Surge Alamo oil mist issue

[S Wright]

We had the first extended trial of our Surge Alamo 60 today, and overall it was a success, but the amount of oil most that it sprays out even with the reclaimer is really bothering us. I just finished doing a complete rebuild of this pump, including new oilers on the original oil reclaimer. I have the wire mesh coalescing filter inside the reclaimer housing, but I'm wondering if I am missing something else? When everything is set up properly, how much oil most should be expected? Is there anything besides the OEM setup that I can add, like a secondary exhaust filter or something of that nature?

[BAP]

Does your exhaust pipe coming out of the reclaimer go up or out horizontal? If it doesn't go up, changing it so it goes up vertical 2-4 feet before going horizontal helps reduce the amount of oil blowing out.

[Clinkis]

What are your oil droppers set to? My Alamo 30 was doing the same. I backed off the oilers and seemed to help. Need to find the sweet spot where pulling good vacuum, not getting too hot and not blowing out too much oil vapour.

[S Wright]

My outlet just has an elbow directly on top of the reclaimer going out horizontal maybe a foot. I'll have to see if I can get it broken free and put a longer section in to try.

I was playing around with the oilers a bit throughout the afternoon, I had read that 20-40 drops/min was normal so that's where I was running. Probably in the 20-30 range most of the time. I had been running at 20" Hg but ended up backing it off to ~18" because the temp of the pump body was getting up over 200. When I opened up the regulator to dial it back to 18", my temps dropped back down to right around 195-200.

[S Wright]

I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get above 20" since the pump appeared to be in really good shape when I rebuilt it....then as I was walking the lines, I came across a Y in one of my mains that had pulled loose, and suddenly instead of being disappointed in the pump, I was pretty impressed that it was still pulling 20" with a 3/4" mainline wide open ;-)

[Longyearfarm]

I had the same problem with oil mist on my surge pump. Here's a couple pics of what I did. The mason jar up top is to prove that no mist is escaping.


15548

[Longyearfarm]

Heres 1 more...15549

[BreezyHill]

The post on the vertical rise of exhaust pipe is spot on.
To reduce the oil vapor you want to change the exhaust to go up for a distance of not more than 2 feet and then horizontal with a minimal slope away from the pump. Place a catch bucket at the end of the exhaust pipe. Water will be evaporated out of the system on hot days and if the pipe goes up to far of a distance then the reclaimer will fill with more water than normal.

One can also put a 45 elbow on the pipe to angle it to the bucket so that the mist will impact the cool surface of residue in the bucket and you will catch even more mist.

One can also change the pipe to copper to cool the exhaust even more and condensate out the most you can.

If you are draining the reclaimer of water every day then you can run the pipe up further but must realize you will get more water trapped in the reclaimer.

Avoid 90 elbows as much as possible unless you oversize the piping. Elbows have a high restriction rate on the flow of air. No reason for the pump to work hard to get the air in it or away.

Good Luck!

Ben