Surge Alamo problem

[maple flats]

I went to start my 75 CFM Surge Alamo pump today. I fueled the engine and started it but the pump did not turn. I shut down and removed the belts that drive it (2). Then I tried to turn the pump by hand, it seemed to turn maybe 1/4 turn and stopped hard. Turning backwards it stopped but not as hard. I did this back and forth a few times but no luck. I then checked to make sure my moisture trap had not failed. It was empty. I then rotated the pump again by hand and this time it turned. I replaced the belts and started the engine. It turned but as moving no air. The vac gauge never moved at all. I'm thinking I may have gotten some some ice in the chamber and broken a vane or 2 when I turned it by hand. Any ideas?
My plan now is to go back at first light in the morning, pull an end plate to see in. If I broke any vanes or damaged them I'll need to wait til Monday morning to get more, there is a dealer about 20 minutes from my sugar bush.
Does anyone see a different cause or fix? The last time I ran it was about 10-11 days ago, it was good then. The temp was still below freezing when I tried to get things going.
Dave

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

veins could be also froze and will not drop down, rotate it by hand you should here them drop and hit the bottom

[mountainvan]

try spraying some pb blaster or wd 40 into the intake and give it full power. centrifugal force and the extra lubricant should free up the vanes.

[maple flats]

I think I discovered the problem. I think my moisture trap failed. My trap is 5' tall and I have a racquet ball to plug the air flow if the trap fills with sap. I 'm guessing that the extended freeze froze the sap and ball in the trap, then when more moisture entered the ice prevented the ball from floating and the pump head filled with sap. I pulled the head, and looking in the vanes are even with the solid ice, no air space and no vane movement. I think I need a better trap design. Now I have to drain it when I return to restart the pump. Little or nothing comes out when I open the drain valve so I think all is well, when in fact everything is frozen. I need to come up with a check valve that will seal good upon vacuum. Then as the pump runs out of gas, the valve will drain any liquid before it has enough time to freeze solid. I should have the pump back in service soon. The ice is still melting.

[Dennis H.]

I had the same problem with my moisture trap on a really cold day. Filled up with sap and then froze.
Now the vac never sucked any sap in to the pump though.
I had to remove the moisture trap and haul it to the cabin to force hot water thru it to thaw it out. There was no other way except to wait till it thawed.

[mellondome]

Put an elbow on the bottom of your trap and add a flap like releaser has. This will let it drain after every shutdown.

[maple connection]

I have a alamo 100 I have the complete setup were the vacuum tank is infront of the pump so everything comes into the tank not the pump. That seems to work well as a water trap. I also went to grainger an picked up a thermostat. I wired it into the on off switch and set the thermostat at 33 degrees so the engine stops before it starts to freeze and that seems to work really well. I hope all is well inside the vacuum pump.

[maple flats]

Mine never froze before and I don't shut off at 33 degrees. The difference this time is the extended freeze we had. Normally, even though it freezes out and the moisture trap is outside, the heavy wall PVC pipe that makes up the trap protected it enough not to freeze, and I could drain it. This time the freeze lasted about 10 days and that was too much and it froze. I will now know about the inside of the pump until I get it fully thawed. I'm going to work on that in a few minutes. Then I'll need to cut the moisture trap out and bring that home to thaw too.

[maple flats]

Update, I got the pump thawed yesterday and I think it looks good inside (Did not open it up). I'm going up this AM and re-install it. Will put a "little" vac oil in to help loosten the vanes and then I'll speed it up if necessary until I get good vacuum. I have the moisture trap in my shower, since last evening. It was solid with ice. I ran hot water in and on it, then left it to set overnight. Now it still has ice, but not much. I am again filling the tub with hot water and will let it set that way until about 9:30, after driving school bus. If it is not gone then I'll open it up. I think the ice is now loose enough to pass out if I take the 4" threaded bushing out of the bottom, the whole thing is a 5' long piece of 4" PVC as the main body. I should have the vacuum up and running before noon. Yesterday the sap ran real good so vac may not have gained a whole lot anyway, but it sure would have helped Sat and Sun.