Hey folks. I had the breaker trip on me today while recovering and noticed that my TRS-21 pump was making wheezing noises. The pump is pretty new… has only been used to recover roughly 250lb of solvent thus far. I did however screw up on one occasion and had my filter drier valved off for roughly 1 hr so it was running dry. Might I have damaged the pump and it now isn’t fully pressure tight? Or are there internal component that might be responsible for the wheezing noise when the pump has no power and collection tank pressure pushing on it? Just wanna be safe here. Thanks!
that pump shouldn’t draw more than 15amp.
what else was on the circuit?
if you just use it to pressurize a hose and a gauge, how high does it go before switching off?
if I recall, the cut-off is 450 psi, so if you don’t have a gauge that will go there, don’t go there.
if you use it to suck, how low will it go?
with pressure on one side, and vac on the other, how long does it hold?
rebuild kits are cheap, and fairly easy to apply on that pump.
I have a 1100 watt heater and a inline blower on the same circuit… I tripped it trying to use a heat gun too so I’m not surprised about that. When you say use it to suck are you asking if I’m using it to recover to a vacuum? Barely, only recover to about -5 so I can pour. Or are you asking if I’m using it to pull solvent from my tank?
no. I’m suggesting you test it in such a manner.
hook it to a sealed pot and ask it to suck. measure that.
ask it if holds.
do same with the output side. how high? does it hold.
no biomass. no solvent. just testing pump.
Is that ok to do? I was under the impression that running it dry without vapors can damage the pump which I already did by accident and therefore have been concerned. Maybe I’m tripping but hearing it wheeze like that made me think it was not pressure tight. When I do that test should it be able to pull a full vac? Also unfortunately don’t have a secondary tank to pressurize unless I can just use my regular solvent tank full of gas? Appreciate the response.
I suggested pressurizing a HOSE, with a guage. IF your gauge goes to 500PSI.
your hoses are rated for 1200psi or so. chances are only your solvent tank is rated for the 450psi the pump can manage.
it’s a vapor pump. air is vapor. partial vaccum is less vapor. but is still vapor.
I don’t recall how low or high that pump should manage NEW. you’re gathering data on what it can do now.
if you want to know more about how it works, buy the rebuild kit and tear it apart.
if it doesn’t hold pressure, what would be the expectation?
that it leaks under pressure? or under vacuum?
both of those are testable (see above).
does it suck?
does it blow?
does it hold?
if it’s leaking under pressure, spraying with soapy water will show you that right?
if you blow into a hose to 500PSI, and then the gauge goes to 10PSI in 30sec, it’s leaking like a sieve.
if you suck on an empty pot, and the gauge hits -27"Hg in two min, but climbs to atmosphere once you turn the pump off, also leaking.
and yes, you might have worn the seals by sucking on a valve for 60min…
Ok, gotcha! I guess I was thinking that pulling a vac with no solvent vapors adding pressure to the inlet made the pump run too hot and that’s where the potential damage would occur. However if it can safely pull a vac for as long as I accidentally left it valved off than everything is prob fine with the pump? Will still follow your suggestions and sure I’ll have to rebuild it at some point so happy to hear it’s not that difficult to do! Thanks!
yep. this is the concern. PTFE seals on stainless pistons. running blanked off for an hr may well have shortened the life on those seals. or wrecked them completely.
sucking on a valve for another 5min won’t do any more damage…
Yes, the seals were my concern which I wouldn’t be able to check with soapy water would I? I will preform those tests though just to be safe. Bummed if it screwed it up already but guess you live and learn!
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Thank you for taking the time to respond! Loving this community!
only way I know to test the seals are the functional tests above.
if your gauge doesn’t go to 500PSI. then pressurizing as far as it will allow (assumng bourden-tube you’re better off stopping at 80-90% of gauge capacity). you can spray unit with soapy water when it’s pressurized and unplugged to see if/where it’s leaking.