Vertical auger honey pump

01 · FOR TANKS WITH NO TAP

That is the use case, and it should be yours

Emptying a drum with no valve means tilting it or ladling it out: awkward, unhygienic and, with two hundred kilos in your hands, not advisable. This pump goes in from the top and draws from the bottom.

If your tanks already have a bottom tap, this is not the pump: for ordinary transfer between settling tank, clarifier and bottler there are others in the range, cheaper and with adjustable speed.

02 · THREE-PHASE: CHECK THE BOARD

Before anything else

The motor is 2.2 kW at 400 V three-phase. Most small honey houses only have single-phase 230 V, and there this pump cannot be connected: no adapter will do it.

It is the same filter as on the other large honey-house machines. Check it before ordering, because getting a three-phase supply installed is not a one-week job.

03 · Ø40 MM IS AN INCH AND A HALF

And not an inch and a quarter, as the maker's sheet says

The outlet takes Ø 40 mm hose, which in inches is an inch and a half — the maker's sheet translates it as 1¼, and that does not add up: an inch and a quarter is 32 mm. Go by the millimetres.

Those 40 mm link it to the house's small line: filters, clarifiers and settling tanks of that bore. For a two-inch installation you need an adapter.

04 · 2,800 RPM AND NO INVERTER

That is the difference from impeller pumps

The auger turns at 2,800 rpm and has no inverter: it runs at the speed it runs at. Impeller pumps with regulation let you slow down so as not to work air into the honey; here that cannot be adjusted.

In exchange, the auger has muscle: it moves dense heather or holm-oak honey and slightly crystallised honey without jamming. Throughput runs from 1,500 to 3,000 l/h depending on density and temperature, which is a two-to-one spread: count on the honey you actually have.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

If your tanks have a tap, there are cheaper pumps.