Coil blow out

[Grant]

Time 5:15pm
Day Friday (of course)
My cell phone rings and my warehouse manager tells me that the coil on my Landa VNG 4-3000 (with 20,265 hours on it) just ruptured. I in turn call my Landa distributor and he promises that he will have a new coil and a repair tech at my shop Monday morning (I hate Mondays). This in most circumstances is perfect, my problem is that I have four cleaning shifts over the weekend and my #2 machine is out of commission. I have an Alladin 3.5-3000 portable unit for short term "emergencies" but for 16 hours of continuous use it gets old refilling both fuel tanks and it is way to loud. So my Landa distributor offers me a brand new HS-3000 hot box for the weekend, he even meets me at the crack of dawn on Saturday at his shop (they are closed) and helps me load this unit and sends me on my way. I plumbed it in to the VNG (about five minutes) and fired it up this thing is sweet!
I have never used a hot box before but this thing is great, 120 volt blower and an 8 gallon diesel tank.

 

[mtngoat]

I had one freeze up on me once! Pancake coil has hair line split for about 6-8 inches.
Bugger was steaming up a storm. Runs cold water through it no problem.Turn on the Burner and its Old Faithful. lol. Still needs coil. Anybody out there want to give me a good price on a coil and a tt941 pump? Used it for washing vechicles and such.
GOAT.

 

[Dlee]

Hey goat what ever became of your pressure washer with the cracked coil. Did you sell or repair it, and do you use a Racor filter on the burner fuel supply?

 

[mtngoat]

Still have it. Haveny gotten around to replacieng coil.Needs new pump and to be rewired. Good weekend project.
I really should get her running again. And no, it doesnt have a racor fuel filter it has a Klemm glass bowl seperator. Goat/ Tim Cotter COTTER CO.

 

[Dlee]

What about the Racor filter on the fuel supply line for the burner?

I have a Racor filter on mine and the first time it needed replacing my helper brought it to my attention

" Dave, Dave somethings wrong with the pressure washer, I think its on fire"

I droped the wand and ran outside saw this large, hard to miss, anus pore puckering, car lifting adrenilin rush, plume of white smoke bilowing out the heater coil exhaust. So I turned it off and called a PW mechanic and he said replace the fuel filter on the burner.

Best twenty bucks I spent in years.

 

[mtngoat]

Here ya go. Heres a picture of it. Actually that is a picture of a newer machine but its set up the same way.
Goat/ Tim Cotter- Cotter Co.

 

[Dlee]

Can't tell too much about the filter but if it is a type of filter that removes moisture from the fuel and restricts the flow of fuel as the moisture content increases in the filter it will cause improper air fuel mixture and produce thick white smoke. That's what happened to me. Or it could be a problem with the mixture caused by something else related to the air fuel mixture, cloged nozzle maybe. Coil replacement can't be cheap even it you do it yourself.

Did you ever get a price on coil replacement?

 

[mtngoat]

Its just a standard fuel water/sedament separator.
I see alot them on the older tractors around here.

If your having problems with your burner it could be alot of things.
Improper electrode allignment,wrong nozzle, Example- could have solid spray pattern nozzle installed when it calls for a cone pattern, improper fuel pressure adjustment,improper fuel to air adjustment, improper depth setting of fuel nozzle to combustion chamber. improper combustion chamber collar for nozzle installed,Week transformer not generating enough Zap to ignite the fuel.Crack in a ceramic insulator.
Fuel pump took a crap(for you novices this means the fuel pump is not working properly lol) Hole in feed line hose. Leak in jumper line from fuel pump to gunlock nut location

Bad fuel,water in fuel in cold climates,clamp on a hose not tight plumbing not sealed properly could need teflon tape.

I had a suntec fuel pump break out a seal on the drive shaft that goes through the squirrel cage to the electric drive motor because somebody closed up the valve on the
fuel tank.
Broke the glass sediment bowl on the bottom of the unit.
These are just a few of the problems I have encountered over the years.
I'd keep going but I feel as though I'm writing a book.

 

[mtngoat]

Got a quote from a gentlemen from Derby power wash. Dont recall what it was.

