Snomax Injection System Prep and Cleaning Instructions
At the end of the season, it’s a good time to clean and prep the Snomax injection system for the long summer shut down. If prepped properly, the system should start right up flawlessly at the beginning of next season.
Please use the steps below to properly mothball your system at the end of your snowmaking season.
- With the drain lines open and the screen removed from the Y strainer, hose out any mud, silt or other foreign material in the tank. (You will get bonus points from your Snomax rep for removing any dead mice or birds!)
- Scrub down the inside of the tank with a hard bristle brush and some “Simple Green” biodegradable spray cleaner.
- With the drain still open, flush the remaining solids and the biodegradable cleaner out of the tank and close the drain line. Reinstall a cleaned screen into the Y strainer.
- Fill the tank with a 10% bleach solution and run the mix pump and injection pump at 100% flow until the tank is empty.
- Fill the tank with fresh water and run the injection pump and mix pump until it’s empty again.
- Pull the drain plugs on the mix pump to remove any water in the volute and then reinstall them.
- Fill the grease cup on the mix pump until you can see the rubber plunger is even with the red line on the grease cup. Snomax recommends using a food grade biodegradable grease when filling the grease cup.
- Drain and replace the injection pump oil.
- Close the isolation valve on the calibration tube, and with the pump running, pour two gallons of biodegradable camper antifreeze down the calibration tube.
- Keep the pump running until you just see the last of the antifreeze disappearing from the calibration tube, and stop the pump before it runs dry!
- Close all the drain lines and close the lid on the tank to keep mice and other pests from entering the tank in the off-season.
Please Note: You want to leave the antifreeze solution in the lines and the head of the pump until right before you plan to make snow for the next season. Doing this will keep the lines undamaged by freezing, prevent the diaphragm from stretching, stop the pump check valves and line check valve from sticking, along with prevent any pitting of the check valve seats in the head of the pump.
Caution: Never leave the 10% bleach cleaning solution in contact with the stainless steel or aluminum parts of the pump for more than 12 hours. Exposures that last longer than 12 hours can severely damage the pump!