Agilent 5975C MSD Turbo Pump problem

Discussions about GC-MS, LC-MS, LC-FTIR, and other "coupled" analytical techniques.

26 posts Page 2 of 2
Can anyone share the typical regular maintenance they do on their turbopump to prevent problems? Or do you just leave the guy alone and minimize venting?
ZeroAir wrote:
Can anyone share the typical regular maintenance they do on their turbopump to prevent problems? Or do you just leave the guy alone and minimize venting?


Majority of us (incl. me) probably leave turbo pump unattended until it fails.
Of course we do our best to fulfill precautions specific to turbo pumps. See previous posts by aldehyde.
Thanks!
Hi Guys


Just to update you all. The pump (it's a Pfeiffer HiPace 80) was completely refurbed by Pfeiffer including new bearings. They turned it around in 4 days, so down time was not too bad. It had done 13K hours which is not a lot. But I have since found out the MSD is ex-demo so it may not have had a very happy previous life !

The total cost including courier delivery was £ 683 including taxes.

The quote from Agilent for replacement (they don't do repairs) was £ 6731 NOT including fitting :shock:

Pfeiffer service engineer told me they sell the pumps direct at no more than £ 3000 fitted. They also offer service contracts on the Turbo pumps for around £300 per year...

Thanks for all your help and comments

Cheers
dblux_ wrote:
aldehyde wrote:
Thats great :) just so you know the normal life time of a turbo pump is definitely NOT 18 months. I've seen systems 8+ years old still running on their original turbo.


Pfeiffer TMH071 Turbo pump installed in 5975 has bearing which have to be replaced every 3 years, as well as the lubricant reservoir (at least every year ! ) - and you won't find a word about it in Agilent manual.
If you fulfill this schedule of maintenance, turbo pump may last even 18 years.


You can reboot the smart card from the front panel of the instrument so there should be very few reasons for power cycling the whole MS (even with the smart card rebooting the AC board is still providing power to the turbo.)


Very often when in need of rebooting smart card, front panel keys are also not operational.


Thanks for the info on the turbo. I did not know this. We just had a new 5975C installed about 8 months ago. Agilent has already had to come and replace the entire CI assembly (flow controller, control board and solenoid valve) under warranty. I really do like the sensitivity and scan rate of the newer instrument but I'm still not sure it's as reliable as the 5973. We have one that it 8 years old sitting next to the 5975 and it's still running great.
~Ty~
drste73 wrote:
Hi Guys


Just to update you all. The pump (it's a Pfeiffer HiPace 80) was completely refurbed by Pfeiffer including new bearings. They turned it around in 4 days, so down time was not too bad. It had done 13K hours which is not a lot. But I have since found out the MSD is ex-demo so it may not have had a very happy previous life !

The total cost including courier delivery was £ 683 including taxes.

The quote from Agilent for replacement (they don't do repairs) was £ 6731 NOT including fitting :shock:

Pfeiffer service engineer told me they sell the pumps direct at no more than £ 3000 fitted. They also offer service contracts on the Turbo pumps for around £300 per year...

Thanks for all your help and comments

Cheers


Then you owe me a bottle of wine !


(just kidding :lol: )
Hello Everyone,

I am from the Isotope Ratio Mass Spec world, but I wanted to clarify the issue of lubricant bearings on your turbos. I too have the same turbos as in your MSD systems, Pfeiffer 071 and 262, ( we have 8 of them running in our IRMS').

These pumps have a felt wick with lubricant and ceramic bearings on the low vac side and a magnetic bearing on the high vac side. The felt wicks must be replaced annually!!! If these wicks dry out you will blow your ceramic bearing! Plus the wick helps to diagnose eventual death of a bearing, as the felts are white when they are new and eventually yellow over the year, since the ceramic bearings are made of silicon nitride or carbide, they are black, so if you find a black area on the felt, you know your bearings are wearing out...

The wicks are good for 3 years if not in use, so if you shut down the spec for a while keep that in mind, but annually when in use...

For the high vac bearings, they are not used during operation of the pump at full speed ( they are magnetically levitated) but they do see wear when you spin up and spin down the pump or if you are not at full speed. So keep in mind unnecessary venting and pump down on the turbo will cause more wear on the magnetic bearings...or if you try to run it with a large leak.


Now here is the kicker...the wicks are extremely easy to change out, plus they include new gaskets. However they are located parallel with the blades, so in the case of the 5975 they are on the bottom of the pump...this is most likely why Agilent doesnt recommend replacing the wicks as you have to remove the pump or flip the spec on its side...in the IRMS our pumps are located with the bottom facing out for easy access.

We replace the wicks every year and have not had any issues, now if and when they fail..because they will fail, you can replace the 071 bearings yourself in the field if you feel up for it, the 262 requires abit more balancing so you have to send that one in...

But with wick replacement you should prevent premature bearing failure...


Best
I just replaced the wick in my 71 turbo today. First time in 10 years. It seemed fine. I bought a bicycle tool Park Tools SPA-6 to open the cover. It costs only $18 and worked great. A few ml of oil leaked out I am wondering if that is foreline fluid though I don't recall ever seeing backstreaming on the system. Should be good for 3 more years. Pfieffer recommends every 3 years.
I just took my 5975b down to replace the detector and when I pumped back down it made a noticable high pitched whirring noise for the first 20 minutes. It got up to 100% fairly quickly though. I assume that means the ceramic bearing is nearing EOL and I should plan to send it for service. It is a Pfiefer TMH-71

I replaced the wick 2 years ago. How does the turbo pump come off? I recall seeing a bunch of bolts. Is there also a gasket/O-ring I should replace?

Edit that might be the magnetic bearing as it went away after 20 minutes since it gets levitated at full vac and rotation.
Sounds like Pfeiffer is starting to phase out parts support for the 71's. If you still have them I'd get them serviced now.

"One more thing that we should point out…Some of the parts for the 071s are no longer available for some of the pumps. We can sort this out with the serial number. If your pump is one we can’t get parts for, we will not be able to repair it. We should sort this out before you send it in so you don’t get billed for the evaluation fee ($250). ...

I can’t say for sure that we have the bearings. Once we know the serial number, we can check."

I can't get the serial number without unhooking it from the mass spec. Only the controller is visible when it is mounted.
I'm impressed how much cheaper it is to go direct to Pfeiffer than through Agilent. Good to know that.
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