CIP for stacked fermenters

[jayspies]

Hey all, we are acquiring some stacked fermenters, and I'm wondering, for people who use them, what size/hp pump do you use for CIP, to adeuately deal with the head pressure and still get good flow? FYI, the lift to the top of the CIP arm on the upper uni would be about 14 ft. Thanks in advance.

[dick murton]

Its not quite as simple as that I'm afraid. You need to know the uplift from the pump, which I assume will be around the 14 ft mark - so half a bar / 7psi pressure to overcome. Plus the pressure that the spray heads need to operate at, the flow rate they need to operate at, the temperature you are cleaning at (to make sure the pump is suitable for hot liquid if that is what you are going to use), are you cleaning under pressure (I guess not if they are fermenters, but...). The you can look at pump curves and the associated HP to achieve the necessary requirements. Once you have those figures, it might well be easiest simply to go to a pump supplier and say - these are the conditions, what have you got?