Bernard Mechanical Releaser

[Kirk]

I have a single upright Bernard mechanical that keeps farting out on me in the middle of the night. I'll watch the unit operate and dump perfectly several times in a row but ineviatably when I'm not watching, it will act rudely. I left my vac pumps on all night and this morning I checked on the releaser - the moisture trap ball in the first chamber had sucked into the vac line. For some reason, the first chamber and dump chamber don't always become equalized. The flapper in the first chamber fails to open, fills with sap, and the ball floats up and sucks into the vac line. I don't have any leaks at the releaser. My vac is 21-24". The releaser is an older model that I've borrowed for this season - it had been sitting in a barn for about 5 years with no maintenance. My gut feeling is it needs a bit of grease and oil on the rod and guillotine mechanism. Has anyone ever had any similar problems with these units? Any suggestions other than maintenance? Thanks.

[SSFLLC]

Sounds like it just needs a tear down and good cleaning. Lube wwell when putting bak together. Keith

[Typical8]

Most failures on releasers are float related. If this one has been sitting around it just needs some TLC. Get some food grade grease and grease up all the o-rings. Also make sure the unit is mounted perfectly level or the float will hang up.

[michiganfarmer2]

Most failures on releasers are float related. If this one has been sitting around it just needs some TLC. Get some food grade grease and grease up all the o-rings. Also make sure the unit is mounted perfectly level or the float will hang up.

THAT's good to know! Im just getting one, and I did not know that.

[Russell Lampron]

Been through all of those problems with my Bernard single. Take apart and clean everything that you can. Make sure that the spring that holds tension on the arm with the roller on it is holding the arm tight enough. That was the biggest problem that I had with mine when it wouldn't dump properly. Clean but don't lube the plastic piece that the arm slides up and down against. Lube the shaft and seal on the float rod with food grade grease and it should be good to go.

The only other problem that I had with mine was that the vacuum cylinder on the top developed an internal leak. It wouldn't push the vacuum relief valve open and leaked vacuum out of the top hole when in the rest position. A new vacuum cylinder fixed that.