Filter press Air pump replacement

[jputney]

I have a Wes Fab half bank filter press. The gear pump is getting to the point it will have to be replaced. How hard is it to replace with an air pump and what is the best pump to use?

[johnallin]

Not too difficult at all. I bought a Wilden pump, stainless steel and FDA approved.
Model no P1/SSPPP/FSS/FS/SFS/0700. Designed to be easy to break down and clean.
Biggest hurdle was a compressor to power it. Hoses are all on SS camlocks and easy to do.
Ended up with a Rolair JC20 that’s quiet, oil less and has more than enough CFM s to keep up.
If I could post pics, I would, the whole setup is that nice.

When you consider the last thing your syrup goes through is the filter press pump…it becomes kind of important.

[SeanD]

That's the press I have (if half-bank means only 4 hollow plates). It has an electric diaphragm pump, so no separate compressor needed.
https://www.cdlusa.com/produits/cdlwesfab-filter-press-7/

They have a few pump kit options, but no prices listed on the site. Your local dealer can give you a quote, though.

Three seasons, almost 350 gallons later, it's doing its job. Plus I use it to filter both the front pan and the back pan, so it's done more work than that. The only problem I have had with it is once in a while it has a hard time priming itself and pulling the charged syrup up from the bucket on the floor. If I lift the bucket up to or above the height of the pump, it will get started and then it pulls like a champ. It doesn't happen every time. I panicked when it first happened thinking the pump failed, but it turns out the fix is simple.

[maple flats]

It's fairly simple and once you've done it you will never want to go back. I did just that when my 5 bank LaPierre filter press original gear pump needed replacing. I looked at numerous pumps and finally settled on a 3/8" in/out Air Diaphragm pump. If you search back thru my old posts, you might find where I made the change. I'll guess it was in 2016-2018 but that's just a wild guess.
Anyways, it works wonderfully, the only issue I ever had was the noise of the compressor. I solved that by moving the compressor to my shop which is 80' away as I ran power from the sugarhouse to the shop. I laid a 3/4" heavy wall black poli pipe as an air line, and being it was uphill maybe 2', I put a bleeder line in at the lowest point. That line comes off at a tee, facing downward, then it goes up the outside wall of the sugarhouse and it has a ball valve. That's so I can blow off moisture that accumulates. I open that valve mid fall and late spring to blow off the moisture. The pump I got was only rated for 200F but I've never had any issue with it and I have drawn off from the finisher into a 6 gal funnel tank at 205-210F but apparently by the time it hits the pump it's cool enough not to damage the diaphragm. My pump is an ARO by Ingersol Rand. For my air, I have the 3/4" transfer line from the shop into the sugarhouse, then it goes into a 3/8" rubber air hose. Just before it enters the pump I have a pressure regulator and a ball valve. Since my power goes from the sugarhouse to the shop, to run the pump, I leave the compressor turned on and turn on or off the breaker to the shop. It is now quiet in the sugarhouse, all I hear when pumping syrup is the strokes of the piston working the diaphragm. The air powered pump gives total control for speed and pressure. I run the air to the regulator at up to 125 PSI, then the regulator just before the pump brings it down to run at whatever speed I want it to pump. After the fack I think even a 1/4" in and out syrup hoses would be fine, but this works so i'm not likely to change to the smaller pump. I am very glad the temperature worked, I was taking a risk, but at the time my thoughts were that the 200F rating was likely not an absolute I figured they likely had some leeway. So far it's been good, at 5 or 6 years in.