alamo oil cooler

[Ontario Ian]

I was thinking of redoing my Alamo pump oiler system, it has a stock oil reclaimer now. I was going to keep the stock reclaimer but not use it as a reservoir, it could just drain all the time and run through a small radiator of just some soft copper tube (to cool oil) then into to a reservoir sitting away from the heat of the pump, with a line from here into the drippers. and maybe an oil filter in there somewhere. I can run in the 21-22"hg now, but any more than that its gets to hot, I was hoping with this set up I could run more vacuum.

any thoughts?

[BreezyHill]

I would suggest the KISS approach to this issue. KISS= Keep It Simple Sapper. LOL

The reclaimer is a well designed condensator of oil vapor from the pump. To cool the oil do one of two things: coiled copper lines to the drippers to dissipate heat naturally or a fan to force air across the reservoir to cool the oil.

Personally I would do both. The coiled lines will be good for cool days but in the end of season temps elevate and cooling efficiency drops, a lot.

A fan on a temp sensor set to 175 will blow across both and the pump to keep temps at a good temp to dissipate moisture and to not over heat.

Alamos have cooling fins so use them.

One could add some weld on cooling fins to the reservoir if it became needed.

Good Luck!
Ben

[Ontario Ian]

how much vacuum are you getting breezy?

[BreezyHill]

27 after a rebuild, should get to 28 after she gets broke in.

[maple flats]

Breezy, when you rebuild, what are the steps you do? hone inside? plane end plates? new vanes? new bearings? What else?
I see that I should be able to get much more on one of mine. It is a 50-75-100 pump but I only have a 6.5 HP engine on it. I run the throttle at about half, I'm using the original Alamo pulley and I have a double 2.25" pulley on the engine. I have a fully rebuilt reclaimer. My drippers only dri about 6/minute when cold and about 9/minute when it heats up. Should I run higher RPM, get after market drippers or rebuild the pump (or all of these plus your oil cooler ideas? After the season, what do you charge to rebuild a pump? I have a 30 and the one I talk about above.
Dave

[Ontario Ian]

I run a 6.5hp right now but I think I will put a 9hp on, 6.5 just not quite enough power for any more vacuum. I run a 75 and a 100. I'm running needle valves now, got away form stock drippers.

here are some inexpensive drippers, http://www.ebay.com/itm/321963911917?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[BreezyHill]

I treat every pump individually. Only do what is needed since a polished surface will get you more vac than a honed surface. the micro scores of a hone will leak a tiny amount of air/oil reducing vac. The oil can also lay in these tiny valleys and make a surface that is fluid and not produce as much vac as a honed surface. If a guy is on a budget then we do what he can afford but I hate to pull her down and skip something if it really needs to be done so I usually do it anyway.

I spend often more time on cleaning and inspecting the dripper as I do honing. Oil is the most important thing when it comes to these pumps having a nice long life. To little and she gets hot and cooks. To much and she wont make as much vac and the guy on the throttle gets her going to fast....

There are so many things I can do: Digital RPM monitor, high oil temp shut down, high temp shut down, low oil shut down, automatic water trap dump, depending on the motor we can do a automatic start system for a variable temp setting.