Self serve bay

[aca carwash 2]

We have a ss bay that when running on high pressure the pump will periodically shut off when there is still time on the display after running for a few minutes then it will randomly come back on. Initially we thought
it may be the motor overheating and shutting off but we switched motors and it does the same thing. Does anyone know what it could be?

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I would think that you are losing the 24V to the contactor coil. I would look for a bad connection at the coil or at the rotary switch in the bay. I would probably start at the contactor and work backwards. Does it do it often enough that you could watch the contactor while someone is using the bay?

 

[Randy]

The first place I?d look would be at the bay timer. If you are using a Dixmor timer in your bays it could the timers timed load has gone bad. This would interrupt the 24 volt signal going to the motor starter coil.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Randy, wouldn't losing the timed load also kill the LP stuff?

 

[Randy]

Maybe it will

 

[Fatboy769]

Don't know what type of equipment you have, but it sounds like you may have an overload on your motor contactor that is kicking out. If so, depending on how it is set up, when it cools down, it will allow the motor to run again. If you were losing the timed load from the timer, it would kill everything on the rotary swicth.

 

[Jeff_L]

Easy thing to check, pull your contactor apart. I had a similair issue last year, troubleshot everything and traced it back to the contactor. Had a bad spring that was making the connection plate bounce back and forth which caused the circuit breaker to trip. You may not have quite the same symptoms, but it is something simple to check. I replaced my spring with one from the hardware store and haven't had a problem since.

 

[aca carwash 2]

yes it does it on every wash. Where is the contactor?

 

[aca carwash 2]

Where is th contactor you are talking about ? On the bench or in the box in the bay?

 

[mjwalsh]

aca,

With a mulimeter you can test for 24vac to coil. If that is OK then proceed to check to see if the other side of the engaging contacts are hot. Pretty straight forward, unless you have a hidden loose wire or connection somewhere. Even that can be isolated via test points.

 

[MEP001]

The contactor, or motor starter, is always close to the motor.

You will need a better understanding of how the equipment works to solve this issue yourself. Maybe the company that made your equipment has a manual with a troubleshooting guide.

Did you ever solve the D&S problem? You left that thread hanging.