Water Pumps For Coffee Carts | Caffewerks Comparison

Transcript

I’m Ryan from Prima and this is an overview of Caffewerks water pumps and accumulators.

If you're setting up a mobile coffee cart, a water pump is an essential piece of equipment that you'll need to invest in. It truly serves as the beating heart of your rig. And today we're going to explore why not just any water pump will do, and compare the range of options from Caffewerks to find the best fit for your setup.

First, let's distinguish between a basic, inexpensive water pump like this Flojet BW5000 and a more advanced pump accumulator combo like this one here beside me. Flojets have been used pretty often in the coffee industry due to their affordability and availability, but really, they were never designed specifically for coffee equipment and as a result, they tend to be significantly undersized for most applications and lack an accumulator.

So what exactly is an accumulator? An accumulator is just a small pressurized tank that contains both water and air, designed to maintain consistent water pressure by smoothing out pressure fluctuations and reducing the frequency of the pumps on off cycles and accumulator enhances performance and extends the lifespan of your pump. Okay, so here's an example of a Flojet BW5000 cycling throughout a shot at full pressure, you can see that needle on the manometer fluctuating up and down each time the pump engages with a pump accumulator combo, you can see it's effectively mimicking the constant line pressure you get if you are plumbed directly into the municipal supply and the accumulator prevents any major pressure fluctuations. Bottom line if you want your coffee set up to be pro, you'll want a pump accumulator combo.

Next, let's take a look at the lineup of Caffewerks pump and accumulator systems you can find here at Prima. To make this easy, I'm going to split these up into three categories low volume, medium volume, and high volume. So when I say low volume, I'm talking about coffee carts that make about 15 to 20 drinks per hour and that usually use a single group espresso machine, a pitcher riser, and at most, a hand-washing sink. If that sounds right for your coffee cart, then one of these two systems we're going to talk about maybe right for you. For those running a fixed coffee cart that doesn't collapse down for storage at the end of the day, a semi-permanent mountable solution is usually ideal. Caffewerks Home Panel is a one and a half gallon per minute system with a half liter accumulator, and is a wonderful option for low volume coffee carts or for direct espresso setups at home. If you're running a low volume, collapsible coffee cart, the Connect Cube Hydro may be ideal for your setup. This is a fully portable 1.7 gallon per minute half liter accumulator with three built in quarter inch Quick Connect outlets and one quarter inch inlet, all packed inside of a durable, high density polyethylene case.

Now, this next unit isn't a water pump, but since we're talking about connect cubes, I think it deserves an honorable mention. This is the connect cube electro, which conveniently stacks right on top of the Connect Cube hydro and provides eight 110 volt receptacles on two circuits as well as four USB receptacles. So if you're running a collapsible cart, the combination of these two for power and water is pretty much unbeatable.

We're going to define medium volume as approximately 20 to 40 drinks per hour using a single group espresso machine, a pitcher rinser, and a handwashing sink. But this system could also supply a two group espresso machine. In the right scenario, medium volume is where most coffee carts will find themselves, and if you're running a fixed coffee cart, this is probably the system that you'll need and features a one and a half gallon per minute pump with a large two gallon accumulator for significant pressure storage compared to low volume units.

Finally, let's talk about high volume drink service, which we'll define as 40 plus drinks an hour or any cart running a two group espresso machine or a coffee brewer, pitcher rinser, and a sink. This system here is equipped with a 3.2 gallon per minute pump and a two gallon accumulator, and is designed to cover literally any need you can ever throw at it without skipping a beat. When it comes to pumps and accumulators, there's really no harm in over sizing your pump. But there can be consequences for under sizing your pump. So if you want total peace of mind and a system that will keep up with any pace of growth, high volume systems are a great way to go. This particular system is semi-permanent for fixed carts, but if you need a more portable solution, the high volume Hydro Connect Cube is another way to go. Now, this Connect Cube isn't just a portable high volume pump, it's also a power station with four 110 volt and two USB receptacles, as well as a carbon and particulate filter. A truly all in one system for any busy coffee cart. On the left side, we have four filtered outlets for equipment like espresso machines, coffee brewers, or anything else that requires treated water. On the right are another four outlets that feed unfiltered water, and this is great for hand-washing sinks or a pitcher rinser. So you're not wasting your water filter capacity. And as I mentioned, this system does include a carbon and particulate filter, which is really the bare minimum that you should be treating your water with. But this filter media won't address water hardness or corrosion issues, but it will at least prevent any tiny particles from obstructing the water pathways in your equipment and clean up any off tastes and odors remaining in the water.

As a side note, if you're planning to run tap water in your coffee cart and you need an appropriate water treatment solution to protect your espresso machine and optimize flavor, be sure to purchase one of our Everpure water test kits, and our team will help you find a tailored water treatment solution that you can mount inside your coffee cart or at an offsite location.

The last thing I want to go over in regards to these pumps and accumulators is the included pickup tubes and install kits. Both hydro connect cubes include both an espresso machine install kit as well as a rinser install kit for quick plug and play operation. The low volume or home panel, one and a half gallon per minute, mountable pump accumulator includes just an espresso machine install kit and the medium and high volume mountable pump accumulators do not include any install kits. So if you want to add install kits to your order for any of these pumps that we've discussed, we have a dedicated listing with kits for coffee brewers, espresso machines, rinsers, and tap water faucets to make things really easy. Lastly, with the purchase of any of these pump accumulators, you'll have a choice of a pickup tube, and this is basically a big straw that draws water from your reservoir and connects to your pump inlet, as well as a lid. For the reservoir, you can choose between a standard five gallon jug pickup tube like this one or other specialized pickup tubes for the five gallon septic tank or the seven gallon Aquatainer tank. And both of these can be purchased on our site to pair with your new pump, accumulator, and pickup tube.

So this wraps up our overview of the Caffewerks, water pumps and accumulator selection here at Prima. If you're interested in setting up a coffee cart and you'd like a free consultation with one of our team members, check out the links in the description. Happy brewing!