Hey guys!
Having an issue when running out spd
Our setup is
5L AI mantle with summit full bore setup running a Edwards30 pump using a summit SFV-1 thermocouple sensor.
The issue I’m having is pulling vacuum depth. Prior to this. The previous run we had no issue with vacuum depth and we were able to pull down to 48micron.
We thought it could be the pump needing maintence so yesterday we did an oil flush and change. Definitely runs smoother now. The weird part about the whole situation is when I open the Edwards speedivalve to pull vac it goes down to 11500micron and stays there. Where it gets real weird is when I close the valve it drops down to 4380 micron with the valve to vac closed. This is what I don’t understand. It’s been a long day and kind of frustrating so hopefully someone out there can help. I hope I described my issue well enough. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Hopefully these photos help everyone understand the setup better
Try inspecting the vacuum valve, it may be dirty or toast. But if the pump seems to be running fine and doing its job it could be a faulty vacuum gauge. You can inspect the thermocouples visually with a flash light if you take the KF-25 adaptor from the gauge. If any of the thermocouples are disconnected and/or damaged the gauge is done.
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Thank you for the reply! I’ll check that out about the thermocoupler and inspect the valve. I tried looking into how to calibrate the SVG-1 unfortunately there’s not a lot of info out there about it
have you tried ruling out the speedi valve by just hooking up the sensor to it then doing an ultimate vac test?
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i guess you can do that real quick after you take the speedi valve off to inspect
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It was the speedivalve. The green silicone gasket was cracked. The speedivalve is fairly new, I was surprised it was cracked like that. Explains a lot regarding how the vacuum depths have been acting. Thank you both @pperscprmonkey and @samurai for your replies. I am no longer over here scratching my head lol thank you again🙏🏻 This is exactly why I love this forum. Great people and great info! Thank you @Future for this great place where great people can talk openly!
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no problem 
that is a common problem with speedi valves you might want to try the screw type ones from cacenejen or xtractor depot has some that is easy to maintain just clean em out
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Those valves tend to leak or need a gasket rebuild feom my personal expenses. I use kurt lesker valves and make sure there helium tested
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