Is the sign of pump failure or the float sticking water leaking through the fan cover on the face of the vinyl cleaner?
Audio Desk Systeme - Vinyl Cleaner – Repair of Water Pump Failure
After the water pump of my beloved Vinyl Cleaner from Audio Desk Systeme stopped working I searched the web and found that I’m not the only one with this problem. But nowhere did I find a blog or post that would describe a repair procedure – other than to mail the machine back to Germany for an expensive repair.
If your machine is still under warranty you should of course send it back for warranty repair. But if your machine is out of warranty (like mine) and your only option is to spend lots of money to get it fixed, you might want to consider repairing it yourself.
The way the vinyl cleaner is designed does not allow any maintenance or replacement of any component located inside the machine without destroying something. The whole machine is glued together! Something I have not seen before to this extent – especially not on a high dollar item like this. Only the components in the upper compartment where the white cleaning rollers are located can be accessed thru the opening in the top cover.
To get started you need to separate the bottom PVC plate from the bottom of the tank. Both plates are glued together. I used a flat pry-bar to carefully separate the bottom plate without breaking it. Shining a flash light thru the water sight glass you can see the blue water pump thru the drain hole of the tank.
To get to the water pump you need to remove the bottom of the tank (or parts of it) which is glued to the recessed side walls.
Use a permanent marker to draw straight lines on the tank bottom – 5 mm inbound from the side walls. The PVC side walls are 5 mm thick. Try to cut slightly inside that line to not cut into the recessed side walls. I used a Dremel with a cut-off wheel.
Once the bottom of the tank is removed you have access to the water pump and all other internal components. To disconnect the pump wires from the main board you need to remove the front panel with on/off switch. Follow the pump cable from the tank and disconnect both wires from the terminal.
In my case it turned out that the pump actually did not fail - it was simply seized up. Once I rotated the little impeller by hand and hooked it up to the 24 V DC power supply in the sink it started to pump fine again.
In case you find your pump to be dead and need a replacement look for “Barwig Tauchpumpe Typ 3 24 V DC”. Price is around 18 EUR (appr. 20 USD) at amazon.de or conrad.com. Unfortunately I was not able to find a supplier who would ship to the U.S.. You may need to be creative – or plan your next vacation in Germany ...
If you use aquarium grade silicone adhesive instead of strong PVC adhesive to put it all together you will be able to undo everything easier in case you need to access the inside of the machine again.
Feel free to email me if you have questions or need pictures.
Decibell
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- 157 posts total
@oldsalt I'm just guessing here but it seems to me if you have water in the upper chamber, your pump must be working otherwise how would it get there? Again, just guessing, I would suspect a possible overflow situation which should point to a float switch problem. I've never opened the upper chamber of my cleaner so I'm not sure how the float switch is configured. Someone in a previous post mentioned running a cleaning agent through his record cleaner. When I had the bottom open in mine to change the pump, I used white vinegar and a brush to clean the dirty residue which had accumulated on the tank bottom over the years. I followed it with clean water, still using a brush. Once fully assembled, I put some white vinegar in with the distilled water and ran the cleaner an entire cycle using an old LP. I dumped it, refilled it with distilled water only, and ran a complete cycle again. Then I mixed a batch of distilled water plus the proper additive and cleaned the same old record as a test. All was well. Best, Fred |
https://www.stereonet.com/forums/topic/241401-sold-fs-audio-desk-systeme-glass-vinyl-cleaner-parts/Here is a link to a sold unit that shows the insides. If I had one of these with a failed pump, I'd cut a big window on the backside with a jigsaw and source another piece of PVC to make a cover plate. Cut some strips out of more PVC and use PVC cement to glue them inside of the perimeter of the cutout. Now it's thick enough that it can be drilled and tapped for threads. Use a piece of 1/8" (3mm) rubber as a gasket. Would make future service a breeze. BillWojo |
I've just joined the broken Audio Desk club. It has stopped pumping the water.This is really frustrating.It would be amazing, if someone with the required skills offered a third party repair service. I think the Audio Desk world would beat a part to their door.Decibell. If you're still following this thread, and still have the photos, I think I could use them.TIAMichael |
- 157 posts total