Hydrovane 5

[Dune]

Hi All, first post so treat me gently.

Ive just bought a Hydrovane 5 which when I started produced air. I didnt run it for long as I was unsure of the condition.

I stripped the unit and painted the tank cleaned the inners out of a lovely solly oil mix. Inspected all the parts for wear and damage and fitted all back as they where in good condition. So I have a very pretty red and highly polished H5 that now doesnt produce air.

I was wondering have I managed to rewire the single phase motor the wrong way so it is rotating the wrong way? I have managed to find a service manual for them but all it says is "notice the rotation". I have found a user manual that says " Check the direction of roation is clockwise looking on the motor end of the compressor". What an ambiguous statement it can be read two ways!

Can anyone tell me the rotation when looking from behind the motor to the lantern?

If this is right can anyone pont me in the right direction over hints and tips to what I may have done. I was wondering whether I could possibly have some sort of air lock since the whole system has been stripped...

Any help is most appreciated, cheers

 

[tigler]

Not sure I agree that the advice for checking the direction of rotation is ambiguous. That would mean to me, look at the motor fan inlet and see that it rotates clockwise ?
Normally there is a direction arrow on the motor of these Hydrovanes.
Did you disturb any of the wiring during the makeover ? If so what ?
I don't think a single phase motor can be reversed though.
Might sound a silly comment but I presume there is oil in the compressor ?
Does the gauge on the end of the compressor read anything ?

 

[Dune]

Ive shown that statement to several people and all agree that it could be read two ways.

I am confident that I have the wring right. I did disturb the wiring but took photos so I knew where it was originally. I was just enquiring to see if it was possible to reverse the motor. I had thought that it couldnt be and I think youve confirmed that. There is no direction arrow unfortunately.

What do you mean by the motor fan inlet. The hydrovane motor has a fan on each end.

Theres no compression what so ever.

Oh yes there is oil in it, or should I say there was until I emptied it and spilt it all over my garage floor! I knew I should of had a hand holding that funnel...

 

[tigler]

What do you mean by the motor fan inlet. The hydrovane motor has a fan on each end.

Mine doesn't ! The actual electric motor that drives the air end (the compressor) part has 1 fan at the end opposite to where the air end is attached. There is a shroud over the fan with a perforated grill through which the fan can be seen. So, looking at this it would need to rotate clockwise.

Is there anything indicated on the gauge located actually on the end of the compressor ?

 

[tigler]

Does yours look like the one in this thread ?

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=20420

 

[brightspark]

motors generaly run clockwise looking from the shaft end over the motor

 

[Dune]

Does yours look like the one in this thread ?

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=20420

Yes except for it being bright red (it was the only colour I had spare at the time!)

The motor (my motor) has a plastic cooling fan one end and a metal fan to push air into the cooler for the lantern the other.

Brightspark You say "motors generaly run clockwise looking from the shaft end over the motor" Mine would then run anti clockwise...

The plot thickens

Thanks for all your help its much appreciated, I will get to the bottom of this.

 

[tigler]

Lantern ?

 

[Dune]

Lantern ?

The lantern is what Hydrovane call the crompressor part of the unit. Straight from the manual.

 

[Dune]

Just been chatting to a service guy at Thorite. The motor turns clockwise when standing behind the motor looking at the lantern.

Just a little plug for this firm. Ive spoken to three people there and they have been more than helpful and happy at thier work. Theres not many places that are like that anymore.

The ony problem is that thier minimum order is £10. Ok if you need oil separator and a few other bits but not just a shim or oil seal

 

[madkayaker]

Change over the conestion for the field windings post a pic of the motor conections and i can tell u exactly

 

[eddie49]

If the motor is a capacitor-start induction motor, then it is reversible. Change over the connections to the start winding to reverse it. This thread has full details:
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=19466

 

[Gary900r]

Assuming its running the correct way did you reuse the old shims and gaskets or did you fit new ones.
Did you torque the long bolts down correctly.

 

[Dune]

The shims fell apart when I stripped it. I knocked out two new ones from paper. When I restripped the lantern I noticed some of the old shim still stuck to the rotor housing. I've now cleaned those surfaces and ordered some new shims. I'll let you know how I get on once I've recieved them.

 

[Gary900r]

You need the correct shims for that rotor/stator combination. The clearance between the rotor and stator needs to be between 0.003"(0.076mm) and 0.0035"(0.08(mm). any less and you risk metal to metal contact which will result in damage. Any more and you get air that has been compressed leaking back to the lower pressure intake part of the stator. Ultimately this will lead to high temperatures, the oil breaking down and again metal damage. Did you note the colour of the old shims.The colour indicates the thickness of the shim.

 

[Dune]

I had read in the manual about the different shims sizes and colours. However mine are clear so measured them at 0.05mm

 

[Gary900r]

Yours must be one of the early machines. Originally they did use clear shims but they were different sizes. After a while they changed to coloured shims(every other range of their compressors used coloured shims). 0.05mm would be blue colour now.

 

[Dune]

Thanks for all your help my problem is now solved, I ended up making my own shims.

With some lateral thinking I started routing around work for something that would do for the shims. Thin plastic... My routing turned up some plastic laminator pouches. When I got home I measured the thickness. 0.05mm, I tapped two gaskets from the plastic and installed The machine is running very sweet.

Up to pressure in no time at all very quite, esp when compared to my old piston version. To reduce noise I installed a rubber mat from a concrete sleeper and timber to the tank legs which again is spaced with rubber matt.

The original purpose of the rubber matt: It sits under rail track and reduces vibration and noise in the carriage and for those next to the train.

It has worked out very successfully.

Cheers all