ZENY 3.5CFM Single-Stage 5 Pa Rotary Vane Economy Vacuum Pump 3 CFM 1/4HP Air Conditioner Refrigerant HVAC Air Tool R410a 1/4" Flare Inlet Port, Blue

The media could not be loaded. Every winemaker should get this vacuum pump.If you aren't familiar with Wine Degassing, you can read more online, but in a nutshell, "degassing" wine removes the CO2 that is created when sugar converts to alcohol. When you leave CO2 in wine, it tastes bubbly, and leaves a foul flavor.I've tried several other products to degas my wine before looking at an actual vacuum pump:* A handheld vacuum, often called Wine Pump or Vacu Vin. This is a six-inch tall pump with a rubber stopper designed for removing the air from a single bottle of wine. This works, but only pulls up small bubbles and takes a lot of effort to get a very small result.* A metal rod wine whip. This is a straight metal rod with two plastic flaps at the end that you attach to a power drill and stick into your wine bucket or carboy to spin the wine around and stir up the bubbles. This was essentially, for me, an electric version of the Vacu Vin. Not much of an improvement, and took a lot of time.* A Wine Whip degasser. This is a C-shaped plastic rod (much like the metal rod) that you also attach to a power drill and stick into your wine bucket or carboy to spin the wine around and stir up the bubbles. It works pretty well, better than the metal equivalent in my case, but takes a lot of time and only gets slightly larger bubbles than the Vacu Vin.* A Vacuum Sealer. This is a completely different product. These are used to vacuum seal food. There are a lot of examples online using a Vacuum Sealer that use the accessory port (normally used for things like sealing Mason Jars) to degas the wine. I haven't tried many of these, but my Vacuum Sealer had a safety mechanism that shut it off when it hit a certain amount of pressure, so I had to restart it over and over. In the end, it never got more than small bubbles.So I started looking for a proper Vacuum Pump; no shortcuts, just a real electric vacuum pump.If you've looked at these much, you probably know that they are pricy. Most of the local big-box stores didn't even carry them, and even the few that did started over $100. At the time that I purchased this unit, it was $48 plus about $10 shipping.I researched the different types of pumps: single stage, dual stage, etc. For Winemaking, a single stage looked like it was going to do the trick. The main advantage that I found in this research was that a dual stage would eventually be quieter as it was running. However, this vacuum pump isn't loud at all. I measured the decibels that it put out after warming up. With the decibel meter 6 inches away from the pump, it produced 64db. This is pretty low, in my opinion. This doesn't sound like an air compressor; it sounds more like a washing machine, dryer, but probably closer to a dehumidifier. This is not loud at all.The vacuum power on this is more than enough for a 23 liter (or 5-6 gallon) glass carboy.You are supposed to put another drip container in between your carboy and the vacuum pump when you start. I had read about how important it was to make sure that you don't get any wine or fluid into a vacuum pump, but having tried the above mentioned methods, I was expecting a slow start when I plugged it in, so I hurriedly skipped adding a drip container, but was ready to pull the hose off in case it started to fill the hose with wine. I am so glad I was ready. When I first turned it on, it degassed so fast! Bubbles shot to the top and wine was in the tube faster than I expected, and I was able to rip the hose away from the pump in time! But be careful, this thing can degas quickly.After that, I connected a drip container and turned it back on and it is pretty amazing how well this works. I was using spare hose, not air hose that is reinforced, so the hose and tubing collapsed on itself and pinched, slowing down the airflow. Tomorrow I'll be heading out to get proper air hose, a relief valve, and probably even a regulator so I can monitor the pressure. This thing works very well and is a great deal!

Worked Great!

The product is average, with satisfactory suction power, low noise, sufficient vacuum pump oil, and user-friendly operation. However, it does not have the functionality that my friends mentioned, which allows it to be used as both a vacuum pump and an air compressor.

I needed a vacuum pump for my home-made vacuum canister for resin casting. This pump was very affordable and (more important to me) was available for same-day shipping. I ordered it and it arrived the same day. At first I was worried as this looks like a cheap import but after powering it up, it draws my vacuum chamber down to 23 inches in about one minute. So far at least it works very well and is a lot quieter than I expected.there was one drawback though. It stated that it has a 3/8 and 1/4 inch port. The 3/8 port is standard, with a flare fitting and correct threads but the 1/4 inch port does not seem to have standard threads... maybe metric? Anyway, all I had to do was go to Home Depot and buy an adapter for the 3/8 port. No big deal but if you are planning on using the 1/4" port you probably should know that.

Great Product, Works Perfect for our needs and easy to use.

Excelente

We used this and a connection kit to vacuum our mini split refrigerant system out. This pulled the recommended vacuum easily and worked like a charm. This has an oil reservoir that must be filled before using it. And the price of buying the vacuum plus the connection kit was many times cheaper then any of the HVAC specialists we got quotes from.The mini split we installed using this has been working perfectly for about a year, and hopefully will continue to do so.

Worked well and used it right out of the box. Set it aside for three weeks and came back to find a good sized puddle under the oil housing on top of the base. It had dripped down onto the bench. Can't tell if it came from the drain plug or where the aluminum body of the motor housing meats the oil reservoir, that's the front part with the level window in it. I removed the 4 allen bolts and found the joining surface of the aluminum housing was poorly machined. Oil will always find a way past a seal if there is a way and I could see several surface imperfections that could lead the way. I figured as long as I had it apart I would clean it all up and put a thin layer of RTV on the joining surface and put the reservoir back on. For now I am going to leave the oil out and not put it in until I need it again. No need to tempt fate.Also I noticed the screws that hold the plastic switch cover were loose. Maybe due to vibration from use, it's hard to tell. It was no problem to remove them by had. I went ahead and took the cover off as there was no sticker saying not to and found that that there was a relay after the switch that was not secured inside the housing in any way. Just a red wire going in from the switch and coming out and going to the motor. I felt like maybe it shouldn't be jiggling around in there. A dab of hot melt glue put that right.At this price point I don't think I could do much better and the hassle of returning and replacing is not worth it. The unit works for drawing a strong vacuum in a short amount of time and the price was right. You get what you pay for most of the time and that holds true here.