Surge sp 22 dead

My Suge SP 22 went semi tight today. Oil was about 1" up in the sight tube, and had been running staight for about 20 hours after a fresh oil change,(Fleet Farm all season Vacuum Pump Oil). I run a 2.5 inch motor pulley at 900 rpm on the engine which is consideralbly slower than the 1750 RPM electric motor but its fast enough for me to pull 26 Inches on my 275 tress so I see no reason to run it harder. I thought perhaps the slower rpm may not be giving me adequate splash. Any thoughts on what might have caused its demise? I hate to trash my spare because I am missing something . I have not yet pulled it apart so I am not sure if the failure is in the crank or psiton area. Any input would be appreciated

I use 5W-30 in my SP 22 and never fill it more than 3/4" in the sight tube. I have been running it at 25" or close to it for 5 years and sometimes for days at a time. You might be on to something with the RPM's being too low. You may have an issue with running vacuum pump oil in it too. I'm not sure what the lubrication properties of it are. I have an electric motor on mine that is turning at 1750 RPM with a 2 1/2" pulley on the motor.

I to just set up an sp 22.I talked to an old time surge dealer from wormuth dairy(Ray). The pump should not be any more than 550rpm(475 to 500) and the only oil should be vac oil. He has been a surge dealer 50+ years. I have a 14" pulley on the pump,& a 4" on the motor & the motor is a surge 1.5hp 1725rpm.I am running at 27" of vac.At the higher rpm oil supposedly doesn't splash properly.

I ran 15-40 Rotella in mine for years with a gas engine. Then went back to original electric motor. Ran fine till the shaft broke off the motor. But I don't blame that on the oil. That was when I upgraded to an Atlantic.

Hey guys thanks for the input so far so good on the replacement sp 22

My dad was a surge dealer and I have seen first hand the effects of running low quality vac oil and hen there is motor oil. There is a simple test to do if you think your oil is good enough:
Take one cup of your oil and one cup of quality vac oil...buy it by the gallon as you will need it after watching this test.
use a paper cup so you can throw the hole thing in the fire afterwards.( or recycle for those that need to do that)

add a half an ounce of water to each cup. Mix with a plastic spoon for one minute. Don't use the miss metal spoon in the oil she will get mad.

Mix the vac oil first until the water is not seen. Now do the other oil, check how long you spend mixing each.

Look at the color and consistency of each cup.

Motor oil will be a creamy mess and stay that way. Quality vac oil will settle out the water in a short time. So which are you going to run in your prize pump to make it all season long with no worries???

If you need more convincing take two pieces of flat dry steel. Put two drops of the vac oil mix and slide the metal across each other. No do the motor oil cream. Not how hard it is to slide the steel now. IF you still need more convincing take a motor oil bottle and cut of the top and put the two pieces of steel in the containers. Take the mixtures and drain off any water that has separated from the mixes after a few hours. Pout the mixtures and let sit for 4 weeks with the steel in the containers. Check them once per week and note the rusting of the metal.

Every pump under high vac will get moisture in the oil, unless you are running the pump so hot it will evaporate out all the moisture. If this is the case the pump will fail due to heat damage not water contamination.

Spun shafts are a sign of water contamination. Pitted housings, stuck vanes, premature bearing failures, are 99% releated to water contamination and the sugar in our water makes it worse faster as the sugars are left behind when the water evaps off. The sugar is left to grind away at the metal surfaces and corrode and pit the steel.

900 rpm in a SP 22 is to much speed making heat that could not be disipatted. The splashing of oil is good but at that high of a speed there is little to no oil to lubricate the bearings on the shaft and the heat will cause a seizer of the shaft.

I have a bb4 for the daddy of the sp 22. The rotary valves inside are moving rather fast at 500 rpm I would not want to see how fast yours was going at 900 rpm. I fear you may have more than just a bottom end bearing issue to deal with, nor would I want to rebuild the unit. Like to take it apart but fear that things will be badly worn and in need to a total over haul.

Good Luck!

We've had our pump for several years. Been using vacuum oil from Tractor Supply. No problems. Have you heard about using transmission fluid?

Vac oil did have a product in it that would coated the metal so it would repell the acids of milk washing better as our sap will turn into. ATF would not have this additive..so it would be a less attractive alternative but I have added it when I have run out of Vac oil with no adverse affects that I noticed. I have used a small amount of motor oil in a blend in the past to get an increase in vac level but even that small amount caused an issue this season for me.

the TSC vac oil for Dairy Pumps is the best (its the blue stuff) the water instantly separates out no creamy grey mess ever. I am running a heavy vein pump now that has a oil drain on the bottom. I recommend putting a valve on the SP/BB pumps then every night when you shut down or even during the day anytime you check it you can crack that valve and release any water that has collected on the bottom of the oil. then there is minimal water that get redistributed through the pump head its like $15 a gallons worth every penny.

Quote:

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the TSC vac oil for Dairy Pumps is the best

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I would not go that far. It is a good, widely available economical solution for most producers. If one has an oil reclaimer and is looking to have his/her pump last the longest there are to other oils that are far better from the stand point of a pump rebuilder. Delaval's oil and Surge/Westfalia oils are by far better. They have additives that will keep seals resilient and they are designed for the high heat of the rotary pumps that are now used in dairy facilities and they do a much better job of coating the internal metal parts to protect from rusting with the rust inhibitor. The blue does not.

The blue is a good oil and I personnaly used it this season to flush out my oil reclaimer for next season. It is good and I would rank it 8 out of 10. Delaval gets a 10 and the surge oil gets a 9.5. The surge oil is a little thicker and could be an issue for some users when starting cold pumps on gas motors, but if your pump is in doors then the surge is a better choice if your pump gets hotter.
The blue does have a slightly lower vapor point and this helps to cool our industries hot pumps but one needs an oil reclaimer to take advantage of this...else the oil is gone from the pump faster. This is more noticeable at higher vac levels of 20 plus than below 20. Past 25 it can be a real issue on those hot days at the end of season. Producers will notice the oil is just disappearing from the pump. This is the reason. Surge oil is designed to go to 250 the blue is good to under 200.

Blue is good...just don't want anybody getting the idea that it is the best out there.

Ben