Conde Vacuum pump?

[Shaun]

I was hoping to use this pump on about 70 taps. It seems to have a vacuum regulator for 15" which is fine for this year. It sat on a big tank that is all rusted out. It seems to pull some vac. I was wondering where to set the oiler? Will the small of oil in the dripper last 8 or 10 hours or should I get a bigger reservoir? The pump was given to me, right now I only have a few dollars in fittings. Any input on this pump would be great.

[BreezyHill]

That oiler is to small. It is meant for a hit miss engine or a chain that has a brush applicator. 10 hours at 20 drips per minute is around a pint. You will need a reclaimer for the ehaust. This will catch the spent oil and condensate the oil vapor in the exhaust. Then the reclaimed oil can feed a dripper or you can have a drain and just refill your dripper reservoir.

Personnally I would remove the regulator...but I run high vac and want all the pump can give me.

She will handle 70 taps and should be able to grow to around 200 if you so desire.

I would redo a couple of things: 90 elbows are killers to cfm transfer.
don't use motor oil on vac pumps...it foams and will ruin a pump unless you are filling the dripper and just blowing the oil into a metal can and recycling the waste oil.

The stall cock is a huge CFM killer. That little 1/2" opening limits you a lot.

The way you have the pump will reduce your CFM by about 40-60% before you get to your releaser.

Come off the pump with a closeup nipple to a larger tee. 1.25" will do for that size pump. A reducer in the tee to the nipple size is good. Off the bottome you use a reducer to 3/8" or 1/2" and attach a clear hose and pipe dope to seal the threads and a hose clamp to secure the line. A cheap bale valve to drain water if it ever gets there. Top of tee will go to the releaser. Use 2 45 elbows and a 2" nipple or longer to make the 90 sweep angle. Limit angles as much as possible. YOu can go to PVC and 2" and save $$$ and have even better CFM transfer. I use 3" to get the best transfer to my releaser and limit the distance as much as possible.

The pump is only as good as the plumbing to the releaser.
Keep what you have for parts. Street out of the pump to the tee and injector for oil in the tee, to a close nipple to the check then into PVC would be great.

Ask anything...There are no stupid questions....just stupid answers!

Ben

[Shaun]

What oil is recommended? I called a dairy supply place and 30 weight was what was recommended by that guy? Is a drop every 3 seconds considered flooding? Not quite sure what flooding means, The reclaimer part is self explanatory.

I have some gauges ordered. The one that is there is not great, it only goes to 18 or so when I had the stall cock shut and no regulator. Is this about right? Stall cock was just for testing.

[mellondome]

Use that oil dripper for your defoamer.

[BreezyHill]

IMO the best oil for the money is Tractor Supply Vac Oil. Vac oil is designed to vaporize at a lower temp so it cools much better; 30 SAE vaporizes at several hundred degrees hotter so it cools much poorer.

Flood oil depends on the pump and several other variables. It can be as little as 30 per minute or as much as 80 per minute. It is best to run the pump and to test what it makes the most vacuum and the least amount of heat.

One of my pumps will make more vac with slightly more oil but it makes a lot of heat so the oil is turned down to maintain a cooler pump by sacrificing a slight amount of vac.

Drippers are your standard oil infusion drippers for dairy pumps that are fed by a 1/8" tubing. I only use copper to cool the oil and to protect against a heat failure of plastic tubing.

My standby pump takes a steady stream of oil for max cooling and max vac...it is fed from a reclaimer. The primary pump is a delaval 73 with a built in oil catch and reservoir.

Ben

[Shaun]

Put a new oil filled gauge on the pump last night. With the regulator it reads 12-13" and without it reads about 17". This is with everything closed. Does this seem about right? I guess without the regulator I thought it would be higher? As long as the pump does not get to hot it's ok to run like this? I let it run for 10 minutes or so, it seemed happy. It works a lot harder at 17" than 12" for sure.

[BreezyHill]

Seems a few " off. Pumps of that vintage were usually set at 15"; but it could have been set with a faulty gauge 17" seems low for a good pump. I would try dripping in some oil to the inlet and see if you can get any more out of the unit. I would expect atleast 20 to 22" That is unless the housing is waved or scored then 17' is not bad.

[Shaun]

Going to upsize the plumbing, still have to street out of the pump. no clearance for the larger fittings between the motor. Should be better though.
I also found a manual that mentions flooding a gallon of kerosene through it, may try that.

I am interested in the 73 also. I have one that was used for maple about 15 years ago and stored nicely.