Leslie Judson Jones
Member
- Joined
- May 12, 2007
- Messages
- 2,242
I just pulled this unit out of a van and installed a TNT. The unit went through 3 blowers, 4 heat exchangers and a lot of direct drive couplings in 2100 hours.
We were considering converting this unit to a propane system, but I wanted to see why it went through 3 blowers in 2100 hours first. I started looking at the unit and I discovered a very small filter in the recovery tank for the blower.
This filter was too small, plus it had too fine of a screen. The second thing I discovered was that the vacuum relief system was not between the filter and the blower. It was located on the recovery tank before the filter. With the location of the relief valve, as the filter restricted air to the blower, the relief valve had no way of relieving the resistance.
This was causing the blower to run at extremely high temperatures and fail prematurely. I really don’t know why it went through 4 heat exchangers. I removed those to start with.
This unit is a Steam Action Nike. I thought I would put this post up in case any of you have one of these units. There are a few things that you need to do. The first thing I would do is remove the small filter all together. Then relocate your vacuum relief valve between the recovery tank and the blower. Always use an inline filter before the recovery tank.
In this photo you can see the amount of direct drive couplings that the machine used up. It is about an inch deep in chewed up rubber.
In this photo you can see just how hot the blower was getting. The oil in the gearbox is cooked.
When we removed the blower endplate the bearings just fell out.
One thing I like about the unit is that it has a very nice stainless steel frame.
The blower filter is located in the recovery tank. As you can see it is very small and restrictive.
One of the things I think needs to be added to all truck mounts is a temperature gauge on the blower exhaust. This is the best indicator to let you know if there is an issue with your blower.
Scott drove down from Michigan to get his unit. His van was hand painted. You don’t see hand lettering much these days.
Scott ended up buying the bling bling TNT.
Hopefully this will prevent somebody from having future problems. Remember to check and clean your recovery tank filter on a regular basis.
.
We were considering converting this unit to a propane system, but I wanted to see why it went through 3 blowers in 2100 hours first. I started looking at the unit and I discovered a very small filter in the recovery tank for the blower.
This filter was too small, plus it had too fine of a screen. The second thing I discovered was that the vacuum relief system was not between the filter and the blower. It was located on the recovery tank before the filter. With the location of the relief valve, as the filter restricted air to the blower, the relief valve had no way of relieving the resistance.
This was causing the blower to run at extremely high temperatures and fail prematurely. I really don’t know why it went through 4 heat exchangers. I removed those to start with.
This unit is a Steam Action Nike. I thought I would put this post up in case any of you have one of these units. There are a few things that you need to do. The first thing I would do is remove the small filter all together. Then relocate your vacuum relief valve between the recovery tank and the blower. Always use an inline filter before the recovery tank.
In this photo you can see the amount of direct drive couplings that the machine used up. It is about an inch deep in chewed up rubber.
In this photo you can see just how hot the blower was getting. The oil in the gearbox is cooked.
When we removed the blower endplate the bearings just fell out.
One thing I like about the unit is that it has a very nice stainless steel frame.
The blower filter is located in the recovery tank. As you can see it is very small and restrictive.
One of the things I think needs to be added to all truck mounts is a temperature gauge on the blower exhaust. This is the best indicator to let you know if there is an issue with your blower.
Scott drove down from Michigan to get his unit. His van was hand painted. You don’t see hand lettering much these days.
Scott ended up buying the bling bling TNT.
Hopefully this will prevent somebody from having future problems. Remember to check and clean your recovery tank filter on a regular basis.
.
