Log splitter question

[moeh1]

Make sure your return line goes down into the tank far enough that the fluid covers it to prevent foaming.

 

[cwarrix]

I drained the tank and filled it back up with fresh fluid, but I didn't purge the lines and pump. Plus, I'm not sure if I got all of the fluid in the tank to be honest. Thanks for the tips, I'll get the pump info tomorrow and figure out what size tank I need. I found a couple of air compressor tanks (8 gal) on eBay close to home and something like $5. If I can get something like that to work, the price is certainly right!

Thanks Again! Happy Holidays!

 

[cwarrix]

Thanks Marty, is it better, or will it work, to just connect the return line to the bottom of the tank? Actually, I think that might be how it is now.

Happy Holidays!

 

[rswyan]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I found a couple of air compressor tanks (8 gal) on eBay close to home and something like $5. If I can get something like that to work, the price is certainly right! )</font>
If they are used be sure to clean out any rust that might be inside.

 

[cwarrix]

Good point about the rust, I didn't think of that. Guess that would cause me even more problems. The ebay ad says "no rust" but who knows. Here is the link if anyone is interested: web page

The small tank that is on it now is made from flat steel... maybe I could somebody that can weld better than me to weld an extension on the existing one. If I go with the compressor tank, I'll have to worry about fittings and all of that... Maybe I should bite the bullet and just buy a new tank like this one New Tank

There is a huge difference in price though $5 and no shipping or $60-$80 with shipping.

Decisions, decisions /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[kennyd]

The SurplusCenter has some nice tanks, and they are a great company to deal with.

 

[BigEddy]

My bet is water in the oil. The water will sit under the oil until the oil temperature rises above boiling, then it will start to boil off. Because there is a layer of oil on top of it - it will spit and spurt terribly.

At the same time - I think the resevoir may be too small. Rule of thumb is 1 gal fluid for every gpm of the pump - A standard 8hp engine / pump combination is good for about 16gpm - but most commercial splitters seem to hold about 5gal fluid.

I'd put a filter in the line, change the fluids and make sure you have a good vent cap on it - then see how it goes. Worst you'd have to cool off for a while every hour or so. You can add a second resevoir in series instead of changing it out - if you keep them at the same level.

 

[joetrausch]

There is no mention of pump flow rate in gallons per minute. Since the engine is 18 hp, I think that your flow rate is much greater than 2 gpm. Minumum tank size is a ratio of 1/1 (1 gallon of tank size for each gallon per minute of pump flow). You probably have introduced air into the oil, which causes the oil volume in the tank to "expand" (bubbles in the oil). You need a larger tank. Get me the model number off of the hydraulic pump and I'll help you with this. And yes, you must have a vent in the fill cap on the reservoir or atmospheric pressure cannot push oil into the pump.

Anyway, please get back to me with the pump numbers, and we'll go from there. I assume the engine is running at 3000 rpm or slightly more, is that right?

Joe

 

[Clyde]

I have a log splitter with it's own engine, pump, and cylinder. Instead of hauling out the logs, I take the log splitter to them and split them into manageable chunks. The terrain isn't always even when I start splitting and this one time, I was setup with the reservoir filler cap/vent lower than rest of the unit. All was fine until I retracted the cylinder after splitting the piece of wood. Obviously air filled the reservoir with no way to escape and the oil blew off the vent cap and tossed it 10 foot in the air. The splitter was fairly new and obviously I had overfilled the reservoir with oil. Now I make certain that the filler cap is always higher than than the rest of the unit. So far - no problems. It is obviously a design flaw and I really don't know how to rectify it without expensive revisions. In the meantime I live with blocking the wheel up to make sure it is always higher than the other wheel. I hope this might help with possibly another idea.

Clyde

 

[cwarrix]

Thanks for all of the tips, it has given me a lot of ideas about what the problem could be. As for water in the oil, when I bought the splitter, it didn't have a cap on it. I drained the tank and refilled it, but I'm sure I didn't get everything out of the lines, etc. so that makes sense that it could have water still in there. I'll try to get the model number for joetrausch to check out, or maybe it will have the GPM on the pump somewhere. I haven't had time (during the daylight) to look at it lately. I also owe you guys some pictures of this ugly thing /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I was looking online at splitters from TSC and noticed that most of the larger ones had 5-8 gallon resevoirs on them so I'm pretty sure I'm way undersized there. Still trying to find a low cost solution to a bigger tank. I was thinking of a new air compressor tank. I'd probably have to weld some fittings on it though. When you consider the time involved, I might just break down and buy a new resevoir from Northern. I looked at the stuff the other day online. Looks like I could get a new 10 gal tank, filter, and a strainer for a little over $100 plus shipping. Not bad I guess, I'd still have less than $400 in the whole thing. Can't touch a new one for that /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif