help!! purewater system ozone smell

[southshoreauto]

Hi guys. I need help with my purwater reclaim system. I know the my cell pressure is at 5psi an not 8psi I'm new to reclaim an the trouble shooting guide does nothing for me. The flow meter is only reading 1 where it should be at 6. But the book don't tell me how to troubleshoot that issue.
I un hook the the air line from the air compressor on the unit and the flow meter goes to 6 but when I put back on drops to 1. I've adjusted the screw an nothing. Any ideas

 

[Bob Koo]

Hope this will Help?

I am not an expert on the PurWater Reclaim system, but can offer some general concepts on the situation you maybe encountering.
First, if you are encountering the smell of Ozone in your equipment room, the ozone generator is producing more ozone that is being evacuated by the Mazzie Injector on the reclaim unit. Normal operation of the should see the Injector creating more vacuum that the Ozone Generator is producing. If this situation does not exist, the excess Ozone Gas does not have anywhere to escape except through fittings on the reclaim unit, therefore, you will smell excess ozone gas in the equipment room.
The first thing you must understand is Ozone gas is produced by passing Oxygen Feed Gas through an Electrical Field with the end result being the production of Ozone Gas. On the PurWater unit this is being accomplished by the Ozone Generator which is coupled with an Oxygen Concentrator. Inside of the Oxygen Concentrator is a small Air Compressor that produces Air Pressure to feed Oxygen to the Ozone Generator. I would assume the 5 PSI of pressure you note as cell pressure is an indicator of this.
The flowmeter on the Oxygen Concentrator that is reading 1 and suppose to read 5 is exactly that a Flowmeter. FYI, it does read PSI and the measurement is Liters of Flow per Minute. It is a flowmeter that is regulated by a Pilot Valve that controls the air flow from the Air Compressor within the Oxygen Concentrator.
When you make the statement that you remove the line from the air compressor that the flow meter goes to 6, that statement really throws me off since the reading should be 0 since you have disconnect the source from the flowmeter. If you mean you have disconnect the air source line feeding the Ozone Generator, I can understand that more. You must have a down stream restriction or blockage since the flowmeter can now read air flow. You should see swings in liters of air flow by adjusting the screw that you mentioned.
If you follow the tubing from the Ozone Generator, it should be attached to the Mazzie Injector, this is a device that tranfers gas into a liquid. It is the vacuum device on the PurWater that should be evacuating all of the Ozone Gas produced by the Ozone Generator. If the injector is not operating properly the excess ozone gas will escape in the fittings within the Ozone Generator since you are operating in a pressurized environment and not a vacuum ennvironment.
The Mazzie Injector may just be clogged since periodic maintenance is required or you have a downstream blockage that is creating backpressure that will not allow the injector to function properly. Blockages could be found the bioballs in their AquaLink module if you have it, or your ozone return line is sitting in mud.

Hope this helps and sorry if there is too much theory in my explanation
Reclaim 101

 

[mac]

The first thing you should always try is the people who built the thing. I'm pretty sure they are still in business, and unless you have stiffed them on a bill, they should be happy to help with this. Let us know what they say. Bob's comments are right on, but if you are not real familiar with your system, it most likely won't be helpful. See if you can find a manual for the system that shows all of the components, ideally along with a flow diagram.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

sorry if there is too much theory in my explanation

I love explanations like that, thanks Bob.

 

[southshoreauto]

Thanks Bob great read. Yes it's the line that goes to the ozone not flow meter sorry for not making that clear. One called purwater and asked if there's a rep in the area an only one is the maintenance company that set up the tunnel. An was told to call them, but when I called them an told the problem they said that it's our problem an to call purwater. This tunnel has been open 3 months an every week something goes wrong an it's like pulling teeth to get them down to look at it

 

[southshoreauto]

I took apart the mazzei an it was clean. The flow meter is the only thing that's not reading correctly. I vented the gas in the ozone gauge an got it to stay in the green buy it's slowly losing psi again.

