I have a model ECVP425 vacuum pump from easy composites which has been running well for the past two years or so. When running the pump for more than 12hrs or so I generally feel the pump casing to make sure it's not getting too warm, and normally I can leave my hand on it as it only ever gets slightly warm. Yesterday however I noticed that it is getting *very* hot after just a few minutes running - I can not hold my hand on it for longer than 3-4 seconds before I risk burning myself!

My last infusion job (2' x 8') was problematic - the melamine covered chipboard work syrface I use became porous and started leaking air badly several hours into the infusion, so the pump had to work hard to maintain the vacuum while the resin cured. I had changed the oil in the pump only a short time before that but noticed yesterday when I drained the sump that it had become cloudy and emulsified with water (not sure where that came from - the chipboard perhaps?) I drained the oil and removed the bell housing covering the pump to check everything looked ok and to mop up any residual contaminated oil before refilling the pump with fresh oil... but it is still getting *very* hot very quickly. I don't want to damage the pump.

I don't want to disassemble the pump mechanism until I know what to look for, but such a job is well within my comfort zone.

Can you offer any suggestions?

Thanks,

Philip.

Is the pump still achieving full vacuum??

It is possible it may have been damaged having been left on heavy load for many hours.

When worked hard for a long period, it is not unusual for the pump casing to get to about 50-60C ie just too hot to keep touching, especially in warmer work environments common this time of year. We run a pump 24 hours a day during the working week and that can be too hot to touch for more than a few seconds.  Much Hotter and something may well be amiss.

Initially I would keep an eye on it to see how hot it gets. 

We offer a pump repair service (where it is viable to repair of course). But we do not generally recommend dismantling the pump for both warranty reasons and due to the complex nature of them, although you may well have the technical experience to do so, many do not and we wouldn't want you to end up in a situation where the pump is damaged beyond repair due to a dismantling or rebuilding error. 

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

Thanks for the quick reply Warren.

The pump appears to be still pulling a good vacuum - it's just the heat that concerns me. I have a good temperature probe, so I'll tape that on and see just how hot it's getting and then report back.

Phil.

Ok, if you'll forgive the rather random time intervals, here's a picture of how quickly my pump housing is heating up.

Ambient temperature 21C

After
04mins => 35C
07mins => 40C
10mins => 47C
13mins => 50C
19mins => 60C
38mins => 68C

The temperature topped out at around 68-69C and the pump seemed happy enough running over night... despite a rather nervous owner!

Warren - if you can check with the pump manufacturer that these temperatures are not abnormal and get back to me I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Phil.

Seems normal to me, 68 isn't that hot. I've had mine (not an EC pump, but very similar) at well over 85 running all day in the 40-45 degree summer days here... Hasn't missed a beat yet. I do try to change the oil quite regularly though, especially if the bag wasn't perfectly sealed. 

Having looked into the detail a bit further, upto 85-90C can be expected as a maximum limit during normal operation. This is dependant on the ambient temperature and load on the pump but any higher than that and you might want to be concerned and look into what is going wrong.

As a reference example, our workshop is currently around 23C and our pump which we run 24 hours during the working week is sitting at 69C and has been within a couple of degrees of that all day.

Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant