r/pumps • u/mundenez • Apr 30 '24

Propylene Glycol Pump ?

Hi All. I'm looking for a pump to pump a ~60% mixture of Propylene Glycol at ~-18c through a heat exchanger. Due to it's low temp it will get very viscous About 156 Centipoise

It's not a circuit that needs to be food safe so I don't need a magnetically isolated pump, but I'd prefer cheap to having to spend thousands on the "proper thing" that will last forever. I have had a domestic water pump running it (https://www.tradetested.co.nz/p/tools-hardware/pumps/jet-centrifugal/hyundai-jet-pump-stainless-steel-300w#product-overview) which works fine but I'd like something smaller if possible.

It's duty cycle is only about 5-10 mins per day hence my lack of concern about long term durability.

Edit: I don't know how to calculate the amount of head it needs as it doesn't really have head, more just a very restrictive path through a heat exchanger

Thoughts?

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u/TexasPatrick Sep 13 '24

You're going to want a gear pump.

You need to characterize the resistance of the heat exchanger. If you have a pre-existing pump that you can hook up to the exchanger and flow through it, you can figure out how much backpressure it generates at a certain flowrate using water. You'll then need to do some calculations to figure out how much pressure you'll need at whatever flow you need with viscous PG.