Martin/JEM ZR22 Problem Options

[steve1981]

Wondered if anyone could help.

I spoke to a very nice, polite and extremely knowledgable man at Martin technical earlier and asked some advice regarding my ZR22 that is experiencing problems.

The Martin ZR22 machine is quite old and I have just reset (as instructed by Martin) the thermal cutoff and the pump speed (as best I could with the problems that I am having).

- Straight after this smoke was pumping out fine. Thick and fast.
- I then substituted the smoke fluid for water to clean the unit out (also advised by Martin).
- The smoke got less and less dense as it started to run through the water which then continued to pump out as hot air and steam.
- After 10 or so minutes I then removed the water and put more smoke fluid in and started to run it through. The smoke started coming out fine and so I did the case back up and moved it to the main room of the club. I plugged it in, pressed the button and it come out straight away and then almost immediately started to decrease in power until it started to puff very slightly and then stop altogether.

The lid was then removed and I could hear the pumps doing something when the button was pressed and I could feel them vibrating but nothing at all coming out of the nozzle.

It has been suggested that the copper pipe running through the heater block may been blocked but cannot understand how it can be working one minute and perfectly fine with water but stop as soon as smoke fluid is in there?

Can anyone explain and suggest possible problems and advise any tests or remedies to try?


Thank you,
Steve.

[The Seedage]

Possibly an airlock. Sometimes if you clear out the system and get air in, the pumps really struggle to get the fluid back in..

How much did you pump through when you re-introduced the smoke fluid after flushing it? Normall best way to deal with this is pump on a full power until you get rid of the spluttering effect of the bubbles.

You can normally see in the feeder pipe if there are a load of bubbles.. Try firing it up and run the pump for around 20 seconds and see if it clears..

[steve1981]

Thanks for your reply.

I did have the button pressed for quite a while and still nothing came out. I didn't want to press it for too long incase it damaged the pumps.

I might unconnect the pipes where they come OUT of the pump just before they go IN to the heater and run the machine. I presume if the pumps are working ok and there is not an airlock, the water should just squirt out?

Then if they work, I will know its something with the heater.

Am I on the right lines BR???

[timsabre]

It sounds like your pump is close to being knackered. When the seals start to go on the piston in the pump, priming (getting air out of the system) becomes a bit hit-and-miss. Spare pumps are not expensive from Jem and are easy to fit. You might be able to get it primed by disconnecting the pipes, but chances are this will be a problem again next time you run out of fluid.

[steve1981]

**** UPDATE ****

I have stripped the machine, disconnected the OUT pipes of the two pumps and fired it up.

PUMP1 squirted out the liquid but PUMP2 one didn't. (I am presuming that it is receiving power as the second pump is piggy backed off of the same power connectors)

PUMP1 was shuddering when in operation but PUMP2 did not at all. (resumably its dead as a dodo!)

I then reconnected the copper pipe to PUMP1 and ran Ionised water through the system to help clean it. I left this on a timed cycle with a medium delay between bursts for about 10 minutes.

When I went back to the machine, there was nothing being outputed from the nozzle at all. I turned the timer off and manually tried to trigger it. The pump was shuddering a bit but when I removed the outlet pipe again, no liquid was being pumped out of it. I also noticed that the pump itself was very hot.

Is this a common occurance? Has anyone known this behaviour before? Why does it do this? Where is the best (cheapest) place to replace the two pumps?


All advice/comments welcomed.

Thanks, Steve.

This post has been edited by steve1981: 28 Jul 2010, 5:45 PM

[KevinE]

Agree, pump probably tired. Jem use the Ulka (espresso coffee machine) type pump and these in particular seem when worn to tail-off in power as they warm up after a few seconds, they can be brought back to life by a strip-down and reassemble only to go the same way a few minutes later. I think maybe the spring is losing its springiness or the 1-way valves are somehow becoming 2-way(??)

[steve1981]

Agree, pump probably tired. Jem use the Ulka (espresso coffee machine) type pump and these in particular seem when worn to tail-off in power as they warm up after a few seconds, they can be brought back to life by a strip-down and reassemble only to go the same way a few minutes later. I think maybe the spring is losing its springiness or the 1-way valves are somehow becoming 2-way(??)

Thank you. I did consider trying to strip it but decided against it. Do you know where I can pick up replacements??

Steve,

A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on.

Agree, pump probably tired. Jem use the Ulka (espresso coffee machine) type pump and these in particular seem when worn to tail-off in power as they warm up after a few seconds, they can be brought back to life by a strip-down and reassemble only to go the same way a few minutes later. I think maybe the spring is losing its springiness or the 1-way valves are somehow becoming 2-way(??)

Thank you. I did consider trying to strip it but decided against it. Do you know where I can pick up replacements??

Steve,

Or is it worth trying to get the pumps repaired?

[Brian]

Thank you. I did consider trying to strip it but decided against it. Do you know where I can pick up replacements??

eBay "smoke machine pump"

This post has been edited by Brian: 28 Jul 2010, 7:41 PM

[steve1981]

Thank you. I did consider trying to strip it but decided against it. Do you know where I can pick up replacements??

eBay

Do you know the model of motor or the output that I would be after?? (I dont have the machine here with me.)

[KevinE]

The obvious answer is to order one from a Martin (Jem) dealer.

There are a few sellers on ebay as Brian has already said who sell the same pump for alot less (there is a model number moulded on it) but you might have to transfer the pipe fitting over..not a huge headache for the average engineer.

[steve1981]

transfer the pipe fitting over..not a huge headache for the average engineer.

What about for the avarage Joe who is relatively good with his hands??

[steve1981]

http://wap.ebay.co.uk/Pages/ViewItemDesc.a...295&emvcc=0

Will this work?

[Brian]

What about for the average Joe who is relatively good with his hands??

Not a problem. It's an easy swap over

...Will this work?

Not sure. The pump in that listing is a model EP5. I don't have a note of what pump the ZR22 uses: the Martin/Jem hazers of a similar period use a pump model NME1S like this.

I think you'll have to check when you next get near the ZR22.

[steve1981]

What about for the average Joe who is relatively good with his hands??

Not a problem. It's an easy swap over

...Will this work?

Not sure. The pump in that listing is a model EP5. I don't have a note of what pump the ZR22 uses: the Martin/Jem hazers of a similar period use a pump model NME1S like this.

I think you'll have to check when you next get near the ZR22.

Hi Brian. Thank you so much for your help.

I have looked at the machine. All it says is ULKA 240v 50Hz.

What figure describes the actual power of the pump? Is it the Hz or the wattage. Presumable the latter. If so, this is not on the pump. I will try calling Martin/Jem on monday and asking them unless you can advise me otherwise? I did get a price from a dealer of Martin (AC lighting) and they came in at about £28 plus VAT and Delivery which aint too bad however if I can get them for £15 off ebay, all the better.

Cheers again Brian,
Steve.

[steve1981]

Ok. Two ULKA 50Hz 48w EP5 pumps ordered. £19.99 each.

Fingers crossed.