cheap oil lubed vacuum pump for degassing

[wood1954]

I thought i would try an $80 vacuum pump from Harbor Freight to degass my wine and it turned out pretty bad. It does a good job creating a vacuum however it spewed a fine oil mist all over the place. It made my basement smell like a machine shop. I am taking it back today and then I'm hoping to buy the setup from the Vacuum pump guy here on the website. When will i learn. always trying to save a buck.

 

[Schuetzen]

Always allow for the cost of the gas to return it on anything you buy from Harbor Freight.

 

[Kev]

Pump

I thought i would try an $80 vacuum pump from Harbor Freight to degass my wine and it turned out pretty bad. It does a good job creating a vacuum however it spewed a fine oil mist all over the place. It made my basement smell like a machine shop. I am taking it back today and then I'm hoping to buy the setup from the Vacuum pump guy here on the website. When will i learn. always trying to save a buck.

I made the same mistake. You need an oil less vacuum pump. Min of 1 CFM, and the ability to pull over 20 inches of mercury to degass.

Once you have one of those, it is also easy to add an inexpensive filter set up.

This is the one I have.

http://valleyvintner.com/Merchant2/...de=TVV&Product_Code=VB-10-2005&Category_Code=

 

[Mat_890]

Did you take off the right part of the exhaust cap? There are actually 2 pieces to the cap, one is plastic and one is rubber (if you have the one I do from HF). Your supposed to keep the plastic part on and only remove the rubber part. Sorry if you already knew that, but I went months before a friend pointed it out. It was the source of my oil problems.

Best of luck if you decide to return it.

 

[wood1954]

vacuum pump

I didn't know that. There is a cap on top that says "air" with an arrow on it that i turned one way or another it didn't seem to make any difference and of course no good instructions came with it.

 

[wood1954]

Thanks for the info. How quiet is it?

 

[Lurker]

My Harbor Freight pump is oil lubed. My wife or I have never smelled or seen oil. The pump is great and will easily pull 28 inches which I never do. One time when bottling with it, I allowed wine to get into the pump through the vacuum side. My big error. I changed the oil and have had no problem since. Actually the wine and oil never come together. The problem was with the inattentive operator (Me) not the pump. The pump is quiet too. Since using it to filter, rack and bottle I have never had to de-gas. What a good tool.

Richard L.

 

[wood1954]

Well i must have been doing something wrong. Of course there isn't anyone at HF to talk to because they are all just clerks. Too bad i don't know enough about vacuum pumps because it was on sale for $80

 

[Lurker]

Well i must have been doing something wrong. Of course there isn't anyone at HF to talk to because they are all just clerks. Too bad i don't know enough about vacuum pumps because it was on sale for $80

That's about what I paid for mine.

Richard L.

 

[Wade E]

Wood, if you arent creating a vacuum the gauge will not move. If you close the vacuum end and turn it on and then turn that adjustment knob thats when you should see different #'s.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I thought i would try an $80 vacuum pump from Harbor Freight to degass my wine and it turned out pretty bad. It does a good job creating a vacuum however it spewed a fine oil mist all over the place. It made my basement smell like a machine shop. I am taking it back today and then I'm hoping to buy the setup from the Vacuum pump guy here on the website. When will i learn. always trying to save a buck.

I also in the early stages tried the harbor freight vacuum pump and I too got an oil mist throught the room. It was also clumbsy due to trying to attach an overflow cannister to it. It also seem to pull an extreme amount of vacuum - I was afraid that I would stress the glass more by using it.

thanks steve