Hi, recently bought EC.4 and I have few questions whether it's normal and expected from this pump. Sorry for possibly stupid questions My old vacuum pump is oil-less so I'm kinda new to this pump.

Pump was filled with oil which came with vacuum pump up to half of the sight-glass.

1. When pulling vacuum oil vapor separator looks like this. It settles down as soon as full vacuum is reached. Is it supposed to work like that? Catch oil and collect it in the container?

2. When full vacuum is reached oil has lots of air bubbles. They disperse when pump is off. Is it normal?

3. What is the purpose of return check valve? I thought it was supposed to hold vacuum when pump is off. But as soon as I switch pump off - vacuum gauge drops to zero and you can hear air being sucked back to the vacuum pump through oil mist separator. So is the valve for holding vacuum or just for keeping oil getting sucked back into the tubing?

Thanks

If you are pulling down a large bag or against a leaky bag, sometimes you can exceed the separator's capacity to filter.  In essence it drains down through a small hole in the bottom and once full of oil it needs a minute or so to drain down.  Under typical load or once under a full vacuum you should not notice any issues with the separator.


Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

Thanks guys.
My bags are small, not larger than 50x50cm.
1. I've been advised by local vacuum equipment supplier (they also sell DVP products) to fill oil just a bit below half of the sight-glass. Did that. Now there's much much less oil going through oil separator.
3. I've disassembled the inlet port to check non return valve. Don't care about warranty. I know I lost it. The diaphragm was not seated properly and could not move at all. Basically one prong was in the hole, other two were resting on the edge. Photo shows properly seated diaphragm.
Looking at it it seems logical there should be compression spring sitting below diaphragm. So the question is should there be spring or not? Or should I just get some inline non return valve and be done with it

Thanks again guys!

Normally halfway up the sight glass is about right so I agree with that.

Speaking with another colleague,  they are pretty sure there is no spring as such.  Is it working now?  IF not I will pass the photo onto our  Engineer when he returns in a couple of days to clarify further.

If its a recently purchased pump then it is likely still in warranty, then we would happily look at it under warranty for you. 


Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant

Non return valve seams to work when pulling air with mouth. But as soon as I assemble pump no matter how hard i pull, diaphragm does not move up. So I've fitted compression spring (14mm dia. 7mm height). It fits perfectly in the hole and pushes the diaphragm up. After switching off the pump - vacuum dropped by 0.08bar in 20mins and was stable for 8 hours. So far really happy with the pump. It's really quiet!

I'd rather not send the pump as I'm from Lithuania and the shipping back and forth will get quite pricey. Also a bit worried about getting parcels after Brexit 

Anyway thanks for looking into this!

If all is well with the spring then hopefully it is ok.  Personally, I am used to the older pumps without an NRV so old habbit of clamping off or having a valve in the vacuum line still tends to run through my mind as a back up.

We can ship to Lithuania ok by TNT so if you really struggle with the pump, then send it back and we will be able to send it to you no problem once looked at.


The rules for post Brexit have not been made yet. -  our government is still arguing on when/if we are leaving let alone the actual agreement!.    Worst case I can see a few extra hoops to jump through for shipping but we regularly ship outside the EU with full commercial documents  for  import duty calculations so I imagine we will be able to do the same to EU countries once we leave.   Obviously the finer details are yet to be finalised and as soon as we know we will announce to our customers if and how the Brexit process will effect ordering with us.


Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant