Thomas 2660 Pump

[Russ]

I am going to give this pump a try on my burner.  I cant seem to find a manual for this thing anywhere.  Does anyone have a manual in pdf form they could post out here?  I found a field service manual, but that doesn't really explain all of the ports.  There is a black plastic piece in the "F" port.  I am wondering if that is some sort of relief valve?

[Mschindler300]

I used same pump 1 side is intake or vacum other side is output. Jut hook it up see what side sucking then to quite it down some more i put a restrictor on the intake side a valve cock open to get your pressure or i use a orfice from a old gas burner i notice when i ran the intake side open with no load compressor ran hot and wAs really loud

[Mschindler300]

Yes that plasic peice is a relief do not take it out it wont work i no from experiance lol

[Russ]

I played around with it a little bit tonight.  Found out that the little piece is indeed a pressure relief.  It seemed to open around 40lbs or so.  The pump put out more air than the burner needed, so I could hear the air going out the relief.  Might have to look at connecting up an air tank?

[Mschindler300]

Russ i tried a tank with a check valve and once the tank got up to psi and the pressure limit kicked the compressor off was all good but when the compressor went to kick on again it locked up till thevtank ran low enough i even set my tank psi switch to kick off at 10 psi still had problems i used a 1 gal tank let me no if you have any luck

[doug]

Russ,

This is how I have my Thomas pump set up. I used an ice cube maker water supply kit. The needle valve adjusts the pressure to the burner and the rest is returned to the intake port of the pump. A relay actives the Thomas pump and the metering pump.  I like using this pump over the shop compressor it's a lot more quiet and with an intake muffler is even more quiet.

[Russ]

Hey Matt, thanks for the info.  I noticed too when there was pressure in the hose I had hooked up to it, it didn't want to start back up, or had a difficult time doing so.  I wonder if a pressure switch with an unloader valve would solve that problem?  Maybe I will just forget about the tank and do like what Doug is doing.

I'm not exactly sure how your system is set up Doug.  The gauge is connected to the output side, correct?  I see the hose that must be going to the burner and the other needle valve connection looks like it goes to the suction side.  The suction side looks like it has a T on it and is that a filter on the other side of the T?  Do you also have a regulator on your burner, or do you control the air from the pump strictly with the needle valve?

Thanks for the the help guys!

[doug]

Sorry I didn't explain the set up. Yes the gauge is on the pressure side of the pump. One of the lines goes to the burner and the other goes through the needle valve back to a tee on the vacuum side of the pump. Currently I do not have a filter on the system now, but the filter would go on the tee. With the needle valve I adjust the air pressure to 11lbs to the regulator on the burner then with the regulator a final adjustment of 8 to 9lbs at the burner. Since the regulator was allready on the burner I just left they there to adjust the pressure. With my set the pump and needle valve are off to the side of the boiler and it is easier to adjust the pressure with the regulator. I think you could set your pressure with the needle valve and not use a regulator.

[Russ]

Ahh yes, I think I understand.  I am just a little confused about the needle valve returning to the suction side.  The T on the suction side has the return and then the other side of the T is just open, right?  Is there any benefit to running the excess air to the intake?

[doug]

I return the air off the needle valve  back to the vacuum side because the air has allready been filtered, it's warm and it make the pump quieter. The tee on the vacuum side normally has a filter on it, but it got plugged and I haven't replaced it yet.

[Russ]

Thanks for the info Doug.  I think I will skip the tank and run mine like that.  Instead of the needle valve, I will probably continue to use the included relief valve and see how it goes, although the needle would make it more adjustable.  The relief on my pump is fixed at 35-40 lbs.  I certainly don't need that kind of pressure to the burner and it might be easier to control it with a needle valve versus the fixed relief.  The fixed relief also doesn't have a way to connect a hose to divert to the intake or even to quiet it down.  That hisssss will get annoying after a while too.

[doug]

Russ,

When you get your air pump up and running you'll like that a whole lot better then running the shop compressor to fire your burner. I couldn't believe how much my shop compressor ran when using on the siphon set up.

[Russ]

Yes, you are correct Doug.  This compressor is so nice and quiet.  I wired up an outlet on the burner that turns on when the blower, air solenoid, etc... turns on.  It has been working perfectly.  I also added a needle valve and T'd it into the suction side.  That really quieted it down.  Not quite as quiet as a fridge compressor, but much quieter than the shop compressor.  I would recommend this to anyone running one of these burners.  That is, until I see Matts burner attached compressor... patiently waiting....  .

[doug]

I would think if you needed it quieter, you could build a box around it.