Bacteria filter on vacuum

[Winegirl]

Has anyone had a problem with using the bacteria filter on their vacuum pump? I'm thinking my pump doesn't have enough power. When I first got it, I tried transferring with just water, couldn't get it to pump the water up the racking cane, I thought I had a leak in a connection somewhere, so I hooked directly to the carboy cap, the water would only come up part way on the racking cane from the receiving vessel. I took the filter off, and it worked no problem. My pump does not have a guage, I know, it should. The dial has two settings, the max being 500mm hg which equals about 19", which should be safe, according to what I've read. Just wondering if anyone else has had such an issue.

Thanks,
Kim

 

[winemaker_3352]

Could be a crack or leak in the filter housing.

Try setting up to rack w/o the filter housing - see if you can rack from one vessel to another...

 

[vacuumpumpman]

If I am understading this correctly - you have a filter on the inlet side of your vacuum cannister ? Can you just wash it out ? or replace it with the same or siniliar ?

thanks steve
http://allinonewinepump.com/

 

[Wade E]

Can yoiu take a pic of what pump you have and what your talking about?

 

[Winegirl]

This is the type of pump I have.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ambu-Portab...684?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27c1ae470c
I'll try to get a pic posted of how I had it set up. I hooked the bacteria filter up to the first connection and it wouldn't pull enough vacuum, but without the filter, it works fine on the high setting. The low setting won't rack from one carboy to another. I got a guage off a mityvac hand pump to see how many inches it's pulling, but the needle just vibrated, it didn't go up any. It works on the mityvac though, so maybe did something wrong, I'll try to get a pic of that too.

 

[Winegirl]

This is how I had it set up and it didn't work. Obviously I had the racking tube connected to the outlet from the canister to the receiving carboy, racking cane in receiving carboy to source carboy that wasn't sealed, it let air in. When the filter was removed it would work. Oh, on the filter, the side closest to the pump says 'in' and going to the canister says 'out'.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

According to this pic it appears that your lid on the right side is not fully seated-

Is this pump new to you or has it been working up until this point ? Just wondering if all the hose connections are set-up correctly.

thanks steve
http://allinonewinepump.com/

 

[Winegirl]

I see that too, but when I'm actually using it, I double and triple check all connections and the lid, I just quickly assembled for the pic. The pump is relatively new to me, supposedly not have been used before, but who knows. I wonder why it doesn't register on the vacuum guage? I just put the hose on the guage and it was a tight seal, but the needle just vibrated, no reading.

 

[Winegirl]

Thanks to all that replied, I have discovered my issue. I got the vacuum guage hooked up properly and it's only pulling about 4 freakin inches!!!! I've contacted the ebay seller hoping for a resolution. I know, I know, get what you pay for. My *** is still sore from the self kicking.

 

[Wade E]

Get the All in one so that you can remove foot from arse! Just so you know a gauge designed for non electrical pumps will vibrate like crazy usually to the point you cant read them.

 

[Dugger]

Just a thought - have you tried reversing the filter? You say it works fine without the filter and the filter is apparently directional, so it might be worth a shot. With a vacuum situation, "in" and "out" might be confusing.
This filter is a bacteria filter??

 

[Winegirl]

I may try that. The small piece of tubing on the filter came on it that way, so I assumed there was only one way to put it on, the tubing may have been put on incorrectly. It keeps the moisture from going in the pump, I think it's also referred to as a hydrophobic filter.

 

[Wade E]

Yes, its all it is and is non direcytional. If it works without the filoter then remove it and buy a new one as there is eitrher a fault with that one or this is not new and someone must have sucked up something and I wouldnt want to even know what! Its why I replaced all hoses, filters and canisters when I was selling some used pumps.

 

[Winegirl]

Wade, maybe you can answer this for me. I took the back off the unit, and all that is there is a little motor with a plastic arm on top that has a diaphram attached to it, so the motor spins, which pumps the arm and the diaphram plunges in and out creating the suction. Is this what's in the type of pump you have? Even if liquid got sucked in, it wouldn't touch the motor, it would likely leak out the exhaust port. I did replace the hoses and the filter is brand new as well. But the canister is what came with it. I'm going to use an extra wine bottle as the overflow, but I used the cannister to test it out. I'm trying everthing to get the dang thing working, I'm so disappointed with it.