Robinair vacuum pump

[thessler]

Hi
Robinair sells a model " 15500 5 cfm Vacumaster ".
I was thinking about buying one. But the price at $ 169. seems pretty cheap. I was wondering if anyone has one or has experiance with one that can give a thumbs up or down.
I don't want to buy junk, so I am a little coutious about a cheap price.
Thanks, Tom

[trippintl0]

Works great for me. Pulls down quick, easy to change oil. Only bad thing is after being run over by a truck, the plastic handle broke. Still vacuums fine, had to zip-tie handle back together. Will order new handle. Have used for a little over 1 year.

[itsiceman]

I don't want to buy junk, so I am a little coutious about a cheap price.
Thanks, TomI was told once that all the vacuum pumps MIC have the heat sink on the motor like that if that makes a difference to you.

[cjett]

I've used nothing but Robinair for over 30 years and they have always been trouble free. I do change the oil after every use or two like you should with any brand. I could recommend this brand with no reservations what so ever.

[thessler]

Thanks for the positive replys. I,ll order one.
Tom

[itsiceman]

I've used nothing but Robinair for over 30 years and they have always been trouble free. I do change the oil after every use or two like you should with any brand. I could recommend this brand with no reservations what so ever.
This pump doesn't look like older stuff from Robinair.
It looks exactly like the one they sell at Harbor Freight and you could probably get a better deal from them with out the designer tag :.02:

[worknfool]

Recent Harbor Fright "Inside Track" club special:
2.5 cfm vacuum pump (that does in fact look exactly like the Robinair) for something like $79. They also look like the same units sold on FeeBay under the Viot name, albeit at a slightly higher price than the HF units. Until recently I used to get away with using their ubiquitous 20 & 25% off coupons on top of their sale price and use the extra savings to buy their extended warranties. A good rule of thumb with them is; if your life or livelihood depends on it...probably should look somewhere else. If you don't mind rollin' the dice, they do stand behind their warranties (a great thing as long as you don't value your time or mind having to go back to the store to return and exchange stuff).

I might consider one of their pumps if it was cheap enough to buy a pair so that a back-up was immediately on hand, but then it's just one more thing to drag around in your truck. I'm presently going through the same mental battle myself over a 6 cfm pump, (JB, YJ,...?).

[thessler]

Hi
After comparing them it does seem Robinair just put their name on a pump that seems to be in every store under a different name. I'm thinking get quality and stay away from these. I almost orderd one but changed on it. Don't need headaches or returns.
Thanks, Tom

[itsiceman]

Are you sure you need a 5 cfm pump?
You should be using large diameter hoses with any pump but
one way to save money is to get the right size pump running big hoses.
A 1.5 or 3 cfm would be fine for most stuff :.02:

[thessler]

Yeah I agree I don't need a 5 cfm. The price looked good so I thought I would just get it. Now i'll just get a smaller pump with a track record.
Tom

[dcoolair]

I used to think Robinair was good but the last 2 pumps I had were a total POS! Most of the time I changed the oil after every use.
Customer service is a joke too. They wont sell you the vanes to repair and thats what is usually wrong with it. Might as well buy a new pump rather than send it to them for repair.

Solution:

Buy yellow jacket. They sell parts including the vanes for repair. Ill never buy anything but Yellow Jacket pumps again. So far I havent had any problems with the Yellow Jacket but its nice to know that when I do I can order new vanes or whatever I need. Fergusons can order them for sure and Im sure others can too.

[thessler]

dcoolair
Funny you should mention that, I just bought a 4cfm yellow jacket.
I think I made the right move.
Thanks, Tom

[dcoolair]

No problem, I think you will be very pleased with it.

I just did a quick seach on ebay for the vanes and found them. So you can see how easy it is to get parts for it without having to send the pump off for repair. A heck of a lot cheaper too.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170577348945&hlp=false

[jthomley]

I have the Robinair and works fine.

[dcoolair]

Bound to be one or two out there that work. :grin2:

[Rcb2875]

I have been using a 5 CFM Viot for a few years and it has worked fine. No problems pulling 500 microns at all. Have never gone any further than that really as I didn't feel like I needed to.

