sous vide circulator pump: constant or intermittent?

12 years ago

I'm finally getting around to hooking up a sous vide setup similar to what dcarch did a while back.

Got my PID controller:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LCD-Digital-Temperature-Regulator-110V-Thermostat-Controller-Aquarium-Fish-Tank-/131006981182?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0amp;hash=item1e809fe43e

Got an aquarium heater element without a thermostat; and I have a small submersible pump rated for the temperature range for sous vide:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-12V-Electric-Submersible-Water-Pump-95-GPH-P-38B-/251411138811?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0amp;hash=item3a894588fb

I'll hook up power to the temperature controller, and send the output to a 2 receptacle socket in a handy box. It would be convenient if I could just plug in the pump's wall-wart 12v transformer into one of those sockets, and plug the aquarium heater element into the other; however, that would mean that the water would only circulate when the heater kicked in. Is that a problem, or should I have the pump running 24/7, or am I just being a nervous nellie? (no offense to anyone named Nellie)

This post was edited by arley on Mon, Dec 30, 13 at 9:17

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Comments (8)

arley_gw
Original Author
12 years ago
OTOH, the pump is rated for a life of 26000 hours, which is about 3 years constant use; maybe it's moot.
foodonastump
12 years ago
Arley - I recall being a bit confused by the controller's instructions - it's an inline switch, not a power supply. The way I set mine up was first remove the jumper on the hot side of the outlet so that each plug is powered separately: one always on for the pump and one switched by the controller for the heater.

Email me if that isn't clear - I can easily take it apart and draw up a wiring diagram for the whole thing as I did it.

This post was edited by foodonastump on Mon, Dec 30, 13 at 10:40
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Arley, basically what FOAS have said. Leave the pump on all the time to make sure that the temperature is completely even and thermal conduction is efficient. The pump is typically a brushless AC motor, nothing much to be wormed out. Look on eBay for immersion heaters. I use one that is 220vac/2,000 watts unit. Running 220vac/2,000 watts on 110vac gives you 500 watts. It's cheaper, less than $10.00. Plug the finished sous vide controller in a GFP kitchen outlet just incase of leaks. This portable unit gives you the flexibility of cooking with any size container. I have cooked a couple of eggs in a small pot to an entire frozen 18-lb turkey in a bee cooler. Using a light bulb as a heating source, you can have absolute repeatable bread proofing. Have fun. dcarch
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Posted by mike9 : " How large of a cooler do you recommend? " How big a cooler will depend on how much food you try to sous vide. Since the components of my system are portable, I have several container sizes, from a small one to cook a few eggs to a good size cooler for large roasts. "How much power do i need? " The pump is less than 10 watts, the rest depends on the electric heater. Remember the heater use not much power to keep the water at the set temperature. "If i had to raise that the temperature of the cooler 30-40 degrees above hot tap water then its going to take a long time with 300w. I'd have to pull out the pans boil water on the stove etc. Could say a 1500w heater be too much and have problems with overshooting? I plan on using a PID and solid state relay. " I always use boiling water to get the water bath temperature high enough. 1,500 W heater will not overshoot if you have a good enough circulator. PID controller with a solid state relay, I believe, but not sure, throttles the heater from low to high. PID will, using self-tuning, self-adjusting to compensate overall equipment overshooting. "How much power does it take to sustain the equilibrium temp after everything has been cooking for many hours? " Depends on the insulating property of your container and the size of the container. "How much power does it take to maintain the set water temperature after a bunch of frozen food has been dropped into the bath? That could be important if i have an item already cooking and then later throw something frozen in there, if the temp of the water dropped for a long time it could mess up the cooking time of the first item. " Just keep an eye on the temperature reading, add more boiling water if needed. "I was looking at these heaters. http://www.amazon.com/NORPRO-559-Immersion-Warming-Liquids/dp/B000I8VE68/ http://www.amazon.com/Bush-CH-101-Energy-Saving-Immersion-Heater/dp/B003DLB5KW/ http://www.amazon.com/Reliance-9000129-045-Electric-Heater-Element/dp/B000H5W1TQ/ " The first two not too good: 1. they are not long lasting. 2. They are not completely submersible. The third one is very long lasting, but requires you to build something around the exposed terminals to waterproof and shock-proof. ------------------------------------------- I would like to say this to those of you who may be reading this thread, do not worry about any of these tech stuff. They are not what sous vide cooking is all about. A ready-made sous vide cooker is not that expensive anymore, plug it in, set the temperature and enjoy the superior food. That is all. All these annoying tech stuff are for crazy folks like me, who hasn�t quite outgrown his toy playing delinquencies yet. dcarch
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foodonastump
12 years ago
I worded that switch/ power supply thing badly/incorrectly so disregard that. "I know what I meant" LOL
arley_gw
Original Author
12 years ago
FOAS, I appreciate the offer; I may take you up on that. Lemme try and see if I can figure out the wiring. I was working on it several months ago, then I had to put it aside. Of course, by the time I get this together, they'll probably have a $49 sous vide appliance at Walmart.
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
12 years ago
Exciting!

Thank goodness to my sous vide setup. I was cooking like mad the past 8 days for a lot of people.

I was able to serve prime ribs, ducks, steaks, pork rib roasts, fish, short ribs, pork spare ribs, ---- all perfectly done, perfectly hot, at the perfect serving time --- all with no stress! I can see why restaurants like to use sous vide for their cooking.

Your system:

The pump should run full time. Only the heater is to be controlled by the controller.

The pump you have is good. I use a different pump which has an 110vac motor. Much simpler than your brushless DC motor. A DC brushless motor has electronics inside (Hall Effect Device) which is more heat sensitive.

You should get backups for all components, so that for long cooks you will not be stuck.

Also get a couple of spare temperature sensors. Don't buy the sensor alone, can be $7.00 to $10.00. But this instead:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Digital-LCD-Thermometer-For-Aquarium-Freezer-H155-/200978818608?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0amp;hash=item2ecb456630

The sensor is the same thing, much cheaper.

I had to replace my senor, which did last a few years of non-stop use.

Have fun and let us know your progress.

dcarch
arley_gw
Original Author
12 years ago
So far the only boo boo I've made is that I ordered an ice chest that was too big; well, I'm sure it'll work but it's way bigger than I expected. It was on sale at Amazon, and I'm a sucker for big markdowns, a $129 chest marked down to $38. But unless I'm gonna cook an entire beef shoulder, it's overkill. I'm gonna look for one in the 25-48 quart range.

Dcarch and FOAS, thanks for the support! Will post progress and results.

Here is a link that might be useful: ice chest on sale at Amazon
mustangs81
12 years ago
This was on "The List" TV program last night. You all are ahead of the trend!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sous Vide Craze
arley_gw
Original Author
12 years ago
Nice to hear that, but I was afraid that my efforts would soon be eclipsed by a standalone appliance.

Let me see what I've spent so far:

Temp controller $19
Aquarium heater element $40
Circulating pump $18
Electrical box/switch/wires about $15
25 qt ice chest $20

So I guess I'm still under what I would have spent on a standalone doodad. And if I were to use an ice chest I already had, then it would be cheaper.

But hey, it's a do it yourself guy thing.

Still waiting on the pump to arrive, then I'll put it all together.

I'll try to take some pics as I put it together.

sous vide circulator pump: constant or intermittent?

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sous vide circulator pump: constant or intermittent?

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