LSAdams

Hello Everyone, I have a problem with my Shark 353037. The other night, We were out doing a hood clean and from the roof top, I saw a glow. Of course I panicked and quickly made it over to look down upon my machine. What I saw made me quickly shut down my machine and call for my other Shark. I saw fire coming out of the stack probably about a foot or so accompanied by a ton of black smoke. The next morning, I called and had a mechanic come out and check out my machine. He told me that the transformer was bad and so, I had his not only replace the transformer but, the electrodes as well. I ordered another insulation pkg as well fearing that it could be soaked with diesel as well. Now, I used to take the machine in for a monthly service but, that mechanic has retired and quite frankly I'm glad he did. When the mechanic that came out went to replace the electrodes, The burner was covered in soot and lots of it. This leads me to believe that the burner hasn't been service in all the time I took it to the original mechanic. The new mechanic got my machine going again and the water gets a lot hotter than it did before. Now, The machine still puts out tons of black smoke ( enough that when The burners on, I can't see across the street) and fires still coming out of the stack at least a foot. Tomorrow, I plan on pulling the coil and cleaning that and installing the new insulation. Do you think that I just need to adjust the air band? It almost all the way open now. Or do you have any ideas on what else it could be? Any thing helps. We have some big jobs coming and I really need to get the machine going again as soon as possible... Thanks for reading. Larry

Problem Solved!!! Ready for this? It turned out to be that my fuel pump pressure was way too high! The pump was set for well above 200 psi. I called and got the specs and turned it down. since I did everything else, I decided to go through the pump and replace all the seals. I also replaced the voltage regulator/rectifier with a brand new one. I went over all my wiring and found one that had worn through from rubbing. All in all, My Shark is back! Better than I remember. LoL! Good thing to! We now have 14 Burger Kings to clean starting tomorrow night as well as being " On- Call" for our county fair. The fire marshall is inspecting the concession trailer before they come into the fairgrounds and if they don't pass, He's making them clean before they're allowed to enter to setup. Thanks Guys for helping so much!

Here the update, As of now, I replaced the transformer and electrodes, cleaned the coil. replaced the insulation, Repaired the small fuel leak that I found, and replaced the complete fuel filter assembly. ( I kept all the parts) I played a bit with the air band but, Still she smokes and blows fire like a mad dragon.. LOL! I talked to the shark service tech and was told that at that point it was either the fuel nozzle or possibly the voltage regulator. So, Me being me I ordered them alland a new fuel pump. It's pumping but, I read that the fuel pump has a filter inside it. After all this, Basically I got a new machine. If the problem isn't there, It in the little 11hp honda that runs it. I sure hope it isn't the engine.

Okay here's the update on progress. I leak that I though was on the petcock wasn't a leak there. I pulled the filter and replaced the filter ( Racor r12t) and the fuel was back in the same spot. I started looking above and found a leak at the fitting that goes into the filter. That was quickly repaired using teflon tape. I fired the machine up and still had the smoke and fire. Marko is right, I need to learn my machine so, I investigated a little further.. I came to the conclusion that the black smoke and fire is the insulation burning. I knew that it was soaked with diesel and was expecting that. I already have the part. So, since I work tomorrow, I'm going to leave the machine alone until Wednesday and replace the insulation and clean the coil then. I'll clean the coil both inside and out. I'll also change all the fluids then. I'm wondering....... We added an additive to the diesel fuel that is supposed to clean soot. Could that contribute to the rise in flame as well? I played a bit with the airband and did notice that the smoke thinned out a little. I'm going to try adjusting that again after I perform the services.

Thanks Guys! I Did find a fuel leak located at the pet **** of the fuel filter. I'm going to put a new filter on today. while I'm at it, I'll replace the fuel lines and clean out the fuel tank. I called Shark and you were right! They were very helpful and said the same thing you did. Air leak or air bands. I'm glad I got on this forum!! Thanks for the Advice and Thanks Beth and Rod for getting it going.... Very Helpful!! Larry