Rant: Airablo Vacuum Pump Operator Manual

[FameFlower]

Argh!!! My first season using a vacuum is NOT going well, and it does not help that it is such a horrible sugaring season in my area making it essential I have a functional vacuum pump.

I have a 3 h.p. electric Airablo vaccum pump. I have had several problems with the unit and the manual has been ZERO help. They say "using manufactors recommended" this or that.... but they the manufactors don't say what they recommend, they just talk about themsleves in the third person. I am so frustrated with my non-functional pump (the fan works fine, and when I start the pump I hear a buzz, but the pump and belt never start up. It worked fine for five days and now nothing. Oil levels are fine and no broken vanes. A respected electrician install the unit, so I am fairly sue its not an electrical issue. ARGHHHHHH!

[500592]

If the you a buzz it I probably the motor not the electricians fault I would have him check out the motor good luck with it

[Sunday Rock Maple]

I have a 5 hp and it's running fine but I agree about the manual -- OK if you are tearing the actual vacuum pump apart but 100% useless as a description of the operating system. How do you know the oil level is OK (I can't figure out how to check my level) is it just by the temperature gage or do you have a sight glass? Have you checked for 230 volts -- you may have lost one hot line in.

Good luck!

[themapleman54]

It sounds like you have the model with the oil cooler, the fan should only come on when the oil gets to 100 f , if the pully on the moter isnt turning ,sounds like something wrong with the moter, check your conections to make sure the moter has power.

[maplwrks]

If you call Leader, I'm sure they will help you out. They sell this stuff and they have outstanding service. Good Luck!

[Butcher]

I have a small airblo pump and never really had a problem with it,but I dont have an oil cooler on it and pulls 25+if things are tight,th e manual sucks like most maple equipment u would buy .seems like the more parts and pieces something has the more problems.

[Butcher]

I did look at the same model u are talking about and the price was outragous like 10k went with indiana vacuum with a bigger pump for half the money and it works great without all the bs.

[FameFlower]

ARGHH!!!! It's now 2013 and I'm STILL having problems with this vaccuum pump... last year we discovered noises were coming from water accumulating in the oil resevoir, fortunately when we took the pump apart it did appear to show any damage and a few flushed oil and it worked fine the rest of the short 2012 season. I just drained this of the winter storage oil (no water) and put in a fresh batch. Same problems we were having last year (same noises described in the original post).

I like buckets and wood fires... don't have to troubleshoot them.

[TheMapleMoose]

We have the same pump brand new this year. Ran it for 4 hours and broke the vanes, seizing the pump. Got a new pump head, installed it. Ran it for 72 hours and broke the vanes again. As near as we can figure we are building heavy condensation in the pump. Sap in the pump isn't a possibility, we have 1600' of vacuum line between the pump and releaser with 2 moisture traps. Its in an unheated room, and we have the cooler set to keep the oil temp at 90F. Here is what we have decided to do.
1. heat the room its in
2. turn the cooler up to run the pump between 100F and 150F, to keep condensation down.
3. We keep getting oil/water back into the pump after shutdown so there is a "T" and checkvalve going in the pump exhaust to keep oil from running directly back into pump during shutdown.
I'm not sure if any of this helps you or not but just some suggestions. If you take the cover off the V-Belts and the pump doesn't turn free your pump is seized. You should be able to turn it over by hand.

[JoeJ]

A friend down the road installed 2-10 HP Sihi 2 stage vacuum pumps last year with a fan oil cooler. He had problems with water condensation in the oil. CDL finally figured out that the fan oil cooler was working too good. CDL came back and installed a thermostat to operate the fan which now turns on at 165 and turns off at 150. Someone discovered that the oil in his unit has to be hot enough to evaporate any condensation that occurs in the vacuum lines. The 2 units have worked flawlessly this season.

Joe

[TheMapleMoose]

Thanks Joe. We are having that exact problem, oil too cool causing condensation. Just didn't know how hot to run the pump. Well try that. Seems like something the dealers should know...

[Maple Man 85]

I'm dragging this thread back up because we are using an electric 3hp Airablo 30CFM pump with cooler in our woods. This is the first time we are using vac and really do not know what's required in a proper install. The manual isn't very helpful... If anyone could post a couple pics on how to set one of these up we're mechanically inclined enough to figure out the rest (a picture says a thousand words).

Thanks in advance,