Dilling Harris equipment question.

[Andhelfy]

Hi,
I have 20+ yr old Dilling Harris manual wash bay equipment.
It has worked almost flawlessly for 20+ years, usual wear and tear items etc

I have a weird problem now and am hoping someone else has encountered it and has a solution.

On 2 of my bays (5 bay setup) i have this werd thing where the solenoid coil in the foam brush air supply will overheat/(small ejection of molten plastic) when this happens the most obvious thing is when a customer selects foam brush, the power to the in bay timer manager goes off momentarily and they loose the time they had paid for. Clearly there is a short in the system somewhere that pulls the power down from the bay time manger power supply. The question is where the heck to even look? There is nothing obvious, no wire damage anywhere visible, etc. Replacing the coil on the air solenoid fixes the problem for a few months or so until it happens again.

Surely someone, somewhere has had this happen before.

Thanks in advance.

Andrew, Ballina Carwash. Australia.

 

[Randy]

Hi,
I have 20+ yr old Dilling Harris manual wash bay equipment.
It has worked almost flawlessly for 20+ years, usual wear and tear items etc

I have a weird problem now and am hoping someone else has encountered it and has a solution.

On 2 of my bays (5 bay setup) i have this werd thing where the solenoid coil in the foam brush air supply will overheat/(small ejection of molten plastic) when this happens the most obvious thing is when a customer selects foam brush, the power to the in bay timer manager goes off momentarily and they loose the time they had paid for. Clearly there is a short in the system somewhere that pulls the power down from the bay time manger power supply. The question is where the heck to even look? There is nothing obvious, no wire damage anywhere visible, etc. Replacing the coil on the air solenoid fixes the problem for a few months or so until it happens again.

Surely someone, somewhere has had this happen before.

Thanks in advance.

Andrew, Ballina Carwash. Australia.

Get out your volt meter and start checking the voltage at the transformer that feeds the power to the affected bays. Work your way to the power that is feeding to Foam Brush solenoids, it should be 24 volts. I would also take a hard look at the common and the grounds for loose wires and corrosion .

 

[Andhelfy]

Get out your volt meter and start checking the voltage at the transformer that feeds the power to the affected bays. Work your way to the power that is feeding to Foam Brush solenoids, it should be 24 volts. I would also take a hard look at the common and the grounds for loose wires and corrosion .

Have done all that. No loose wires, no corrosion. 24Volt everywhere. Very weird and random problem.

 

[Eric H]

…the solenoid coil in the foam brush air supply will overheat/(small ejection of molten plastic)... Replacing the coil on the air solenoid fixes the problem for a few months or so until it happens

Are you replacing just the coil or the entire valve assembly? The “molten plastic” is also what happens when you energize a coil with nothing in the center to absorb the magnetic field. If the coil gets energized and the plunger doesn’t retract because of a physical obstruction I suppose the coil would melt.
Just throwing the theory out there. I don’t know if this would cause the your issue. I do suspect that after 20 years of trouble free service the diaphragm would likely be dry rotted and could stick in the closed position.
Certainly, with no evidence of any voltage issues replacing the entire valve assembly wouldn’t be out of line.
Load up the parts cannon and fire it at the problem!

 

[cbchevy4x4]

bad Solenoid or short somewhere.
Intermittent issues are the hardest to locate usually its a very small short that may only happen sometimes due to temp fluctuation, vibration etc.

 

[Andhelfy]

Are you replacing just the coil or the entire valve assembly? The “molten plastic” is also what happens when you energize a coil with nothing in the center to absorb the magnetic field. If the coil gets energized and the plunger doesn’t retract because of a physical obstruction I suppose the coil would melt.
Just throwing the theory out there. I don’t know if this would cause the your issue. I do suspect that after 20 years of trouble free service the diaphragm would likely be dry rotted and could stick in the closed position.
Certainly, with no evidence of any voltage issues replacing the entire valve assembly wouldn’t be out of line.
Load up the parts cannon and fire it at the problem!

Replacing it all. The plunger, the solenoid shaft and the coil.