BL Bluewave not heating up, any ideas?

[Guest]

I have a BL Bluewave, 31 HP Kubota engine. Normally the temperature at the machine is between 230 and 240 when cleaning carpet at approx. 500 psi.

Last few days it will not get hotter then about 170 to 180. Machine is not quite a year old, about 700 hours. I have soft water loop, even tried descaling. Any ideas on what might cause this or has this happened to anyone else?

 

[Steve Lombardi]

The Blue wave has a very simple heating system. There is no fixed orifice, diverter valve, bypass solenoids in the machine. The RPMS are controlled by an electronic speed control. I would check the 165 degree thermal valve on the water box to make sure it is not open and leaking into the waste tank. Then I would bleed the air out of the anti-freeze H.E. and make sure there is enough antifreeze in the radiator, then I would check the inches of lift that the blower is pulling. It should pull 15 inches of lift. Remove the front hose of the blower exhaust heat exchanger and check for scale there. Make sure the heat control valve is not open. Also make sure that the jets on your tool are not flowing too much water. If none of the above fixes the problem check to makes sure your vac filter is not clogged, if clogged check to make sure your blower exhaust heat exchanger is not clogged from dirt, carpet fibers etc.

 

[Greenie]

Steve is on track with the thermal valve, that machine has high heat potential in minutes, it's gotta be something very simple, something is obviously bypassing hot water, or bypassing hot exhaust...end of story.

Now....where is the bypass!

I thought BL was gonna have a mechanic visit this board from time to time?

 

[Mike Brummett]

Yes but, Curt's question is about the BLUE WAVE.

I have a Thermal Wave, and it's O.K., but a fire-breather, it ain't.

Maybe the new TW-2 is, but The original is a wuss for MAINTAINING high heat. 180 or so on average. The BW is actually much better, IMO.

MIKE

 

[R W]

Is there a divert valve in this unit?? Is it possibly stuck in divert ?? My Genesis 59 uses a simple exhaust divert valve, which when the flap or pin breaks, automatically diverts the exhaust away from the HX, so not to overheat. It will run at about 130-150* in that condition.

 

[steve frasier]

thermal wave II is not a fire breather either but it will maintain 220 at 06 flow and hit 240 with a stair tool

190 at 10 flow

 

[Matt King]

Looking at the Bluewave on their website it says there is no exhaust exchanger. No diverter and no bypass which leads me to think you just don't have enough heat from the blower to boost your temps coming out of the helicoil. The blower appears to be your final heating stage as it states "High pressure blower exhaust exchanger".... I'd really check the lift setting because if it's low you won't have much heat there, your blower is running at 2700 rpm on the high speed...Also make sure your coolant system is bled free of air. I was told Blueline was going to go in that direction. Meaning, moderate heat with fewer parts as opposed to higher heat with more parts. If you're a heat junkie you may not like that but it will give you some nice dependability for multi-operator crews. I believe the Thermalwave is set up similar with the blower HX'er. They're running that 56@2400 rpm according to their website. That's probably why it's not a 'Firebreather' but it's probably nice and reliable..

 

[vincent]

I can build you a tm that has heat and is cheaper to run and have suck to boot.

Hmmmm and how much did you pay for your dead wave??

I know the problem, its the operator. Hardy har har har.

 

[Guest]

Yeah but Vincent, think about this: At Winterfest you're going to spend the entire weekend (and eternity) being compared to and lumped in with Brevick. Never met him in person? Just wait, you're in for a treat.........and besides, I've had this thing for almost a year, and this is the first problem.

Thanks to everyone but Vincent, tomorrow I'll pull him into driveway and try to troubleshoot.

 

[Blue Monarch]

Lumped in with Brevick. Poor bastard.

 

[Guest]

Vince is the Chip Foose of the electro mount world though. Not the Hack Master Bee.

 

[Guest]

If I wanted Vince's opinion on things I'd ask questions like:

1. Who was the better wrestler in their prime, Dusty Rhodes or Wahoo McDaniel?

2. 5w30 or 10w30?

3. Was Sly Stallone faking or really arm wrestling in the movie "Over The Top"?

And finally I'd ask how in the hell does he clean tile and grout with 400 psi?

 

[steve frasier]

when I turn my hat around I am like a machine

Second place sucks

LMAO

 

[truckmount girl]

"It's been my experience, more often than not, that a loser has more honor than a winner."

Take care,
Lisa

 

[Guest]

I HAVE BEEN HAVING THIS PROBLEM OF NO HEAT 180 DEGREES FOR ALMOST A YEAR AND CAN'T GET IT FIXED....DID ALL THE ABOVE MENTIONED FIXES BUT STILL WON'T RUN HOT CONSISTENTLY

 

[Blue Monarch]

What has BlueLine told you?

 

[Greenie]

You don't go from 240 to 180 overnight from some scale build up, it's obviously diverting engine exhaust, or bypassing hot water steadily, cause that 31hp will make plenty of heat.

Locate the diversion, and fix it.

ps: If you are in PA, I know Jim Bane would have it solved already, he's a legend.

 

[Shawn Forsythe]

Rostra Vernatherm valve.

Check that.

 

[Jimbo]

Curt...it's Karma nipping your butt for not sitting at our table!





Call Taf for Chris's #.- Jim

 

[Guest]

Does Blueline help these people or do they just not call?

Dave

 

[Becker]

Curt hitting on all eight again.

From what I understand it was not a failure of the machine.

 

[adamh]

Curt posted this Feb 17, I think the problem was taken care of a long time ago wasn't it?

 

[Becker]

Yes,

I kinda got sick of hearing him talk about how great his machine is all weekend long.

Minor issue.

 

[Jeff]

Make sure your blower isn't sucking cold air in (waste tank lid or hose, close to the blower) and cooling the system down.

 

[Guest]

My solution ended up being very simple. When my water softener was put in there wasn't enough resin in it, so whenever I've been charging my softener it hasn't really been doing anything.

We (my mechanic) descaled my machine 3 times and all three times you wouldn't believe the crud and sludge that was coming out. We have about the hardest water anywhere, so soft water is extra important.

So needless to say, once we found out what the issue was, it was an easy fix. I added enough resin to softener, re-charged, and I'm back in biz!

I've been getting 240 at the machine on my Bluewave since descaling and re-charging....I can't ask for any more than that!

 

[77748]

I have descaled 4 times as well as just the heat exchangers with a motorized 12v pump.
I don not have a watersoftner so what is the recharge all about (confused) .
I am stuck and I need some damn heat. Any info would be appreciated . nothing is going into the tank unless it s very hot because i disconnected the radiator fan .

 

[dealtimeman]

I suggest starting a new thread so the guys with a similar unit can give you some input or your problem