Hobart FFW Not Draining?

[mwendig]

HI,

I installed a Hobart FFW in my home(with the help of you guys!) about a year ago. We love it! At the time I cleaned it up, did a thorough de lime including pulling the tank apart and also added an "extender button" by stopping the timing cogs. Otherwise it has ran great.

Just recently I ran into a problem where it does not drain, it runs and cycles but will not drain on either the wash run or the shut down cycle. The timing cog is activating the drain circuit, I disconnected the drain hose from the plumbing and held it to a bucket it only trickles on the drain cycle. I plan on tearing into it over the weekend but was looking to see if anyone has any ideas before I start. How does it drain?

Also the plastic strainer in the bottom is cracking. I believe someone told me a WM5 has a solid metal strainer that would fit? If that's the case any ideas where I can get one?

 

[stevet]

Easy fix

You probably have a bad drain valve..same as the old Kitchenaid valves.There is a lever on it that you should be able to move by hand to let the water out. They either jam up, the coil burns out or there is something stuck in the valve. Sometimes the wires to the valve fall off so you should check that too!

The Strainer screen in your machine is most likely no longer available and the replacement will only fit if you change over the whole wash arm assembly.

It is very expensive to do.

My suggestion is, if you have the 4 way Hydrosweep arm, use a Kitchenaid Screen and the coarse filter that snaps into the clip on the right side of the sump. They will work perfectly for you and last forever.
I have plenty of stainless steel screens and the plastic coarse filters if you want to go that route

P.S. send me the ML number from the machine and I will check in detail for you
Steve

 

[akronman]

question

What's an FFW?

 

[stevet]

FAST FOOD WASHER

This was a WM-5 based unit made specifically for places like Mcdonald's, BurgerKing and Wendy's when they actually washed and sanitized the food trays they serve their customers on! I wonder how they do it now?

It is basically a KD18 design based on the KDS18E machines made in Germany years ago. It was replaced by the LX series and then revived as the SR24 Series machine which was less expensive than the LX and is purely electromechanical in nature.
The FFM/FFB/FFW were beefed up in certain areas like the door hinges and had some heavier electrical components for severe service.

Does a great job and is always a conversation piece if you have one in a domestic setting. Just eats up the watts if you use the built in booster it comes with!

 

[mwendig]

Steve,

The ml is 38617. Let me know what screens you have and what you want for them. Email is fine [email protected]

I will be digging into it this weekend, I wonder if the broken screen let something in that blocked up the valve? We will find out. As always thanks for the help! It's great to have an idea of what I am looking for when I dig in.

 

[stevet]

Dig deep

but don't go too crazy. That plastic strainer was a failure point all the time. The constant heat from the element, especially if the user let the water boil away would cause it to smoke and smolder. That was why they replaced it with the all metal one. That plastic strainer is very expensive and hard to find.

You can get rid of that stupid one and use the snap in coarse filter that all the Kitchenaids had from the 18 thru the 20's. It was the same pump anyway.

I am hoping you find something stuck and havent burned out the drain valve on it.
Let us know!

 

[mwendig]

Here is the verdict. Sort of. I tore into the unit this weekend. Nothigng was clogged and it looked fine. I took the electric plunger device out and applied power straight to it and it worked fine. I put everything back together and it works fine? Not sure if putting power right to it kicked th cob webs out or if something else was loose? But either way it's working now.

Stevet let me know in the strainer I am interested in getting that solved.

Thanks!