Electric Log Splitter won't split

[Sprinter]

How long have you had this splitter? Is it new or have you been using it all along?

On mine the fan turns quite freely, very little resistance. If you can do so safely, you might want to manually give the fan a spin while pushing the start button to see if that gives you a hint of the problem. Be careful of course, it spins fast.

 

[chumney]

hi all, well the saga continues I have changed the capacitor on my ELS52 and still have the same problem. Jags! As you suggested I removed the fan housing and tried to spin the fan by hand! It did start to spin. There does seem to be quite a lot of resistance in the motor when I turn the fan ( is that normal)? I did look to see if something was jamming the blades, but nothing there. No such luck eh. Anybody help PLEASE!!
Simon

 

[chumney]

hi all
Been playing around with the splitter again this morning. jags tried your trick again spun the fan by hand and would you believe it is working great now. Had I'd running about 30 or so times and fires up perfectley every time now. I sprayed some wd40 over the shaft. So have not got a clue what was wrong, but I hope the problem is now over. thank you all for your helpful replies, a nice group of people.
Simon

 

[dougand3]

Maybe the brush-armature contact was gummed up and some WD40 got in there and cleaned. That's a stretch, tho.

 

[Hogwildz]

I have the Ryobi, here are a few things to check:

As mentioned, make sure the motor shroud is not plugged up with debris.
If the motor is overheating, causing the thermal switch to trigger, make sure your using a heavy gauge electrical cord, shorter the better. Minimal 12g.
There is a wing nut on the front of the splitter, make sure it is 1 to 2 turns loosened, to allow air to flow in & out of the tank, this protects the seals and hydraulic system from rupturing per the manual.
If it is not tightened, the splitter will not build enough pressure to power through the wood.
The cord to the motor is in a crappy spot, and can get broken/worn near where it connects to the splitter motor.

 

[wahoowad]

This is a pressure relief mechanism, that you are supposed to loosen when splitter is being moved, or not in use.
If it is not tightened, the splitter will not build enough pressure to power through the wood.

Are you sure you have this right? I have the Ryobi too and do the wingnut exact opposite of you. I loosen the wingnut during splitting operations as I thought it needed to prevent a vacuum from forming. I tighten it when I move it to prevent hydraulic fluid from escaping. It wouldn't surprise me to learn I've been doing it wrong all these years, but mine has been splitting just fine.

 

[Hogwildz]

You may be right. I have not used mine since I bought a hydr, splitter.
Yes, I just read the manual, should be loosened one or two turns.
I will revise my original post.

Good catch Wahoo, I do make mistakes.

 

[wahoowad]

I get a bigboy splitter tomorrow so my Ryobi will get slid into a corner as well.

 

[Sprinter]

I just commented on the wing nut too and had to delete it when I was beat to it...

Glad the OP got it running. I was going to comment on the use of extension cords as well, Hogz. These things draw a lot of current and will cut out on startup or heavy load if the circuit isn't sufficient. It did sound like that could have been the problem. I do run mine on a 50' 12g ext cord but it's on a dedicated circuit.

Regarding retiring it to a corner, I put mine up in a corner of the garage for splitting kindling or whatever over the winter. I like that it takes up so little space. It's all I need but I think a lot of folks do use both an electric and gas.

 

[Jags]

There does seem to be quite a lot of resistance in the motor when I turn the fan ( is that normal)?

Not really. At low speeds/low pressure it shouldn't take much to turn the motor. There really are only two things in that "circuit" - the motor and the pump. I guess at this point if it were on MY bench I would separate the motor and pump to figure out where the resistance is. I don't have any easy suggestions at this point other than make darn sure that the wingnut being referenced above has been turned out a turn or two. If you have positive pressure in the system it could cause issues.