Looking to buy a pump for my therminator, does the board have a favorite? Any advice I need to know before setting up a pump? Thanks in advance.
Regardless of whether you use Chugger or March, I recommend a stainless steel "center inlet" pump head like this... http://www.love2brew.com/Chugger-Pump-Center-Stainless-Steel-p/cgp001.htm
Hard for me to say. March has been around for quite some time and are reliable. I've only been using Chugger for a year now. Seems comparable to me based on my limited experience. Can't speak to the reliability of Chugger since I've only had it for a year. I don't think March sells a pump that comes with a stainless center inlet head though. I believe the Chugger stainless center inlet head will fit on a March pump.
I have the chugger side inlet and love it. It works fine, the reason I went with the side is solely because I brew on a 5 gallon batch, sometimes 10 gallons, size. If I were to brew on a larger scale I would have got the center just for the higher flow rate.
The center inlet eliminates another bend in the path, reducing resistance, which allows the wort to flow more smoothly (quickly). If you look closely, the side inlet head has an internal elbow molded into it that delivers the wort to the center of the impeller. More significant is that the size of the center inlet is 3/4" versus 1/2" for the side inlet. Curiously, the manufacturer specifies the same flow rate for both.
