Some mechanical seals are made to very fine tolerances. Damage to mechanical seals and bearings can sometimes be cause by misalignment of pump shaft with motor shaft.

Whenever some of motors or driven machinery is dismantled or even when machines are not running smoothly, alignment has to be done.

The purpose of alignment is to ensure that centerline of motor rotor shaft coincides exactly with centerline of driven machinery. Alignment is essential to ensure that machine runs smoothly with minimum vibration.

Provided two shafts are not bent crooked, two alignments to be checked and adjusted are: Offset alignment and Angular alignment.

Most alignments are rough alignment that can be done using straight edge ruler and feeler gages. However for precision alignment, use of dial gauges with magnetic bases can be used.

Offset Alignment

I recently had a customer ask for my advise about cleaning her refrigerator.

I started to describe pros and cons of different cleaners that can be used to clean interior when she stopped me abruptly. “I know all about that stuff ”, she informed me, “I mean black coil thing on back”.

So, in response to this common question I offer following step-by-step directions.

Firstly, ’black coil thing’ at rear of refrigerator is called a condenser. Without too much technical jargon, its job is to dissipate heat into kitchen. It does this by condensation of refrigerant gas. Hence, its name. The condenser tubing is usually seen on rear of a refrigerator. It is produced in a serpentine form with additional fins running across it for added heat dissipation.

“Heat, I thought we were talking about refrigerators, not stoves”.

You will have to believe me when I say: ‘a refrigerator does not produce cold air’. Rather, its job is to transfer heat from inside refrigerator cabinet to outside. While doing this it removes heat from your food and that results in your food becoming cold.

So, who cares! You should. Because a major part in this transferring of heat is ‘black coil thing’ we have been talking about. Yes, that’s right, condenser.

Without condenser our refrigerator would not operate. Therefore, we are going to learn how to do basic maintenance of this part and keep our refrigerator in tip-top shape.

------------------------------ So let’s begin

Tools required: ·Vacuum cleaner ·Brush or vacuum brush attachment ·Cotton rag ·Light strength household cleaner ·Garbage bag

1.Pull refrigerator away from wall and unplug it.

2.The condenser will be radiator-looking part on rear of refrigerator.

3.Use a brush or vacuum cleaner to remove any dust buildup on condenser. Remember, condenser is made of thin tubing and is full of a high-pressure (130 psig) gas. So be gentle. If you injure tubing a simple cleaning could turn into an expensive repair.