Daily Dropmaster™ DM12 Maintenance
By Grant Lobdell, President, Dyne Fire Protection Labs
Like any tool, proper maintenance is essential for ensuring the longevity and optimal performance of the Dropmaster DM12. Regular upkeep not only prevents unexpected breakdowns but also enhances efficiency, safety, and overall reliability. By adhering to the daily maintenance practices below, you can minimize costly repairs while extending the lifespan of your unit.
- Clean the strainer.
There is a Y-strainer on the suction side of the unit that is designed to capture debris collected along with the water from the sprinkler system. While the discharge pump inside the drum can handle up to ½” solids, such debris would cause extra wear and tear on the pump leading to a potentially shorter life span.
What’s more, this debris could get stuck in the check valve on the discharge side when pumped out. This can prevent the check valve from properly closing/sealing, allowing some of your vacuum to escape on the discharge side where it will negatively impact performance. Typically, this debris will be cleared the next time the pump discharges but in extreme cases it may be necessary to clear or even replace the check valve as a result.
This strainer should be cleaned at least daily during regular use. If the sprinkler system being drained is particularly full of debris, cleaning more frequently may be needed. If you are experiencing little to no vacuum at the drops despite the unit showing the appropriate vacuum on its gauge, you could simply have a clogged strainer.
- Drain the drum.
After using the Dropmaster DM12, there will always be some water left in the drum. The discharge pump only kicks on when the drum is a little over half full and kicks off before it starts to pump air. How much water left in the drum depends on where the unit was in that cycle when it was turned off. No matter how much water is left in there, that extra water can accelerate corrosion of all components in the drum.
You don’t want to be traveling down the road with a significant amount of water in the drum either. While rare, the sloshing back and forth of a large enough amount of water can produce enough force to dislodge the indestructible float (designed to dislodge instead of break) on the discharge pump. The hassle of removing the drum reassembly to replace the float can be avoided by simply ensuring the drum is always drained before transit.
For those of you in cold climates, you also must be conscious about any remaining water freezing and potentially damaging the components inside the drum.
For these reasons, you should always drain the drum at the end of each use.
- Drain the muffler.
The vacuum head that powers your Dropmaster DM12 is designed to constantly pass a little bit of oil through it to keep the vanes inside moving freely. The oil that is pushed out of the vacuum is collected in the bottom of the muffler. Failure to drain the muffler could result in the muffler overfilling and then spraying oil behind the unit.
To avoid this mess, always drain the oil from the muffler after each use.
- Check the oil level on the vacuum head and top it off with new oil as needed.
As mentioned before, the vacuum head that powers your Dropmaster DM12 is designed to constantly pass a little bit of oil through it to keep the vanes inside moving freely. The supply of oil to be flowed through your vacuum head can be found in a reservoir above it. The C-shaped poly tube toward the backside of the unit acts as a level gauge. You want to keep the level of oil in reservoir such that the level of oil in that poly tube is always in the middle. Anymore and the unit will use more oil than it needs to. Any less and the unit won’t get enough oil, leading to poor performance and extra wear and tear on the vanes inside.
Check the oil level daily and top it off with new 10W-30 oil as needed. Do not re-use the oil collected from the muffler. This used oil can have debris in it which would also lead to poor performance and extra wear and tear on the vacuum head.
Additional information can be found in the Dropmaster DM12 Manual and YouTube page.
If you have any questions regarding this article, please contact Dyne Fire Protection Labs at sales@dyneusa.com or (800)632-2304.
©Dyne Fire Protection Labs 2024
