System 1 model 500/Safety Kleen 250 Parts washer

[melben]

Gentlemen,

I have a parts washer marketed by Safety Kleen and manufactured by System 1. The vacuum pump portion of the drive motor is weak and the unit is not recycling the solvent as it should. I have a spare motor but the Impeller in the vacuum pump has completely disintegrated in this one. I dealt with this problem before many years back and at that time i was told that someone made aftermarket impellers out of metal instead of the standard plastic OEM design. I am hoping someone on forum could advise me if they had any knowledge of this and alternately if anyone could point me to a used parts outlet for these cleaners. I was told the new pumps are not as durable as the old Reliance pumps and the $1350 to replace the present pump for someone retired and on a fixed income i more than I can afford.

 

[terex herder]

If you know someone with a 3D printer and cad software, a sketch of the impeller and a few dimensions and they can print you an impeller.

 

[melben]

Thank you for your response Terex, that is an avenue that I had not considered, I have a very nice contact at System one who has gone out of his way to guide me along at this point. If anyone has prints he would be aware of it, again, Thank You.

 

[IceHole]

You ever figure it out? I bought one a couple years ago and dug it out of storage recently.

It's heating to around 190*, but doesn't recycle. The solvent all stays in the recycle tank.

I'm learning how this works. Is the vac pump also the pump that refills the sink or seperate?
Motor runs, vac plunger works, sink refills.

Is 190* hot enough?
How does it draw the clean solvent from the tank.

 

[thepumpguysc]

One thing that killed/wounded our machine was water.. we ended up putting a Racor filter on the incoming solvent.. THAT solved a lot of the problems..
Another thing, do u know how to reset it.??
U unplug it from the wall, wait about 5-10 minutes, (smoke break) get a helper..push both buttons and hold.. plug into wall while holding buttons & let go..
Another thing.. r u cleaning out the oil trap in the front of the machine.??.. get a pretty long wooden dowel rod and poke it in there.. BE READY for a flood..

 

[IceHole]

What did the water do?

Yes, that's how I know it's not working. The recycle tank is still full after a cycle vs it going to the bottom clean solvent tank.

 

[thepumpguysc]

Have u pulled the deck and cleaned the suction screen.?
It has to be done WEEKLY..
(EVERY FRIDAY)

 

[thepumpguysc]

One u push that button to clean, u have to wait for the vacuum to build before it’ll suck down and refill..
DO NOT TRY TO USE IT DURING THIS PROCESS..
If u do, it sets it to idiot mode & u have to reset it..
The water played hell with the machine.!! Internals started rusting..

 

[thepumpguysc]

Have u refilled the machine .??
It’s the silver gizmo to the right of the spout.. it’s got 2 flats on it so u can unscrew it..
If all your fluid ended up in the lower part(oil burner) then u have to check the level of the clean fluid.. unscrew the “cap” w the 2 flats and put a long dowel down it to check the level..
u have to fill the machine from there.!! What we did was got it working to where everything was cycling and then marked the dowel with a marker to the full line..THATS HOW we knew when it was full or not..
But if u check it and it doesn’t wet the dowel, u pretty much KNOW it’s empty..

 

[IceHole]

Have u refilled the machine .??
It’s the silver gizmo to the right of the spout.. it’s got 2 flats on it so u can unscrew it..
If all your fluid ended up in the lower part(oil burner) then u have to check the level of the clean fluid.. unscrew the “cap” w the 2 flats and put a long dowel down it to check the level..
u have to fill the machine from there.!! What we did was got it working to where everything was cycling and then marked the dowel with a marker to the full line..THATS HOW we knew when it was full or not..
But if u check it and it doesn’t wet the dowel, u pretty much KNOW it’s empty..

It's full when the bottom tank is full to the top. There's a vent line next to the fill plug that will spill out excess.

 

[thepumpguysc]

If u say so..

 

[IceHole]

If u say so..

Nope, the service manual does.

Doesn't need to be full to run though, just above the low solvent sensor, which will make it beep.

 

[melben]

Gents, Mel here, I did the original post on the issue, I found and fixed my issue, I went through and tightened every one of the pipes in the pump and radiator area, some were very loose. My rep from System One (the OEM manufacturer of the Safety Kleen) suggested removing and disassembling the little check valve that works the tank dump valve. I found a ferrule that was completely cracked off in my line tightening, I squared it up and re ferruled it. I used my AC gages to hookup and watch system vacuum which was close to 29" so my Vacuum pump is good. After the going over it cleans the fluid perfectly. I ran it through several cycles and with recycled fluid put back down there was no fluid accumulation, it worked perfectly. I hope this info helps someone else. The loose lines were my problem

 

[melben]

Reading some back posts I am going to answer some questions to the best of my ability to communicate, The dirty solvent goes into the lower vat, it is heated and at the same time a vacuum is pulled on it, the reduced air pressure and the heated fluid cause the solvent to vaporize and then it returns to the clean tank after it goes through a small heat exchanger which allows it to cool back into a clean liquid, pretty much like making moonshine! the impurities do not distill off and remain to be drained off and discarded when the dirty tank is serviced.

 

[IceHole]

I have the service manual for the late 90s-early 2000s era model 500. I think the model 250 is the same as well.

Doug at Northwest Equipment in Oregon was great help and carries parts.