We need to be doing something different. We're seeing a lot of buildup in our pump as a result of what I believe to be moisture - a nasty, red, thick, and sticky gunk inside the vanes of the pump itself that caused it to seize. Fortunately we have a 'fusible link' between the pump and the motor that prevented a total equipment loss, but we did lose a run of a couple prepreg parts last night. The pump is running for 12-15 hrs at a time, obviously. I haven't seen others using an intake air filter or moisture separator on their pump systems, but I'm beginning to feel that it's an absolute must. I doubt it needs to be sophisticated or expensive. Have I been missing something?

Thanks,

Ive been running mine for a good 17-18 hours a day probably 4 times a week on average for atleast 3 years now and haven't had any issues yet. How often do you do oil changes?

I did lose one of my early pumps 6 or 7 years ago, but I never pulled it apart to see what went wrong. That was just a relatively cheap pump, so I just got another one.

+x

 

Hanaldo - 7/25/2020 12:56:28 AM

Ive been running mine for a good 17-18 hours a day probably 4 times a week on average for atleast 3 years now and haven't had any issues yet. How often do you do oil changes?

I did lose one of my early pumps 6 or 7 years ago, but I never pulled it apart to see what went wrong. That was just a relatively cheap pump, so I just got another one.

Oil changes once every 2 weeks. I was beginning to wonder if maybe the black iron manifold I have inside the oven could be a contributing factor. I know to use stainless or aluminum lines for compressed air, but I didn't really think about it being a problem for vacuum lines. I could be sucking in rust which would explain the reddish hue the oil takes on after two weeks of use. I don't have anywhere near the same trouble with our room temp pull-down pumps, though they're used for shorter periods of time and pull room temp air. No manifold on those pumps, though - just brass/stainless fittings and thru-bag and vac fittings connected by silicone hoses. I'm thinking I'll change out the manifold material to stainless and get an inline filter to help monitor what's going on. Something like this:

https://www.vacmotion.com/Details.aspx?Cat=VacuumFilters&Id=5&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIorrEpLDr6gIVjrbICh2a2QlcEAQYASABEgL-JPD_BwE