Hello everyone. I was hoping I could solicit some help in fixing a vacuum sealer I have which recently crapped out. The vacuum sealer is the Tilia Foodsaver professional II pictured here:
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When the vacuum sealer is working properly, the user presses the vacuum button which kicks off the following sequence. First, an electric motor drives a set of latches closed which hold down the lid. Next, an electrically driven vacuum pump sucks out the air. Then, a heat sealer strip melts the end of the bag to create the seal. Last, the same electric motor re-opens the latches.
When the vacuum sealer failed, the latches were stuck closed. It is because of that I believe the problem has to do with the electric motor that drives the latches.
I took apart the vacuum sealer and located the motor which drives the latches. It is a single phase (I assume because there were only 2 wires going to it) 115 VAC synchronous motor. When the vacuum sealer first gets powered on, it attempts to drive the latches. I can tell because the motor vibrates and hums indicating that it’s receiving power. However, it does not turn. After about 5 seconds or so the command times out and the vacuum sealer stops trying to drive the motor.
I removed and disassembled the motor. All the gears inside looked good, I measured about 500 ohm across the windings, and when I applied 115 VAC to it, it would spin as long as I started it moving by hand first. Since the motor did run when I started it spinning by hand first, I’m thinking that the problem has to do with the start circuitry.
Looking at the control board there is a large capacitor wired is series with the motor windings. It is shown here:
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I looked it up and it is an interference suppression film type capacitor. Here is the data sheet:
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So my questions:
1. Is that capacitor the start capacitor?
2. Does anyone think that’s the most likely culprit based on my description?
3. Is there anything else I should check or test?
Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to provide and please let me know if I can provide anymore info.