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Well, it's been two months, so time to take a look at the test.

Engine enamel first, then the wax:

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The Rustoleum Clear Engine enamel looks like it did when new. The Renaissance...

I'm curious about this, too. We're currently using an ABE LinCan 35 and are pretty happy with it, but we lose a fair amount of beer, so I'd also be interested in observations of how much beer is...

Good points, Unferm.

I'll take a look at the decel curves on our VFDs. Pretty sure they are all set to decel and accel at about the same rate--30 sec to full speed or to full stop.

We have a...

I watched as the machine finished spinning down yesterday, and noticed that the indicator lights on the various water solenoid valves were all off while the machine was still spinning. This would...

I ordered three TECO/Westinghouse VFDs. One each in 1, 5 and 8 hp. These are spares to have on hand for when the next one goes gunny-bag on me. Being out in the boonies as we are, I have to keep a...

Tony--It was the intermediate service. We had Jason from AL come out to do it. We replaced both halves of the seal at that time. When I took it apart this time, the upper, stationary half looked...

Justin Neiman has been very helpful to us.

This was what the seal looked like at our annual:

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We did our annual maintenance on our centrifuge about four months ago, and started seeing rising DO levels about two weeks ago. I tore into the machine, and, sure enough, the rotating seal was shot:...

What Richard wrote. These use a positive-displacement pump that is quite capable of damaging/bursting glycol jackets unless you use a very reliable bypass regulator between intake and outlet of the...

Warren--We don't have any external inputs to our VFDs. The smaller TECOs--5hp and under--have a handy potentiometer on the front panel which can be configured to control the motor speed. I've set up...

Thanks, Warren. I think we're going with the TECO units.

Have you tried back-flushing that line?

I chose blue for our dye as it's the same color used in the propylene glycol-based antifreeze I use in the Vanagon. It has saved my bacon a few times as I was able to instantly identify a leak.

Which would explain why I'm here at work on my nominal day off!

Don at CPE has straightened this out for me. Pump is an AL LKH. I'll be getting the seals on the way.

Unf--Unfortuately, that...

Thanks.

I have a monitoring motor-protector on one of the pumps in the shop, and it showed no divergences from nominal voltage for the last few weeks.

I spoke with someone at CPE about this,...

Thanks, Warren. I'm looking at the Teco/Westinghouse as a replacement--does "on the radar" mean good or bad? We have one 1 hp Teco/W already and it seems to be a good one--so far.

Thanks!

Looks like I'll be tearing into that pump today. After I weld the broken loading dock, move an air reservoir, clean the HL system, etc.....

Thanks, Warren! I should have gone to Don to start with. Slipped my mind.

We just blew another VFD this AM. We lost one to a power surge a few years back and had one other go--like this one--for no apparent reason. One other was DOA.

These are--or were--Lenze SMV units....

We have three pumps around the brewery that might be Alfa Lavals--or not. I'd like to have some spare seals for them, but they have NO data plates (except the motors) at all. A metal plate at he top...

Alright. Here's my best guess as to what's going on:

The pre-evac system draws the air from the bottle, flushes it with CO2, then draws the CO2 down, leaving the bottle under vacuum for a very...

Thanks, Benny. All of us need some help at times!

We monitor the DO levels in the bottles, which reflect those of the beer in the bowl. The levels slowly increase during a day of bottling....

Howdy, folks.

We've been monitoring our bottle DO with a Hach Orbisphere 3100 for the last year or so. We started noticing rising bottle DOs a while back, so I rebuilt/replaced all seals connected...

If you got a decent VFD, you should be able to put a pressure sender in the output line to inform the VFD and keep your pressure constant with changing loads.

The output phase of the VFD is...