I Have had the feeling that since it wasn't a "major" brand that it might fail at any moment but it hasn't and just does the job fast and effortlessly. Was actually telling my wife today that I would be ordering a new pump to have on stand by. I have back up pieces of every other tool but the vacuum pump and recovery unit. Buying the 6 CFM two stage Viot or the 5 CFM Robinair unit similar to what you described if not the exact unit.

[Fatstogey]

I have the 15600.

Onlyh problem i had was when it fell outta the truck. But i was able to just unscrew the motor and screw it back in and realign the motor with the pump and it was good to go.

And with my core removers and large hoses and vacuum manifold i can pull down to 2-300 in bout 5-10 minutes easy on any thing resi.

[Paul Bee]

All three commercial hvac companies I have worked for only buy JB vacuum pumps. Draw your own conclusions.

[JumpSteady]

My friend has used the robinair 15500 5 cfm Vacumaster for many years. It still pumps down fine. But the switch did go out on it and he replaced it with a different switch. Personally I would have just twisted the wires together and used the plug as my switch. I would agree that this model looks cheap, but then again it is cheap and performs well.

I have the robinair 15600 6 CFM Vacuum Pump, used it for many years without issue. I do like that it has a valve you can close before you turn it off to hold vacuum.

Another friend has the JB 6 CFM and I like that it's all metal construction. I don't like that it doesnt have the valve, but then again it's probably just one more thing that could tear up.

The yellow jackets look good too, but I have no experience with their pumps. Judging by my yellow jacket manifold gauges and tubing cutters I would expect their vacuum pumps are high quality. They sell a good looking 7 cfm model at my local supply house but that seems kinda overkill.

[kdb4]

I have a robinair 15434 4cfm. I has the 'open' and 'close' blue handle on the side, but it doesn't hold the vacuum/pressure, it never did. So I use a ball valve on my micron gauge hose to isolate it from the pump, when I reach 400 something microns, I valve off with the ball valve, because if I use the robinair valve, my micron gauge takes right off.

I called robinair support and they said it should shut off and hold vacuum/pressure, so I ordered a $50 kit to replace the o-rings in the blue handle open/close valve, nothing changed, still doesn't hold a vacuum, so I still use the ball valve. Also I was hoping it would get me down to 200 or 300 microns but I've never seen it below 450, even connected to my recovery tank just after an oil change. It could be my vg64 gauge is wonky, I don't have anything else to check it with. Sometimes it won't go down below 1100 or 1200, so I don't know if its the pump or the vg64.

I picked up an old 1970's 'thermal technology 1825Z' vacuum pump from a retired guy, he said it never failed him and they would go through new pumps all the time, and his old 'thermal' would always pick up the work. Even used it to clean fluid out of geothermal units when the heat exchangers would fail and flood the refrigerant system. In the manual it says to use vacuum pump oil or mobil-1 synthetic. What? Never heard of that, anyone ever heard of using synthetic auto/engine oil in a vacuum pump?

[kdb4]

I figured it out....

I was getting frustrated trying to pull a vacuum with the robinair 15434, I had a VG64 micron gauge and also bought an sman3 and I couldn't pull a deep vacuum under about 1000 to 1500 microns with either gauge. I read about it but I couldn't get my equipment to do it.

I bought a new JB DV-142n and using the JB DV22 stainless 12" hose or the JB D10244 Deep vacuum F/F swivel adapter with the gauge on the end I could get to 25 microns real fast. I finally saw the micron gauge working. The VG64 and the sman3 track very close in their readings, one reason I bought the sman3 was because I thought the VG64 may not be working right and I didn't have another micron gauge.

The robinair I have has 1/4 and 5/16 fittings on the tree, the 5/16 had a F/F union on it, one end on the tree and the other with a screw in cap on it. By chance I took it off and put my finger over the hole, the vacuum immediately dropped to 25 microns. Crazy, all this time that makeshift cap was leaking. The robinair pump is fine.

Now I've got two micron gauges and two vacuum pumps that work great.