Pump won't pump through HERMS coil

[DallasW]

Hey all,
Just needing some help with my new 3BBL brew system. Just arrived from Abany tanks. It's electric powered, with a HERMS coil in the HLT.

I'm using 2x Little Giant TE-4-MD-HC pumps. Recirculating through the HERMS coil with water seemed to lead to a terrible flow rate, like there was a lot of resistance in the coil for some reason. It looks like pretty beefy tubing (16mm OD according to my spec drawing) so this confused me a bit. Today when I mashed in I couldn't get the pump to go through the HERMS coil and back into the MT, just stopped after about 30 seconds. I switched to pumping straight back into the MT and bypassing the HERMS and it seems to be working great, so it doesn't seem like the mash is stuck. Currently have 1" brewers hose going from the MT outlet to the pump inlet, then 1/2" silicone hose past there (about 10' to the HERMS, throug the HERMS, and about 1' post HERMS back into MT). It almost seems like the pump is losing prime when I have the output too restricted.

Anyone have any advice? Should the HERMS be that restrictive or did they mess up while making it somehow? I also have a TE-6-MD-HC that I use for CIP but that seems overkill for HERMS recirculation.

[DallasW]

Figured out the problem, there seems to be some foreign object in the coil tubing. I pulled out what appears to be a big chunk of a green SOS scrub pad out of it, but there still seems to be something in there because when I pump water through it flows for a few seconds then gets clogged, if I reverse the flow it again flows for a few seconds then clogs up again.

Anyone know any way to get big foreign objects out of a 50' coil? Only thing I can think of is to cut it open so there is no restrictions for the object to come out (I'm assuming it's getting stuck at the elbows), and then get a welder to weld the coil back up again.

[Sungood-Machinery]

How to solve

Dallas,

Sorry for bring you troubles.

If there are something inside of coil,Let's try to find solutions to remove them.
In case,the problem can not be solved and the coil can not work,we will send you a new coil for free.

[Zawlard]

You could try blowing it out with compressed air, if this doesn't work try blowing a heavy string through the coil using compressed air. After you have the string all the way through, so it's hanging out both the proxmal and distal ends of the tubing tie a small piece of soft cloth to one end of the string and draw it back through the coil with the string from the other end. As the string with the cloth tied to it comes back thru the coil hopfully it will pull the blockage with it. This way may help avoid causing any scratching on the interior of the tubing. Let us know if this works out, good luck!


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