HELP! Smoking pump

NoDamnBasement · Nov 14, 2012

Anyone with the Harbor Freight 2.5CFM vacuum pump have an issue with smoke coming from the air exhaust port on top of the unit when pulling a vacuum? Oil level where it should be.

vacuumpumpman · Nov 14, 2012

NoDamnBasement said:
Anyone with the Harbor Freight 2.5CFM vacuum pump have an issue with smoke coming from the air exhaust port on top of the unit when pulling a vacuum? Oil level where it should be.

That is a typicall problem with oil filled pumps !
It is best to get youself a oil free vacuum pump and you will never run into this issue again.

Wade E · Nov 14, 2012

Totally agree, go oiless! The others smoke and spit oil.

NoDamnBasement · Nov 14, 2012

Any suggestions on a pump in the $100 range, will be boxing the smoking pump back up and returning it to harbor freight tomorrow, only had it two days, used to filter 6 gallons of wine, and filled house with smoke. What a POS! Lesson learned.

dralarms · Nov 15, 2012

Well, the allinonewinepump is only 195. But well worth it. The way it is setup you can rack, filter, and bottle. I finally broke down and got one and have been kicking myself for not doing it sooner.

Wade E · Nov 15, 2012

As said above. Other then that you could get a medical aspirator on ebay but then you have to deal with getting all the other stuff together. If you go that route a schucco, contemporary, or equivalent with nw hoses and new overflow canister works great. The All In One will take up a lot less space and most of us are pressed for space in our wine making areas and dont want to go to 3 places looking for all the stuff to make an aspirator vacuum pump work but they are the next best thing and work great. I used to sell these on here complete and ready to do all but it was too much of a hassle.

UBB · Nov 15, 2012

ALLINONE and never look back. IMO it's a must have for any home wine maker.

BobF · Nov 15, 2012

I set up an aspirator pump for vacuum before the AIO was available. It works great, but was a pain getting everything together. Had the AIO been around at the time, I would have gone that route. If/when my aspirator ever gives up, that's while I'll be replacing it with.