Alamo Intake dripper

[murferd]

How many drips per minute should I have going into intake? I'm told it should help cool when we crank vacuum up higher. I've got about a drip every 10 secs on end bearings.

[murferd]

Breezy you haven't answered yet.

[mountainvan]

I run 4 alamos with reclaimers and have a stream of oil into every oiler. If you don't have a reclaimer you should get/ make one.

[BreezyHill]

Sorry snow has finally melted and we were stretching some new 1" to expand the bush.

I have a new dripper on a Delaval 75 and I too am running it wide open to keep her cool.

My answer before this dripper would have been one every 3 seconds.

So I really think it depends on the pump.

Guy I was talking with found his pump lost vac on extra oil he was down to 1 every 4-5 seconds.

Do remember that as the oil warms it will drip faster than when cold as it is thinner. This is good to increase flow as the pump warms

Totally agree with the comment about the reclaimer...they don't have to be fancy...a metal garbage can that you can run a copper line into is fine...it just needs to condense the oil vapor. The original Alamo large body reclaimers are great for cool days but loose vapor on warm days. So you can just extend the copper tubing and have a horizontal few loops for a cooling area.

On the 75 I used the entire 10' coil on it and it goes from 158 to 43 degrees in about 5' so I will be cutting it down after I see what it does on a warm end of the season day. The wife got the coil at Home Depot and it was cheaper than anywhere else.

[Ontario Ian]

I Have 2 Alamos, they run a drop about every 10 seconds, I always wanted to turn them up but the oilers seem like they can't be adjusted. I took them apart and its a brass filter (heard them called stones before) in there and that's what seems to regulate the flow. What are you guys doing to adjust it? I pull 23"hg all day now but if I could more get oil I'm sure I could turn the vacuum up a little. They will pull 27.5"hg but after a hour or so they get a little to warm, I don't want to damage them.

[BreezyHill]

I like to use a cartridge filter if using a large reclaimer and pull oil thru for filtration. I only had one pump that had those integrated filters and they did flow slower...to slow for me so they are somewhere on a shelf. The ones I use 11285

has no filter and is aluminum for better heat dispersal. The adjuster is removed for viewing purposes, the inlet is the 3/8" inlet at the top and has a large stud base for mounting.

These can be removed from the common rail supply and used as individual but I don't do that. I like to have the second plumbed inline in the event that #1 plugs you can open #2 or you can adjust them to run together Half the oil flow in a copper tube to the inline Tee of the vac line will cool more than will a single heavy flow.

Cool oil is a big plus when cooling the pump. The other option that I have seen on a couple of farm applications with reclaimers is a 1/8" needle valve...since the oil is in a more or less closed system is is not lost and these pumps did run cooler than average, was far cheaper than a dripper, and as long as the oil is cool and it is not negatively affecting you vac level then I don't see any problem with it. They are just as adjustable and a small length of clear plastic tubing can be used for a flow site.

I DO NOT recommend clear plastic for anything other than a site tool of cool oil and at least 12" of copper tubing between the vac line and the plastic tubing. And if it is connected to the pump itself than make it 18-24" of copper. The heat moves up that tubing, on warm end of season days easily and will not have a good result.

There is nothing worse than a wrecked pump that was the result of a melted or collapsed plastic tube! It will ruin a day and a season for the cost of $10 for a coupling and a foot of copper. Do not do it.

If you have one now, change it today, and consider yourself luck it has not failed yet. This is a perfect season for these lines to fail...it is usually a warm day and the pump has been running for 1 day or even longer...oil gets warmer than usual the arm calm day heats up the pump house or its enclosure and your pump runs dry....it happens in the blink of an eye.

Sorry... it just kills me to see an amazing pump destroyed for literally $10 and 10 minutes to change a line. Besides who among us would not invest $10 to save $500? :confused: