the questions about CMEP-OL oil less explosion proof recovery pump

[BrainChild]

Austin from terpp put a few pics up of the wear and tear of the piston head gasket from a CMEPOL, also had some kind of oil residue inside. And the black piston head, the precision guys say it's black PTFE

https://instagram.com/p/28yQVgtaVX/?taken-by=globvila
https://instagram.com/p/28yIFotaVC/?taken-by=globvila
https://instagram.com/p/28yAvSNaU2/?taken-by=globvila

"Great, unless the CM engineers are blatantly lying to us and everyone else about a $0.25 part, I would feel safe running it. It will be nice to have proof I supposed."

Perhaps oil from the manufacturing process?

 

[APK47]

Just out of curiousity who did you purchase your pump through? I've got one in route to me today, hope I don't have this same problem.

 

[jswick93]

Just out of curiousity who did you purchase your pump through? I've got one in route to me today, hope I don't have this same problem.

It was bought from RHH/Sanitary Steel. That shouldnt matter though.

Aren't all oilless pumps still pre-lubricated within the pistons at the factory? I thought they were. So isn't it more of a matter of that oil being able to come in contact with the butane? It wont just come into contact with it without leaks right?

 

[Towelie Rules]

I bought my pump through SS and the power cord is hard wired to the unit. Since we won't be moving it, we opted to not put a plug on it, but instead had our electrician wire it up to a waterproof box connection. it certainly isn't explosion proof, but the idea is the same. Before using it, I ran a couple cans of butane through it to clean the internals since we figured there might be residual junk from them making it. I took the case off and just tightened all those compression fittings before I ran it since we weren't sure if things might have loosened in transit although I didn't find any loose. We also swapped the end piece out to run a 1/2" Jic male so that we could run a big recovery hose from our system.

So far I'm really liking this pump. We tend to run 8-10 hours a day and doing that with dual tr21's was resulting in our pumps burning up :/ even with us running fans on them to keep them cool

I also like that we don't have to run a coil after the pump in DI like we use to. ice water works really well. plus this thing is quiet and we don't have to wear ear plugs as much!!!!

after a week of hard use, things are going great but I'll keep updating

 

[HG23]

Great feedback, thanks for your input TR.

How would you compare the recovery speed between twin TR21's/DI aftercooler and the new CMEP-OL/wet ice?

What all was involved in swapping out the end piece for one with a larger JIC connection?

You don't happen to have pictures of the pump internals do you? The external pics of the pump without the stainless cover on have made the rounds, but I haven't seen anything with shots of the pistons/valves etc.

How do you go about recovering the internal pump heat exchanger? Has that been an issue for you at all?

I am using twin TR21s/DI right now and if the CMEP-OL is just as fast with an ice water aftercooler, the price is much easier to swallow given the other advantages of the pump.

 

[Rickys bong]

Austin from terpp put a few pics up of the wear and tear of the piston head gasket from a CMEPOL, also had some kind of oil residue inside. And the black piston head, the precision guys say it's black PTFE

It's likely PTFE filled with graphite or moly disulphide to reduce friction. Pure PTFE is white.

Not the most robust seal design though, and unless the crankcase is properly sealed this type of seal won't do well for pulling vacuum. Cup seals like this need positive pressure to seal properly.

I love the flat head bolt holding the seal in place too. If they've used loctite to keep it in place stripping the head is likely when you go to replace the seal. If it comes loose in operation... oh my is the sound going to be nasty.

Nice to finally see inside one of these, too bad the engineering isn't more impressive.

RB

 

[Gray Wolf]

We just moved our test unit to a fourth extraction lab for further testing to see how long it takes to break it. I took the cover off to check for leaks, but found none, and it continues to operate without incident, so we haven't pulled a head yet.

So far without exception the reports have come back as more than twice as fast as two TR-21's, quiet, and boring, because it has just done its job.

 

[Gray Wolf]

It's likely PTFE filled with graphite or moly disulphide to reduce friction. Pure PTFE is white.

Not the most robust seal design though, and unless the crankcase is properly sealed this type of seal won't do well for pulling vacuum. Cup seals like this need positive pressure to seal properly.

I love the flat head bolt holding the seal in place too. If they've used loctite to keep it in place stripping the head is likely when you go to replace the seal. If it comes loose in operation... oh my is the sound going to be nasty.

Nice to finally see inside one of these, too bad the engineering isn't more impressive.

RB

Good job Austin! Any chance of a link or posting the pictures on this thread?

 

[snake11]

It's likely PTFE filled with graphite or moly disulphide to reduce friction. Pure PTFE is white.

Not the most robust seal design though, and unless the crankcase is properly sealed this type of seal won't do well for pulling vacuum. Cup seals like this need positive pressure to seal properly.

I love the flat head bolt holding the seal in place too. If they've used loctite to keep it in place stripping the head is likely when you go to replace the seal. If it comes loose in operation... oh my is the sound going to be nasty.

Nice to finally see inside one of these, too bad the engineering isn't more impressive.

RB

Normally black ptfe is used in sparkless applications as it allows electricity to disperse and pure virgin ptfe can cause static build up.

 

[snake11]

It was bought from RHH/Sanitary Steel. That shouldnt matter though.

Isn't sanitary steel/ alpine vapor all Redbeards companies?? RHH are you Redbeard?

 

[jswick93]

I am more concerned over the oil residue causing contamination. How should I have cleaned the pump before using it? It pulled a few lbs of butane through it already, so if necessary I would like to clean it.

 

[BrainChild]

Good job Austin! Any chance of a link or posting the pictures on this thread?

https://instagram.com/p/28yAvSNaU2/
https://instagram.com/p/28yIFotaVC/
https://instagram.com/p/28yQVgtaVX/

That's Austin's instagram page, I tried to embed the pix here in the thread but IG didn't wanna play nice w ICMAG

 

[SkyHighLer]

I'm going to try one, seems to be working...

Sorry, all I can get is a pdf file, it won't post as a picture.

 

[Towelie Rules]

Got some results back on some shatter we had tested and nothing showed up on the test report that looked out of the ordinary. We mentioned we were using a new recovery pump and wanted to make sure there weren't any oils or contaminants getting picked up.

 

[Towelie Rules]

I checked out those instagram links and I wonder if they ran oil through their pump accidentally? After a month I'll pop the heads and take some pics. We are running a rather large filter drier ahead of the pump

 

[A6 Grower]

Got some results back on some shatter we had tested and nothing showed up on the test report that looked out of the ordinary. We mentioned we were using a new recovery pump and wanted to make sure there weren't any oils or contaminants getting picked up.

Unless you paid an arm and leg you just got a normal 12 solvent residual test. To test for contaminants from the pump you'd need to tell them what to test for, contamination wise.

 

[Towelie Rules]

yes, swabbed the exterior tubing or anywhere I could find what I'm assuming was machine oil. maybe she gave me a deal because she wanted the challenge, but it only cost us 120. Of course I am making the assumption that whatever was on the exterior might be found on the interior and nothing was found at detectable levels.

 

[Gray Wolf]

Isn't sanitary steel/ alpine vapor all Redbeards companies?? RHH are you Redbeard?

I've met the owner, and Sanitary Steel is not a Redbead company, nor is its owner a redhead.

Don't know about Alpine Vapor.

 

[Gray Wolf]

I am more concerned over the oil residue causing contamination. How should I have cleaned the pump before using it? It pulled a few lbs of butane through it already, so if necessary I would like to clean it.

Oil residue is soluble in butane, so flushing butane through your pump should clean out any residue in the solvent path.

 

[Gray Wolf]

https://instagram.com/p/28yAvSNaU2/
https://instagram.com/p/28yIFotaVC/
https://instagram.com/p/28yQVgtaVX/

That's Austin's instagram page, I tried to embed the pix here in the thread but IG didn't wanna play nice w ICMAG

Thanks for the pictures bro!

Without physically analyzing the samples, I'm guessing but I can only think of a couple scenarios that would leave deposits like that, and those are severe overheating from dry running, or ingesting cannabis oil. The cylinder glazing suggest cannabis oil.

I just moved our test pump to the fourth test lab, but took the cover off and examined it for leaks before passing it on, and swabbed the inside of the intake and discharge ports with an alcohol swab, to detect the presence of any aspirated oil.

None was detected and the machine still exhibits full performance, so our test continues. When it dies, I'll pop the heads for an internal look see.