 

[Bob Koo]

Southshoreauto, as I mentioned in my previous post, I am not an expert on the Purwater system, but understand the principles that it functions by. I do not not what the ozone gauge that you are describing?, but if you vented the gauge, where did you vent it to? I would assume that you vented it outside of your equipment room since your original concern was the smell of ozone and I would assume that would be in the equipment room.
I really don't mind answering questions that you pose, but as you describe the situation you are faced with I would need to gather a few more facts. Evidently, you just acquired this facility. Was the Purwater unit already and a part of the original equipment package. I wrote my original response assuming the unit was relatively new and only a few months old. I'm not so certain now since you are being bounced between the original maintenance equipment and PurWater. How old is the unit? I would assume it older than a few months since evidently, it is not under any type of warranty.
Is the smell just a faint smell of ozone or a very strong smell. The odor would be the greatest when you first open the equipment room door in the morning, since opening the door with allow the gas to vent out?
I can try to help you, but you need to be a little more specific with some more background information

 

[southshoreauto]

Brand new unit an the gauge I'm referring to is on the ozone cabinet on top of the purwater unit where the temp read is an the green,blue, and red lights are. That is supposed to read 8psi and the vent is a black rubber cap on the back side of the gauge that is used to check of the gauge is giving a false reading. An I do agree with you that It should be under warranty but the installer charges us service calls to fix things that are under warranty an not tell me to call purwater themselves.
On top of that when I did my 1st maintenance walk through 5 weeks after opening an greasing all fittings. I found that none of the fittings were ever filled when the tunnel was installed an were all full of water an some didn't even have fittings I had to put them in myself. When I informed the installer an seller of the discovery all he had to say was good thing I checked it. But the smell is in the tunnel also it got better after I vented the gauge an brought it back in the green. Still my flow meter will not go above one even when turning the pilot screw. That's what I need to figure out what's going on an how to fix it

I do appreciate your help alot. The maintenance company that sold an installed the tunnel has been ****ty. My hydraulic pump for the conveyer has been leaking sense day one an they still can't figure out how to fix it. An when they fix one thing something else they messed with to fix the main problem breaks down. It sucks cause they're the only game in town that deals with washs

 

[southshoreauto]

So I had to turn to finding this forum an I've learned alot in a short time reading things on here. And everyone has been great

 

[Bob Koo]

Southshoreauto, I read your responses and can understand your frustration, but some of your observations don't even make any sense to me.
I am surprised to hear you say the smell of Ozone is in the Tunnel and not in the Equipment Room. I still assume the smell of Ozone is first thing in the morning since you are operating door in the tunnel that are closed during the night. Same concept pumping ozone gas into a closed area, the smell is greatest until you open doors and allow ventilation. I would warn you that ozone gas is an Oxidizer and is non selective, especially with rubbers and plastics. If ask a Detailer, they know, don't use an high capacity ozone generator too long in a automobile as a sanitizer because the windshield is liable to fall out as the ozone gas oxidizes the rubber gasket holding the windshield in.
You should not be smelling ozone in the tunnel. The ozone return line goes directly to the tanking system via a closed pipe. The only way that you should smell ozone in the tunnel is if the reclaim tanks are located inside of the tunnel.
The other thing you may want to look at is the output piping on the unit. PurWater specifies a 1" PVC Line for Solids Return to the Mudpit or Tunnel and a 1" PVC Ozone Return Line that returns to the Reclaim Tank. These lines could have been misplumbed on the initial installation. There should be a large volume of water flowing from the Ozone Return Line and a small quantity from the Underflow Solids Return Line.
I can see the picture of the gauge that you describe that is on the Ozone Generator beside the temperature lights. I would have to ask you when you "vented the guage" did you recognize pressure or vaccum on the "black rubber cap on the backside of the gauge"?
Also, is the 8PSI reading on the numbers on the gauge positive or negative? Positive numbers would mean that you are reading pressures from the compressor located in the oxygen centrator and negative pressures or vacuum created by the Mazzie Injector.
All I can do now is agree with you, something is not right.
Since this is a new unit, does was it sold with their "AquaLink" Module. Also, what is the quality of your Reclaim Water since normally it takes 30 days for reclaim water to real reclaim water since you started the entire system with Fresh Water. I assume that you are in a nothern climate will notice the reclaim will begin to smell as you ground water temperature increase. The smell will be greatest in the morning until you begin washing cars and get better with the more cars that you wash.
Hopefully, this theory of operation helps you understand the environment you system is operating in. Welcome to becoming an Operator, hopefully you can get everything sorted out and only have to fix disasters that happen on Friday afternoon.