I'm currently looking into starting into the supply division of the business so if I purchase one, I will do it myself. With that said. Who do you get your basic supplies from?
Hoses, nozzles,lances,spray wands and guns, fuel pumps Etc.
Need anything ?Give me a shout.

 

[aph111]

can,t ruptured coils be welded.Should be cheaper than $700+ new one.Or are you setting yourself up for another place to rupture do to age of coil???

 

[mtngoat]

We tried the welding solution once. Didnt work for long. Sometimes the split or fracture isnt readily accessible. Could be two or five wraps down inside pancake coil In a akward spot.
If you had a break or a split near a entrance or exit to coil I could see it being welded.
Only way to be shure it will hold is to replace it.

 

[Dave Olson]

We recently replaced the coil in our 5800 series Hotsy. $1,436 for the coil, by the time I got it installed and made other repairs I spent about $3,000. By the way this a 8 gpm machine. The coil alone weights about 400 pounds (3/4" sch 80).

Here is a picture of the old one. I estimate it is 30 years old!

Dave Olson

 

[mtngoat]

Dave it looks like you have gotten your moneys worth.
How much would it have costed you you to replace entire unit?
Considering cost of coil and other up dates, How much for new equipment?
Thanx Goat

 

[John B]

Coils Coils Coils... Both of the whitco units and our small Homemade Alkota Coil with the gas motor have Sheilds over the burners.. I usually run SOOT Cleaner thru them in the diesel tank all the time.. But I did have the little Alkota Burner Coil Blow Out one time.. the flow switch stopped working and the burner stayed running .. I was on the roof and did not notice and when I pulled the gun it looked like MR Mushroom Cloud....AnywaY I gfot on the internet and found a new coil I believe it came form jackssmallengines.com

$ 495.00

Our local pressure washer rip off shop wanted $900.00
This is the easiest thing in the world to install.

 

[mtngoat]

Hey john, Hows things in Old Miss?
I wonder what the freight would be on that bugger?

 

[Dave Olson]

Hello Tim,

Prices that I've received to replace the entire unit range between $12-18,000! 10 gpm, 3000 psi, 1,000,000 Btu burner, liquid cooled Diesel engine, 5000 watt generator.

Because this unit is in an enclosed box van I do not want to run a gasoline engine. Much of the extra cost of replacement is the Diesel engine. We run an off road K1 fuel in the burner and the engine. We use a 50 gallon saddle tank on our chassis and pump the fuel up. Works great. Just refilled our tank last week, $2.129/gallon (no road use tax).

Here is a picture of the enclosed box. We have the burner (12 in stack) and the engine exhaust run out the roof.

Dave Olson

 

[Dlee]

What'a an awesome setup. I bet it's a pain in the butt making multi trips in and out of the back of that monster over a short period of time.

How many gallons of water does it carry and how many minutes can you run it without a refill when you don't have a constant supply of water.

 

[Dave Olson]

Hello David,

Both of our trucks carry 1,000 gallons of water. When running two wands a crew needs to refill in 3 hours or so. If they need to go off site for the water they take a lunch break at that time.

I put all the equipment on one side so we call haul other things when necessary. We've had it full of supplies from time to time. The area is big enough we can set a 500 gallon horizontal poly tank in the space, when we need to recover water.

Getting in and out is not that bad. I will post a picture of the pull out ladders we mounted on the back.

Dave Olson

 

[John B]

8000 pounds of water... Damn .. Is it hard to stop.. .. Get a laugh out of this ...When I fill my 100 gallon tank up on my little trailer with the 696lb whitco.. I cant stop my F-150........I always drive with the tank empty then when I go Clean a Vent Hood and know I have a concrete cleaning the next morning I fill it up just incase.. The real reason for the tank though is my wife likes me to wash her car....

There is no use to wash my truck I think it's down to the last layer of paint from all the caustic .....

 

[Dave Olson]

Here is a picture of our White truck.

You can see the ladder in the stowed position. Man hole on roof for top filling and next to the man hole is a roof hatch. The right side fuel tank under the cab is what we use for the K1 that we use in the Hotsy.

The 8,000 pounds of water is in the first 4 feet of the box. When loaded we have about 10,000 pounds on the front axle. Axle is rated for 11,000 pounds.

Dave Olson