Air/Water Purge

[Fred Cook]

When we purchased our coach a few years ago, I was able to push the purge button on the Air/Water Separator and it would do a purge cycle. Now it does nothing when pushed.  So I have two questions.... does the separator automatically purge when driving down the road? And... why does mine not purge anymore when I push the buttons?

[Mike Shumack]

Fred, are you talking about the water "Drain" button on the Racor fuel filter housing?

I have not seen a purge button for the air system. Normal operation of the air dryer is that it purges any water in it each time the compressor reaches the pressure cut off (around 125 to 130 psi). That "pssshhhh" you hear under the coach is also purging the air dryer.

If you have a button for this - I have not seen this. Where is the button located? Maybe I'll learn something new.

[Fred Cook]

Fred, are you talking about the water "Drain" button on the Racor fuel filter housing?

I have not seen a purge button for the air system. Normal operation of the air dryer is that it purges any water in it each time the compressor reaches the pressure cut off (around 125 to 130 psi). That "pssshhhh" you hear under the coach is also purging the air dryer.

If you have a button for this - I have not seen this. Where is the button located? Maybe I'll learn something new.

I am referring to the fuel water separator. There is an H2O purge and a air purge button. I used to push H2O separator and it would cycle through as one could see it cycling through the clear glass cylinder. Now it does nothing when pushed. I am wondering it it might broke or there may be a fuse somewhere or.... possibly nothing to worry about.

[Mike Shumack]

My Racor system only has a drain button. That only works when the ignition switch is On. The air purge is just a Schrader valve one manually depresses. However I removed the Racor system and replaced with a CAT fuel/water separator because the Racor is a known source of air leaks (air in the fuel).

Does your setup look like this?

[Frank Bergamo]

Fred,

Have you tried the air purge side of the system? Could it be that there is no water in separator, so no activation of pump? I believe the same pump works for both air or water purge. Hope this helps.

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

There are Racor Fuel Filter manuals in Coach Assist.
Steve

[Eric Maclean]

Fred
The water purge uses a sensor at the bottom of the bowl to tell the controller that there is water in the bowl with out water in the bowl the controller will not initiate a water purge cycle.
The sensor has two wires connected to it one is grounded and the other is the sensor wire which runs to the controller it you simply disconnect the sensor plug and jump the two terminals on the harness them push the H2O purge button the system should run a purge cycle ( be prepared to catch the fuel it will pump out).

PS I have seen two of these units where the wire which controls the purge solenoid was broken inside the housing requiring the unit to be dismantled to repair the broKen wire pretty straight forward.

Hope this helps
Eric

[Fred Cook]

Fred
The water purge uses a sensor at the bottom of the bowl to tell the controller that there is water in the bowl with out water in the bowl the controller will not initiate a water purge cycle.
The sensor has two wires connected to it one is grounded and the other is the sensor wire which runs to the controller it you simply disconnect the sensor plug and jump the two terminals on the harness them push the H2O purge button the system should run a purge cycle ( be prepared to catch the fuel it will pump out).

PS I have seen two of these units where the wire which controls the purge solenoid was broken inside the housing requiring the unit to be dismantled to repair the broKen wire pretty straight forward.

Hope this helps
Eric

So what you are saying is.... even though I push the button it will not activate unless there is water detected at the bottom of the bowl, right?

[Frank Bergamo]

That is correct. Try the air purge side. If you hear the pump running, then all is good. Hope this helps.

[Fred Cook]

That is correct. Try the air purge side. If you hear the pump running, then all is good. Hope this helps.

Nope... the air purge doesn’t work when I the button. So I’m thinking something has got to be wrong.

[Frank Bergamo]

Fred,

Did you hold Schrader valve open when pushing button? Here is a link explaining your setup and an alternative primary fuel setup that may help you. http://beaveramb.org/forum/index.php/topic,5598.0.html   Hope this helps.

[Fred Brooks]

  Fred,
I found this in our technical section under Racor. Note the item just above #6 is an in-line glass fuse holder. Not sure where that is located on your coach but must be near by, Fred

[Frank Bergamo]

Nice catch Fred. Hopefully that is his problem.

[Eric Maclean]

Fred the system needs 12 volts to operate in my coach the ignition switch has to be turned on to operate the system.
Fred the illustration your looking at is of the old filter which had a build in filter the connector you referred to is actually just the connection to the sensor in the fuel filter .
If the pump won't run even in the air purge mode I would be checking for 12 volt power and ground to the control box
The coach assist library has a couple of articles in it that can help you see the wiring for the Raycor unit

Eric

[Fred Cook]

  Fred,
I found this in our technical section under Racor. Note the item just above #6 is an in-line glass fuse holder. Not sure where that is located on your coach but must be near by, Fred

Fred, I opened that, or what appears to be a fuse holder and it does not contain a fuse. It’s just a male/female connection. There is no fuse anywhere that I can find.