New here and having trouble

[djnagle]

I've been stick and MIG welding for years at the hobby level. I wanted to get into TIG welding so I bought a Dialarc HF 250 with the Coolmate 3 on top. I just now got it all set up and put new antifreeze it the Coolmate. When I turned everything on, the flow meter on the Coolmate spun up and then stopped. So, does the flow only happen when I am actually welding something or should it be spinning all the time. Thanks for your help. Dennis.

[Kpack]

Do you have the manual ? Look on miller site under resources and put name or serial number in until the experts come along.

[griff01]

I've been stick and MIG welding for years at the hobby level. I wanted to get into TIG welding so I bought a Dialarc HF 250 with the Coolmate 3 on top. I just now got it all set up and put new antifreeze it the Coolmate. When I turned everything on, the flow meter on the Coolmate spun up and then stopped. So, does the flow only happen when I am actually welding something or should it be spinning all the time. Thanks for your help. Dennis.

Should be spinning all the time. Sounds like something is stopped up.

Griff

[cruizer]

ANTIFREEZE WTH, You mean Tig coolant, If its Automotive Antifreeze, I say again WTH

[djnagle]

Yes, TIG coolant straight from the local Miller store. On the bottle it says Antifreeze though. I down loaded the manual before I posted but it didn't talk about the flow meter's operation. I'll blow all the lines and see what happens. Thanks all.

[cruizer]

Also check your tig torches water lines, they may be hooked up backward. I see it all the time.... The power line from the tig torch goes to the cooler return line

[WillieB]

I've been stick and MIG welding for years at the hobby level. I wanted to get into TIG welding so I bought a Dialarc HF 250 with the Coolmate 3 on top. I just now got it all set up and put new antifreeze it the Coolmate. When I turned everything on, the flow meter on the Coolmate spun up and then stopped. So, does the flow only happen when I am actually welding something or should it be spinning all the time. Thanks for your help. Dennis.

I have the Dialarc 250 HF 1984 my cooler is a different model, I have no flow meter. Mine has a clear elbow on the return line you can see flow. Take it apart at the return line to see if it flows through the torch.

[djnagle]

I only had time to look at the filter tonight and it was very clogged. Then I opened the tank top and there was crud floating in the coolant. I think the whole system needs to come apart and get cleaned out. Tomorrow, after the 3 space heaters run for an hour or so, I'll give it a good going through.

Cruizer: Yes, the return line is attached to the TIG block on the power lug. Before we took it all apart for moving, I took a picture of the hook up. I still can't figure out how the power gets to the torch through those plastic hoses. Is there a copper lead in those lines?

[djnagle]

Another day of 5 below zero but I turned on three space heaters and started working on the flow problem. The first thing I did was unhook the water out hose and turned the machine on....plenty of flow there. Then I unhooked the return flow line from the cool mate and no flow. So then I unhooked the in and out lines from the torch and blow it out with air. Hooked it all back up and got good flow.......then it stopped! I did that three times and every time, it got clogged up and the flow stopped.

I am going back out there now and doing a total cleaning on everything, the tank, the filter, the hoses. Maybe it was just a lot of crud the got knocked loose in the move and such.

More the follow.