Help more vac problems

[MainelyMaple]

Sat night we fried the electric motor on our universal pump. We replaced it with a brand new motor today. When we fired it up everything seems to be running fine but we are only reading 2-3" on the gauges. We are stumped, any suggestions? Thanks in advance

[Kev]

It would about have to be a bad pump or big leaks in lines and or fittings wouldn't it?
how much did you pull vac did you pull with the old motor?
I would disconect everything beyond the gauge and plug that and see what the pump and motor will pull. if its your 2~3 " you are seeing now then you know its the vac pump. if it pulls good vac then you know its a leak out from there.
but I do not know squat about vac systems I just have a developed a few trouble shooting skills over the years.
Isolate major components of any system and do factual checks in individual sections. it eliminates large amounts of potential problems quickly

[500592]

maybe your gauge is broken

[MainelyMaple]

maybe it was the gauges...dont know. my buddy just called from the sugarhouse. He isolated from the first gauge to the pump and it jumped right up to 20". then put everything back together and fired it up, got 18" at the releaser. Don't know what was going on but all seems well now, we've got our fingers crossed. turned it down to 16" to play it safe, and the sap was coming in.

[Kev]

SWEET glad to hear it