Thanks to Bill and Christopher.
I took the vacuum pump apart. Removed the motor, cover, and took the
pump body apart from housing and removed one end of the body, exposing
the rotary vane. As an aside, it had quite a bit of sludge in the
pan. I realized that it was slightly rusted, not completely but just a
little bit. After the disassembly, I had better access to the shaft. A
generous use of a big wrench made the pump unstuck. I washed the cover
to get rid of sludge, reassembled and refilled the pump.
The good news is that it pulls vacuum, not sure how deep but it pulls
quite strongly on my finger when I try to close the vacuum opening
with a finger. I do have a vacuum gauge (from an old broken pump), but
the gauge is 1/4" NPT and the pump has a flare fitting. Maybe I will
visit Ace Hardware or HD tomorrow for a fitting to put the gauge on.
The question I have is this. When the pump starts pulling a real
vacuum, but before it reaches equilibrium, it makes a gurgling
sound. Also, it seems that the oil became bubbly with a lot of little
bubbles. I see them in the access window.
Is that normal? I am suspecting that perhaps one of the vanes (I think
that they are called vanes, the little rectangular thingys that go in
and out of the rotor to maintain vacuum) is stuck and does not move
back and forth. Could that account for the gurgling sound?
thanks
i
- posted
16 years ago