Bandit Overheating Problems

[firewisejeff]

I just purchased a new Bandit 1590 tracked chipper. The radiators are getting clogged with dust and dirt and overheating the unit, shutting it down twice a day. I have tried (per the dealer's suggestion) sealing off the dead space around the raditaor housing and adding furnace filters in front of the radiators, neither of which have helped. The only remedy is a power washer to clean the radiators out twice a day. Any other ideas? Has anyone tried reversible fans to blow the debry out? Hard having this much down time on a new unit!

 

[newsawtooth]

Dust Control

You might look at dust control in the form of an add on unit that sprays water into the drum to keep the dust down. Morbark has them, I have not seen them on Bandits. If you are chipping dead material they can be really helpful for the machine and the employees.

 

[2dogs]

Our Bandit can clog the radiator prescreen pretty quickly if the wind is blowing material bacl towqard the chipper. Obviously chipping onto a truck does not cause this problem. (With a new Vermeer I ran for a few days this summer the fan blew air down and created a dust storm. Vermeers just don't work well in the woods, they work fine on the pavement.) Is your dust from discharged material or from the ground? Window screen IFO the pre-screen can help but you have to clean regularly.

You may want to post this in the heavy equipment forum too.

 

[firewisejeff]

The dust is coming from the chipped material. Yes lots of dead material, and even with sharp knives. How does the water introduction system work? When we are chipping green material it is not as much of an issue, so a temporary system that we used while working with dead materail might work. Any other advice?

 

[treeclimber101]

Does the fan push or pull the air towards or pu#### away from the engine , because that makes a huge difference ?

 

[newsawtooth]

The system is just a tank and a compressor that sprays a light mist into the shroud. The dealer claimed Morbark started using the system because some users were chipping car parts and they needed a way to keep the heat down. Don't know if I buy it, it works for keeping the dust down though. You may be able to retrofit a hose that points to the feed wheel so you don't have to drill any holes in the machine. No matter how good someone claims their equipment to be, chipping acres of bone dry beetle killed pine like around here, is pretty hard on air intake systems. I think you have to address the cause of the dust not the symptoms. Which motor do you have, the CAT or the DEERE?

 

[firewisejeff]

Treeclimber - the fan pulls air through the radiators and then pushes it towards the engine, but the radiators are the problem.

Newsawtooth - the engine is the cat 130hp. we are very familiar with spray equipment as we spray for beetles as well in the spring. i have another scheduled conversation about this with the local bandit dealer today. but so far their advice has been less than stellar. they are new to the bandit line of chippers and haven't seen many. seems easy enough to introduce water into the throat of the chipper, just wondering about sub-zero temperatures this winter.

has anyone tried a reversible fan? seems like a valid approach???

 

[newsawtooth]

You are probably right, the fans seem like the cleanest approach. I looked at a few companies on the inter-nets and it seems like a good idea. They just replace the stock fan? And then you can change the angle of attack of the blades to reverse thrust? Clever. Good luck