Everlast Cooler and Weldcraft CS310

[Rambozo]

Blue line is not rated for that much pressure....different material too if it's the one I am thinking about. Don't swap.

Sorry, I'm used to older Weldcraft torches and hoses, and they use the same part number for the water feed hose and the argon hose. I guess these are different. Do you advise him to replace the argon hose to insure there is no contamination? Do you have a procedure for him to get it all cleaned out? I know where I used to work if that happened we would be required to toss that hose.

[performance]

Well, if he is not at work, he can do as he pleases. It will depend upon what kind and how much coolant he has used. The manual is pretty clear with procedures how to determine and check. I am not sure he read all the information provided. No, we don't have any procedure, nor should we. If it is only water, then there shouldn' t be any issues once dried out. If it was the water cooler type antifreeze with water, then I suggest flushing it with more water since water was the carrier, then drying it thoroughly.

I doubt there will be any serious long term issues if it is flushed and dried completely...unless he is building the new spaceX rocket.

[kumaichi]

I ran straight coolant through it. You are correct, I saw the picture and saw a blue line and I ASSUMED incorrectly.

"ARGON GAS LINE SHOULD BE TAGGED AS “Ar”. IF NOT, TAKE DRY, COM-PRESSED AIR AND GENTLY BLOW THROUGH THE LINES TO DISCOVER WHICH LINE EXHAUSTS THROUGH THE TORCH OR THROUGH THE RE-TURN LINE. ON SOME TORCHES, THE WATER LINES ARE COLOR CODED: BLUE FOR COOL WATER SUPPLY AND RED FOR HOT WATER RETURN. COOLER FITTINGS SHOULD BE COLOR CODED BLUE AND RED AS WELL."

I think the above instructions are a little ambiguous. In my case, there was no tag marked "Ar" and I had a blue line, which above states that, "On some torches, the water lines are color coded: Blue for cool water supply". I did not go through the compressed air steps because I had a blue line. I am surprised this doesn't happen more often, all three hoses have the exact same connector, I would think I'm not the only one who looked at the diagram in the manual and thought, hey, I have a blue line, that must be the output because the fitting on the cooler is blue.

It might be helpful to place something in bold with an asterisk letting the user know that just because their torch might have a blue line, that doesn't mean it should be plugged into the blue cooler connector, just in case there are people out there that don't have the means to blow compressed air through it. Just my $0.02.

Anyway, it all seems to be working, I haven't tried to weld anything with it yet so I don't know how much of a contamination issue I'm going to have. How does one run water through the hoses to flush them out if the cooler already has coolant in it? Empty the cooler, fill it with water and mix up the hoses again to rinse out the gas line? What's the procedure for emptying the cooler, flip it upside down and drain it through the filler hole?

Thanks again for the help.

[Rambozo]

I agree it would be nice if they wouldn't use the exact same connector for the water as for the argon, but I understand that from a cost prospective they only want to stock one type of part.

For my 2¢ if it was me, I would just cobble up some kind of connection to a garden hose or even just hold it up to a tap with your hand. Run water through it until it comes out clear. Then do something similar with air at low pressure to dry it out. If you have moisture in the hose, and try to weld aluminum, you will know in a big hurry if you didn't get it dry enough.