 

[mac]

So southshore, have you called Purwater? They have been helpful the few times I've called them. There is another issue here that, at least in my opinion, should be addressed. The way this socalled industry is supposed to work is that some distributor buys a component of a wash, in this case your reclaim system, and sells and installs it with the other parts. It is that person who has the responsibility to correct the initial problems. If he is not doing that, please let us know who it is. Sometimes shaming them in public gets results. It's sad if it comes to that. If they won't help call the manufacturer of the equipment this person sold for and complain to them. They may want to give him a little nudge. In any case it might save another operator some grief if you post his name and the name of the company. If he sold it, he has to fix it.

 

[southshoreauto]

Thanks Bob you've been great help I also hope it gets settled an only get breakdowns during the Friday an Saturday rushes lol
But what could cause the flow meter to not go above 1. I get there's a block somewhere but I can't find it.

 

[Bob Koo]

Southshoreauto, the flowmeter is just that, it measures the volume of air flowing through it. I am assuming that the flowmeter that you are talking about is the flow meter located on the oxygen concentrator. If we are talking about the same meter, the adjustment know is a needle valve that can be adjusted from closed to open. The outpurt line is on the discharge side of the air compressor located in the Oxygen. The output volume of the internal compressor is constant and the flow is regulated the needle valve.

If you cannot get the flowmeter to read more than 1, you have a restriction down stream. You had mentioned in a previous post that when you removed the oxygen supply line to the ozone generator, the flowmeter reading would increase. To me that means you have a restriction downstream and when the restriction is elimatinated air will flow through the flow meter.

This is one of the reasons, I asked if you had their AquaLink module on your unit. It is downstream from the Ozone Generator and can become plugged up and needs to be cleaned periodically. It is a potential source of restriction. The other thing that may have occurred is your Ozone Return Line, terminating in the tank is under mud after 3 months of washing cars?

I have to agree with comments Mac posted on this thread. You should go around the person that sold you your equipment package and contact PurWater direct. They can nudge their Distributor or try to educate you more to determine the source of your problem. All I can ascertain is something is not correct. All I can hope is that you are gaining a knowledge of how your system operates. Your Distributor should have provided this to you with your initial training on the operation of the system. The reclaim system and operation is common sense and you are learning by trial and error

 

[southshoreauto]

Yes there is a aqua link system on the unit.
Thank you guys for helping out a newbie lol

 

[Bob Koo]

Southshoreauto, I would assume by your, Thankyou response, that your problem is solved since you must have cleaned the AquaLink unit and removed your downstream restriction.

The only thing that I do not understand is why you smell ozone in your Tunnel and can only assume that the Reclaim unit or AquaLink Module is located in the tunnel itself.

Guess you are not a Newbie now, you're learning through experience.
Good Luck

 

[southshoreauto]

No I didn't solve it �� but gave me a place to start

 

[Kevin James]

Welcome to the wonderful world of owning a car wash. I’ve never seen so many whores or charlatans in one industry. I think that the car wash industry is worse than the used car industry. Equipment manufacturers are so hungry for someone to sell their product that almost anyone can be a distributor and the ones who are distributors are the ones you don’t want to deal with. About all most of them we have dealt with know how to turn the equipment On or Off and that is about all, heaven forbid you need any technical support. The best advice I can give you is to lean as much about your equipment so you don’t have to deal with the idiots who sold it to you to begin with.

 

[southshoreauto]

I don't own tge wash. Thank god lol but I agree with you about them not knowing what to do n half the time they call the manufacturer themselves. I checked the ozone air lines I undid one at a time an u think its something to do with some of the quick connect t's an unions leak air if not pushed in

 

[southshoreauto]

thank you all for the help the problem was resolved. and thanks to Charlie at purwater for guiding me through it step by step
it turned out that the blockage was in the flow valve an the ozone valve. but figured out that the gauge was also not calibrated an didn't go to 0 an went into the neg. the gauge was vented an all is good