cavity pumps are the only ones I've heard of being used

 

[tidymeup]

We use a honey pump to get it from the sump to the settling tank.

it's amazing how much time it has saved us extracting honey not messing about with buckets under the extractor outlet.

the dedicated pumps are a neoprene flexible impeller and work very well, plus most have a speed control on them.

Plus everything is food grade.

 

[Hachi]

We use a honey pump to get it from the sump to the settling tank.

it's amazing how much time it has saved us extracting honey not messing about with buckets under the extractor outlet.

the dedicated pumps are a neoprene flexible impeller and work very well, plus most have a speed control on them.

Plus everything is food grade.

Bearing in mind I'm no techy type but surely, only the parts that come into direct contact with the foodstuff need to be food grade? Therefore, the pump motor etc can be off the shelf standard stuff can they not?

 

[Poly Hive]

Yes the pump needs to be food grade and I used one for years. It makes really superb creamed honey and when I was commercial all my honey apart from the comb was creamed, blossom, heather and whisky. It removes the shelf life issues of liquid honey.

Coupled to a 500lb tank it worked beautifully and both are for sale as I need the room. If interested pm me.

PH

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Have any beekeepers here gone down the road of buying a pump for pumping honey? For example a Lowara, the dedicated ones from suppliers seem very expensive. I worked in a Micro Brewery and we used Lowara Pumps, excellent quality and pumped 'wort' from a copper at 110C, just needed to fit heat seals on them, instead of the standard seals. I know honey will not be that hot, but just putting some feelers out.

We used to pump starch slurry and glucose syrup in a variety of concentrations and temperatures around the refinery at Howdendyke. Everything was standardised on Mono pumps with stainless steel impeller and food grade neoprene stator. We also used
Mono pumps with Hastelloy C rotor and rubber stator for 36% Hydrochloric acid. It was said if a Mono pump couldn't pump it it wasn't worth pumping.

 

[Andy]

Have any beekeepers here gone down the road of buying a pump for pumping honey? For example a Lowara, the dedicated ones from suppliers seem very expensive. I worked in a Micro Brewery and we used Lowara Pumps, excellent quality and pumped 'wort' from a copper at 110C, just needed to fit heat seals on them, instead of the standard seals. I know honey will not be that hot, but just putting some feelers out.

Did you buy any non-honey branded pump in the end? I was thinking of getting one eventually for creaming as it seems to be a much more cost effective way of making large batches.