Submersible Pump for 300 kg Drums & IBC Totes — 2,000 W

In Spain bulk honey is stored and traded mainly in 300 kg stainless steel drums —the standard format among beekeepers— and, increasingly, in 1,000 L IBC totes (plastic GRG in a metal cage) for both honey and feeding syrup. Emptying either by gravity through the bottom tap is slow, drips, crystallises and forces you to tilt the container when only the bottom layer is left. This 2,000 W submersible pump works from the top: lower it through the upper opening of the drum or IBC and transfer the contents to settling tanks, blenders, other drums or bottling lines at a working rate without ever touching the tap.

⚙️ How it works — axial submersible pump

The 2,000 W 230 V motor drives an open impeller at 2,500 rpm at the base of the suction tube. The impeller sits inside a protective steel cage, which delivers two practical benefits — first, it does not clog with dry propolis fragments, wax debris or residual air bubbles; second, it will not bite a stray rag or glove when you lower the pump into the drum. The honey rises through the inner stainless steel tube and exits via the side outlet about 30 cm below the head, where you fit the 1¼" hose.

🍯 Real flow rate — the honest figure

The manufacturer rates the pump at 10,000 l/h, but that figure is for water. With liquid honey at 28-30 °C the real flow rate sits around 3,000–5,000 l/h (≈ 4-7 tonnes/hour), enough to empty a 300 kg drum in 4-5 minutes or a full IBC in 12-15 minutes. With feeding syrup (far thinner than honey) the real flow rate gets close to the manufacturer's nominal figure. This is a punctual transfer speed: moving the contents of a drum or IBC to the next step of the process. It is not a continuous-process pump — running it for an hour straight heats the motor up, and more importantly the axial impeller at 2,500 rpm whips honey and introduces air if you keep recirculating it. For retail bottling or feeding a filler, use a lobe or vane pump with variable speed.

🔧 Build and cleaning

Suction tube, impeller housing and outlet thread in food-grade stainless steel. Motor head in technical yellow plastic with a side D-handle (same format as a magnum drill) — lets you hold it with both hands as you lower it into the drum or IBC, since the unit weighs 12 kg over its full length. IP65 protection on the motor head: splashes are fine, but the motor is not waterproof for full submersion. Cleaning is done by recirculating warm water through the tube for 2-3 minutes at the end of the job — the smooth axial design has no internal recesses to trap residual honey, unlike lobe pumps which require periodic strip-down.

📐 Dimensions and fittings

Total height 133 cm, suction tube 92 cm — fits comfortably through the DN150 top opening of any standard IBC and through the top of a 300 kg stainless steel drum with its lid removed, reaching the bottom with margin. The outlet is a 1¼" male thread + Ø 32 mm hose tail. Connects directly to 1¼" reinforced food-grade hose (reference MNG1101 in this catalogue, sold by the metre and not included).

👤 Who it is for — a versatile transfer pump

A versatile pump for any beekeeper or packer with 300 kg drums, IBC totes or both in the honey house. Typical jobs where it performs without fuss:

• Moving honey from your 300 kg stainless steel drum to the blender / homogeniser before bottling.
• Emptying a full IBC into intermediate drums or settling tanks.
• Transferring between drums to blend batches or even out honey from different harvests.
• Feeding a settling tank so the honey can clarify before retail bottling.
• Pumping feeding syrup from an IBC into intermediate drums or directly to apiary feeders.
• Emptying an IBC used as a low-cost settling tank for honey into long-term storage drums.

It fits in the band between the beekeeper who has outgrown 25-50 kg pails and the packer with a hard-piped bottling line on a fixed lobe pump. For continuous closed-circuit recirculation or fine dosing to a filler there are dedicated machines in the catalogue; for routinely crystallised honey, pre-heat with a heating jacket or use a progressive cavity pump with variable speed.

📋 Technical specifications