Barco 2000 - light pipe over heating !

[Steve Guttag]

This is why I suggested using a clear bottle and do the same thing as evacuating the air bubbles (I normally have the return hose above the liquid level so I can see the liquid coming out of the hose. This will let you know if you have a good flow or not. It cannot be emphasized enough that if you have air bubbles in the system, you will get an overtemp because liquid is not actually flowing though the pump is running. While observing the output of the hose, it really should be a nice steady stream...nothing that appears to be a mere trickle of liquid...it isn't a spray (it isn't that sort of pressure) but it is a steady stream.

[Leo Enticknap]

It's also why, whenever I have to replace any coolant hose on a Barco, I do so with transparent, UV-resistant stuff, as so:

clear_hose.PNG

It gives you instant, visual confirmation that the circuit is clear of air bubbles. On a Series 2 projector you can also see agitation at the top of the reservoir when the lamp is lit or the projector is in refill mode, which will confirm that the coolant is flowing, but on a Series 1 machine, you don't even have that.

[Steve Guttag]

That stuff is also less likely to shed than rubber hoses. Rubber hoses can shed their rubber...they'll stop flowmeter's impeller easily too. We used that stuff on film projectors for coolant lines as well. Always get the braided stuff...it won't kink.

You notice that they always had a short section where it enters the radiator. It is always so yellow as to be of almost no use.

[Leo Enticknap]

The pic above was taken after a light engine replumb done in 2017. By early 2020, the new hose had discolored very slightly, but it was still easily transparent enough to allow visual verification of coolant flow. My guess is that it has around five years before the discoloration is bad enough to make the hose opaque for practical purposes.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

The pic above was taken after a light engine replumb done in 2017. By early 2020, the new hose had discolored very slightly, but it was still easily transparent enough to allow visual verification of coolant flow. My guess is that it has around five years before the discoloration is bad enough to make the hose opaque for practical purposes.

Hose used in these conditions should also be UV resistant. I am sure you've seen the wiring in older Christie lamp houses and consoles before. Eventually that wire insulation crumbles and so will the hose in these Barco's...

[Leo Enticknap]

It's UV resistant, but not totally UV proof, hence the discoloration. It's a darn sight more UV resistant than the stuff installed at the factory in Barco Series 1 machines, though.

The wire crumbling problem also happens in NEC 900s. There is a repair kit they supply, including shielding for the replacement cables.

[Steve Guttag]

In particular, for DP70s, we used the braided clear hose with one coil in the shutter compartment (so the gate would open/close easily) and it never deteriorated to the point of an issue. We also used it on the newer Kinotons but there is just one point where they would be exposed to UV...right at the shutter. I suspect that what is running inside it matters as much as anything to the discoloration. Running Tyfocor/Distilled water with Kinoton's the stuff just never ages or changes color (Tyfocor is clear...or ever so slightly yellow but it is diluted 1:5 such that everything appears clear).

I'd say, any S1 Barco that gets those hoses now would have the last hoses that they would ever need. It's a great idea Leo!

[Leo Enticknap]

Related to the cooling liquid, if Allan needs to refill the coolant on a tight budget, I've heard it said that so-called "Asian blue" automotive coolant is so similar to the OEM Barco stuff as to be a perfectly good substitute, at about a quarter of the price. I once refilled a DP3000 with the ready mixed stuff that Honda dealerships sell in an emergency situation (projector had leaked and lost so much coolant that it was shutting off the lamp due to overheating), advising the customer that it should be flushed and refilled with OEM Barco as soon as possible. That was in 2018. I never heard from them again, until they upgraded the projector in 2020. They told me that the DP3000 had run without any complaints on the Honda stuff for those two years.

[Steve Guttag]

My temporary "get by" liquid remains distilled water, with the absolute condition that it gets changed to the proper coolant. Distilled water won't eat anything but, then again, anything can grow in it too! I suspect that the majority of what the blue coolant is doing is keeping stuff from growing in the liquid and clogging things up. Christie uses Jeffcool (a blue coolant) and I would suspect that would work most everywhere too. NEC uses a red coolant. I would also think that keeping the dilution such that it isn't too thick is also key.

[Gordon McLeod]

I always made our own coolant for the barcos as we found theirs very bad at corroding the aluminum in the machine. The EU doesnt permit the use of Di potassium in antifreeze as a inhibitor as when flushed it can cause algae blooms. so we made our own glycol distilled water and di potasium phosphate and the clogged systems stopped happing. The japasnese antifreeze uses a different inhibitor as does Jefcool

[Allan Barnes]

After much abuse, my service guy, cleared the blocked coolant links... just in time for the drive-in theatre and province to be "locked down" again. We both heard and acted on all your advice written above. Except the "Asian Blue"