Buying or Just Bought a Used Pneumatic Trailer?
Eliminate expensive equipment failures
Maintaining a weekly pneumatic trailer upkeep and maintenance program will extend the life of your equipment and help to maximize your delivery of full customer loads.
Pneumatic trailer equipment failure is most times due to inadequate attention paid to ensuring that subsystems are working properly and are not plugged up with product.
Typically, a trailer operator gets a warning sign that something is wrong when a blower heat plug pops or the blower itself becomes way too hot or seizes up and fails, cooked from the inside. Don’t allow that to happen to Y-O-U!
1. Check Gauge Line Fittings
Remove fitting from blow down pipe and remove line from gauge and clean out. Plugging can cause blower relief valve to pop, burn out blower heat plug, or burn up and crack the tank.
2. Check Gauges
Inspect to ensure that tank gauges are not plugged up. Plugging can cause blower RV to pop, burn out blower heat plug, or burn up and crack the tank.
3. Check Trailer Relief Valve
Remove and pressure test the relief valve. Plugging can cause blower RV to pop, burn out blower heat plug, or burn up and crack the tank.
4. Inspect Check Valves
Remove and inspect. Ensure that flapper is sealing; sometimes the flapper comes loose and wedges in hot air line and can cause the blower to overheat and seize up, the blower RV to pop, burn out the blower heat plug, or cause the trailer to pressure up and unload slowly.
5. Inspect Pads
If trailer has pads, inspect them and ensure that they are not plugged up. If trailer has flo cones, inspect them for wear, holes, or splits. Can lead to slower pressure building in the tank. Can cause the RV to pop when attempting to build tank pressure, heat plug could melt, or blower could overheat and seize up. If trailer has flo cones, check the small hoses around each hopper while you are unloading to see if they are hot. If they are cold, they are plugged up. If trailer has pads, check each hose to see if it is hot. If cold, they are also plugged up.
6. Inspect Butterfly Valves
The disk in the butterfly valve will wear off, keeping it from shutting off properly. The seat could crack or tear, also keeping it shutting off properly. This sometimes causes you to lose tank pressure or lead to a plugged up product line.
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REFERENCE: KERLEY & SEARS TRAILER MAINTENANCE