Harvest Right Home Freeze Dryer Owner's Manual page 28

increase the life span of your
vacuum pump oil.
After my freeze dryer completed
and I released the drain valve,
water came rushing into my
vacuum chamber. What happened?
Make sure to empty the sink or
bucket that your freeze dryer drains
into. If the drain hose is sitting in
water (from previous batches of
food) and the vacuum is released
through the drain valve, water
will suck through the drain hose
and into the freeze dryer vacuum
chamber like a giant straw.
How do I know when to change my
vacuum pump oil?
One of the best ways to know when
to change your vacuum pump oil
is by recognizing that batches of
food that normally take 24 hours to
complete are taking much longer (up
to 46 hours to complete). When this
occurs, it is time to change your oil.
Another signal that your oil needs to
be changed is by looking in the sight
glass window. If the oil looks milky,
has visible particulates, or is amber
in color, it is time to change the oil.
In most cases, your oil should be
changed every 5-7 batches.
We had oil spurt out of our vacuum
pump handle, what is happening?
1.
It is likely that there is a large leak
in your system. This can happen if the
drain valve is accidentally left open,
the door isn't clean/aligned properly,
28 HarvestRight.com | 1-800-700-5508
the door seal isn't clean, or the
vacuum hose is not completely tight
on both ends. It can also occur if all of
the caps/fittings on the pump aren't
tight. These are the most common
reasons for an oil spurt.
2.
The oil level gets too high because
of water vapor coming through the
vacuum hose adding moisture to the
oil level (it is important to drain this
water out of your vacuum pump so
that you can preserve the life of your
oil as well as prevent an oil spurt).
3.
Sometimes when the vacuum
pump shuts off, a portion of the
oil will get trapped in the vacuum
pump cartridge. When this happens,
the oil level will appear low in the
sight glass because some of that oil
is now in the cartridge. Often this
will cause the user to believe that
there isn't enough oil in the pump,
so he/she will add oil to cover the
small circle in the center of the
sight glass window. Adding more oil
in this circumstance will overload
the pump with oil. When the pump
is turned on, the oil that is trapped
in the pump cartridge will be
restored to the original oil reservoir.
If the user has added additional
oil, thinking that the level was low,
there will now be too much oil in
the pump and cause an oil spurt. If
you recognize that the oil level has
lessened, simply continue to run
your freeze dryer as normal.
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