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Author Topic: Water circulator alert Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 05-27-2005 07:31 PM                     I am using Strong water circulators with Kinoton projectors. Before I go any farther, yes I know..."never buy anything from Wrong International". Given the price of the Kinoton circulators, I figured that since the Strong units are just a freakin' bucket and pump that even Strong couldn't screw that up. What a mistake that was! So anyway even though these Strong circulators are only a few months old, I have already had 2 failures between 12 brand new units! The question now is has anyone devised some sort of failsafe alert for a water circulator that stops pumping? I am open to all ideas, as a 1 in 6 failure rate is pathetic...and they are still NEW!  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-27-2005 07:58 PM                     quote: Brad Miller ..."never buy anything from Wrong International". Yes a Weak Company for sure...... We build our own circulators for ALOT less than even the Kinoton costs you. We use an excellent pump, a heat exchanger with fan on a 15 gallon blue PVC tank. This keeps the gates at about what ever the room temperature is plus a little. There are photos someplace on this site of them. I suggest that you build our own, servicing down the road would also be ALOT easier and faster but none have failed so far. If you need a parts list just call. There are water pressure switches available from Graingers that will work for this application. The DP-70's originally came from the factory with a water pressure switch built into the base. It was far more critical in the days of Carbon Arc and Silver Jaws. Mark  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 05-27-2005 08:11 PM                     Can you recommend a specific one from Grainger so I can see exactly what you are referring to? I assume it is nothing more than a make or break circuit?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-27-2005 08:16 PM                     Brad, I will look and see later tonight..... someone else may beat me to it. Yes, It was a DPST unit as I remember. We considered it but the pumps we use have yet to fail and there is so little evaporation. Found three that would work depending on the static water pressure...... Pressure Switch 1 Switch 2 Switch 3 Mark  |  IP: Logged Dennis Udovich Film Handler Posts: 71 From: Sheboygan, WI, USA Registered: Dec 2001 posted 05-27-2005 09:42 PM                        Interesting. I have a Strong water circulator for a Simplex Millennium projector with a 4K lamp that has been in use for five years with no problems. (Knock on wood).  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-27-2005 10:43 PM                     quote: Dennis Udovich I have a Strong water circulator for a Simplex Millennium projector with a 4K lamp that has been in use for five years with no problems. (Knock on wood). I think you meant to say "Knock On Strong".....Water circulator it is but cool the water it does not. The water gets hotter and hotter it does. Mark  |  IP: Logged Steven C Y Chan Film Handler Posts: 16 From: Hong Kong, HKSAR Registered: Jan 2005 posted 05-27-2005 11:10 PM                        we had put one waterproof microswitch with a metal plate wedding on it, (just like the air-ven safety), we cut the return water tube a little bit so it is rise from water level, when the pump is working, the water falls on the plate and keep it on, if it is off, it short and start a alram. These is what we had done before.....we now using 2 from strong and one from local, which with a UK pump, only things is the water inside turn milkly and frog in the strong one. All we using still haven't fault before. (but only 2 years). touch wood  |  IP: Logged Pete Naples Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1565 From: Dunfermline, Scotland Registered: Feb 2001 posted 05-28-2005 05:02 AM                     Agrreed, we've seen a lot of failures of the pumps used in the Strong coolers. However it's easily fixed by visiting the DIY warehouse that is inevitably situated alongside modern multiplex cinemas, and getting a garden pond pump of suitable capacity. All the ones I've replaced with pumps from B&W have run fine since. As said above you can easily make them yourself using a big bucket, pump and hose from the DIY places. Flow sensors are available from suppliers in the UK, Radio Spares have such things, but cheap they are not.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 05-28-2005 09:45 AM                     Has anyone considered a gate thermistat/alarm circuit? I don't know if it would be practical (I'm curious), but that way your alarm could be based on what you really want to know (is the gate overheating?) instead of one of many possible causes (e.g. pump is working fine but water is too hot). Why do Strong's circulators fail, anyhow? Duty cycle issues? Heat? --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 05-28-2005 01:38 PM                     ...find some old Motiograph water circulators that plug in the wall and run continually. These work great! Just use distilled water in these can so to keep down the mineral buildup.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 05-28-2005 02:49 PM                     I think one of the problems of the Strong circulator is that the pumps they use depend on the water to cool it...in an outdoor setting...this is quite reasonable...in a theatre...the water is just going to get hotter. Before Strong aquired Century, they had a decent circulator...it used a TEEL pump that sat outside of the tank...then there was an impeller that stuck down in the tank just below the water line...thus sediment could settle and not be pumped around. We have had very few problems with these, so long as the water is changed every so often (I tend to use straight distilled and change more often, than to put anti-freeze in it and create a water hazard...plus I've never liked the results of antifreeze...it is like trading one problem for another. I know one guy that uses washer fluid. Kinoton has a nifty chemical that has the good properties of anti-freeze (keep bacteria from growing), plus a lubricant for the pump and is clear....hoses stay clear with it (even after years of use). It is freekin expensive though. Also, Kinoton uses a flow meter on their 35/70 machines...no water flow...no worky projector. The arrangement they are using now is the Century design.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-28-2005 04:15 PM                     The "Wrong International" circulators around here in the Cineplex theatres are all just based on a tank of water and a "Silent Giant" pump..... about as cheap and unreliable as it gets. I wouldn't trust an aquarium full of fish to one of those pumps. Mark  |  IP: Logged Jon Morgan Film Handler Posts: 60 From: Raleigh, NC Registered: Mar 2005 posted 05-28-2005 05:59 PM                     We replaced our broken down ones with garden pumps from Home Depot. They were very reasonably priced and we've been running them on six screens for over six months with absolutely no problems.  |  IP: Logged Dick Twentyman Film Handler Posts: 21 From: Highton, Victoria, Australia, Registered: Oct 2004 posted 05-29-2005 04:42 AM                  Brad, In general, using a vane operated flow switch is a safer option than a pressure switch to detect a cooling failure. In the case of a blockage, pressure can still be high but without coolant flow, so the pressure switch thinks that all is well. Some systems I have seen use both flow switch, backed up by a temperature sensor.  |  IP: Logged Thomas Jonsson Expert Film Handler Posts: 216 From: Bromolla, Sweden Registered: Sep 2003 posted 05-29-2005 03:22 PM                       Lots of theaters seems to use circulation systems. Is this for practical reasons instead of connecting to the house water pipes? Are these units having some kind of cooling system to prevent the water from getting worm? Thomas  |  IP: Logged

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