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

decibell

@techno273712

The instructions are pretty much what I wrote in my first post. I used Tangit PVC-U and Gutter Sealant to put it all together. It's really not that complicated. If you manage to provide your email address I will email you photos.

 

I was given one of these by a member because it was failing, it was only about two years old. What happens is the cleaning rollers don't move in and touch the record when the chamber fills with fluid. There is something that drops down in the lower chamber as it's pumped empty that moves levers pulling the cleaning rollers inwards to the record surface.

Has anyone found a solution to this issue?

 

BillWojo

Bill- one of the AD units I had would get stuck sometimes the rollers wouldn't retract- Robert Stein, the importer (Cable Company) just told me to "reboot" it like a computer- pull power and let it reset. That did fix that problem for a while. If it is a legit US unit, Stein probably brought it in- you might call him- he's a pretty nice guy and did a lot for the early owners to help them out. It could be the chip itself is funky--but that's pure speculation on my part. Stein would know based on years of experience in dealing with these units. Is the model you have the "Pro"?

Yes, it's the Pro model. The thing is I worked with Robert and did everything he told me to do. Looks like it needs to go in for service. He thinks it needs an update mod of some sort. Guess I'll toss it into my car and run it up to his shop one of these days and see what it's going to cost. They are less than an hour away. I just don't want to invest money in a machine that seems to have a high failure rate. On top of that, I'm a service tech, I repair machines much more complicated than one of these but the construction of this thing is horrid, who in hell glues a machine together?

 

BillWojo