Stuart91 Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 Our Unique 2.1 hazer, which has given years of stalwart service, decided to stop working last weekend. Murphy's law determined that this would be on a dry hire at the other side of the country, for maximum logistical pain. What happens is the machine isn't drawing fluid. The pump is clearly doing something, but only making clicking sounds. There's no suction on the inlet tube. I suspected that the tube might have a split or hole that robs the system of pressure, but I was able to connect our bottle and tube to another machine, and it worked perfectly. The next culprit seems to be the heating element which can apparently get clogged. I'm not seeing any error messages, the panel on the back acts normally and there's no sign of the E8 error that seems to common with other people. The machine has been hired to all and sundry so shutdown procedures will not have been followed, residue and clogging seems like a distinct possibility. A replacement heating element is going to come in well over £100 so it's more than I can justify as a speculative buy. Can anyone suggest anything else I should check out, or any way of confirming that it is indeed the heater that's gone?
niclights Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 It could be a faulty air pump. In normal operation the main pump squirts fuild in short bursts where the frequency is determined by the output level. The air pump runs constantly and has the effect of evening out the short bursts of fluid into a steady stream. In situations where the air pump seals fail the fluid never makes it to the vaporiser. Disconnect the hose from the vaporiser and see if fluid pumps out (suggest use distilled water rather than pumping haze fluid everywhere). If the air pump is working you should see a steady stream of bubbles in the tube where it has combined with the haze fluid. If this is all working and you do have a blocked vaporiser then it's worth checking the exit nozzle as it is often a build up of deposits here, rather than somewhere in the coil. It's possible to remove the vaporiser to access this without disconnecting the two white sensor wires. Just be careful when reinstating that the insulating washers are in place between the vaporiser plate and housing. This is very important.
Stuart91 Posted March 12, 2015 Author Posted March 12, 2015 That sounds very useful, thanks. I'll crack it open and have a guddle around in the next couple of days.
KevinE Posted March 12, 2015 Posted March 12, 2015 I had a blocked heater (they call it heat exchanger) on one of these a while back; a BR user confirmed what I now know which is that the coil should be easy to blow-through orally. If you can't, it's limescaled up and will require replacement (a new one did the trick on mine). In theory the machine should clear the tube of fluid during the shutdown sequence but either not shutting it down correctly, or a weak/duff air pump will encourage a scale buildup. Do check and clean the air pump either way..they tend to fill with fluid despite the non-return valve.
Russ83 Posted March 14, 2015 Posted March 14, 2015 I had the same problem last year with mine that only gets very light use. After a lot of testing it turned out there was a small build up of residue on the very end of the heat exchanger pipe. A piece of fine wire removed the blob and suddenly I had haze coming out again. I ran it on full with distilled water for a while and then when I switched back to haze fluid it was like new again. Perhaps I was just lucky but it could save you some time and money.
norty303 Posted March 16, 2015 Posted March 16, 2015 The service manual for the Tour hazer II says that if you can't blow through the heat exchanger easily then its the air pump at fault.This is normally accompanied by the ERR8 error.In my case it was exactly the air pump. See if you can get a service manual from Look Solutions, if its anything like the Smoke Factory one its got excellent trouble shooting guidance. Out of interest, are you using the correct fluid and doing the shutdown procedure each time?
niclights Posted March 16, 2015 Posted March 16, 2015 I think you meant to say 'if you can blow through the heat exchanger'. Stuart did say in the OP that it is unlikely that the shutdown procedure has been followed, such is the reality of hiring. However, even if you religiously use the correct fluid and shutdown properly each time you can still end up with a blocked unit.
norty303 Posted March 17, 2015 Posted March 17, 2015 Yes, my bad, well spotted! I think you meant to say 'if you can blow through the heat exchanger'.
aziz Posted March 17, 2015 Posted March 17, 2015 I have one that the heater is overheating and tripping out,any quick fixes for that
timsabre Posted March 17, 2015 Posted March 17, 2015 I have one that the heater is overheating and tripping out,any quick fixes for that This is usually caused by the triac failing. You need to be experienced in component-level repair of PCBs to fix it, otherwise send it in to be fixed.
aziz Posted March 18, 2015 Posted March 18, 2015 Thanks tim, I will pass it on to someone with some experience of hazers.
Stuart91 Posted March 18, 2015 Author Posted March 18, 2015 Thanks for all the help - we got around to opening up the machine for a proper look today. It looks like it's the fluid pump. The heat exchanger seems clear - we can blow through it freely. The air pump is producing flow. The pump continues clicking and doesn't draw any fluid even with the outlet tube disconnected. At the moment I can't see anything else that could be problematic so I think I'll try a new pump and hopefully that'll be it.
niclights Posted March 18, 2015 Posted March 18, 2015 I know you mentioned it before but have you definitely eliminated a break in the tube? Just sounds like it might be drawing air.
norty303 Posted March 19, 2015 Posted March 19, 2015 I had a brand new set of bottle tubes on a Tour Hazer that wouldn't draw fluid. I sucked through them to fill the tubes and its been fine ever since.
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