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Russ Johnson

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Posts posted by Russ Johnson

  4. Posted · Report reply

    Does the machine have a combination gas valve on it? (pilot and main on positions on the knob). Either you need 24, 120 or 240 volts to open the main part of the valve, or it's got a "Powerpile" thermocouple that actually generates millivolts from the heat. If it's millivolt, you have no worries, otherwise you've got to make sure the valve gets the right voltage or it'll break.

  5. Posted · Report reply

    Hi, Kyle, you're at it again, I see...:D

    You can increase the fuel pressure for more heat, but I would use a temp gauge to keep it below 200*. If the burner is 24 volt controlled, you'll either have to rewire the transformer (if it can be done), or buy a new transformer. Does the machine have a rotary off-pump-burner switch? For 220 volts, all legs must "break" in the off position, where 120 volts only break the hot leg (usually black). It would be advisable to change the switch, too.

  8. Posted · Report reply

    The Commanding Officer of a Infantry Battalion in the U. S. Army was about to start the morning briefing to his Staff and Battalion and Company Commanders. While waiting for the coffee machine to finish its brewing, he decided to pose a question to all assembled. He explained that his wife had been a bit frisky the night before and he failed to get his usual amount of sound sleep. He posed the question of just how much of making love was 'work' and how much of it was 'pleasure?'

    The X.O. chimed in with 75-25% in favor of work.

    A Captain said it was 50-50%.

    The Colonel's Aide, a Lt., responded with 25-75% in favor of pleasure, depending on his state of inebriation at the time.

    There being no consensus, the Colonel turned to the PFC who was in charge of making the coffee. What was HIS opinion? With no hesitation, the young PFC responded, "Sir, it has to be 100% pleasure."

    The Colonel was surprised and, as you might guess, asked why?

    Well, Sir, began the PFC, "if there was any work involved, the officers would have me doing it for them."

  13. Posted · Report reply

    Sure...you have to disconnect the hose from the unloader to the coil, pull the reed switch out of the flow switch (a phillips head screw holds it in), remove as much plumbing as you need to so the pipe going into the coil will swing around to unscrew. Remove the small nut holding the capillary tube from the thermostat in the large brass fitting and pull the bulb out of the fitting. Do not cut or crimp the capillary tube, it must remain intact. Get a pipe wrench and unscrew both pipes out of the wrap. There should be 1/4" (7/16" head) bolts holding the skin halves together. Remove all of them...some really suck to get to...and remove the sheet metal screws holding the front and burner heads on (the ends of the coil housing) and remove them. Lift the top skin off, peel back the insulation, and the coil should then lift out.

    The bear'sgetting it back together. Make sure the insulation covers the whole housing without any air gaps. Getting the holes in the coil lined up with the holes in the skin so the pipe will thread back in is not fun, and the end caps are real tough to get on. But it can be done.

    BUT...before doing all that, remove the burner head alone. See if the leak is accessible to weld where the coil sits. Sometimes you get lucky.

    Here's a link to exploded views for easier parts identification...

    Parts listing and exploded views for Hydro Tek

  18. Posted · Report reply

    Shawn, does your burner have a flame sensor on it? These were originally designed as a safety lock out for home heating systems should ignition not occur to prevent the combustion chamber from being flooded with raw fuel. On 12 volt machines, they are used to drop the ignitor out after ignition is established, basically making the flame self supporting, to save current draw. If they screw up in this configuration, then you are left with no spark to light the fuel spray. If yours has one, there should be an electric "eye" mounted on the bottom of the ignitor, and a box mounted over the motor or to the rear of the ignitor. It can be bypassed by finding the red wire on the ignitor, disconnection it from the terminal in the box, and tying it together with the red to the motor. You can either replace it or leave it bypassed, as long as you're geting a good charge rate out of your engine.

  19. Posted · Report reply

    Jim, sounds like an air leak of sorts on the inlet side of the pump...possibly a bad low pressure seal or a cracked plunger, possibly a bad o ring on the first seal retainer. Yank the head off, check the plungers for cracks (should appear as a dark line running lengthwise on the plunger), check the first seal in the head for fraying, raggedness, etc, check the o ring on thefirst piece of brass that you pull from the head. Also check the face of the aluminum crankcase where the brass rings sit. It should be flat and on the same plane as the rest of the crankcase. If it shows signs of movement from the brass ring(a circular divot around the hole where the piston comes through), then you can rebuild it all day, and it's still going to screw up because the brass ring is allowed to move, fraying the o ring. If you like, take some pics of the disassembled pieces and email them to me, or post them here. It might help.

  20. Posted · Report reply

    John, I did notice a couple of things that may help the pump last longer. The see through filter that's on it is fine for garden hose pressure feed. It's kind of restrictive on a suction line. I recommend and use brass "Y" strainers for skids pulling off tanks. It's like a straight piece of pipe with a "turn down". The screen goes into the flow at an angle, so the dirt drops down out of the normal flow. Or use a good sized canister filter at the tank outlet.

    The elbow, too...gotta go. A straight flow into the head is best. Any 90* turns on the pipe cause turbulence. A 3' arch of good suction hose would be preferred over a 90* pipe elbow. I've even used 2 - 45* street Ls where nothing else would work to straighten the flow...at lease it lessend the turbulence in the suction line.

    From your pics, it appears thaat there's enough room in front of the belt guard to switch the suction line to the other port...would be almost a straight shot from the tank.

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