Any remaining Keith Monks RCM owners?

Posted by: Hmack on 21 January 2018

I have a Keith Monks Discovery RCM which has worked very well for me over a number of years.

Unfortunately, I haven't used the machine for a few months, and it appears that the suction tubing has become pretty blocked, because the amount of suction is nowhere near what it ought to be. I am pretty sure the problem is the a tube blockage and not the pump itself which sounds fine. There is quite a bit of discolouring of sections of the tubing (especially at the outlet end) pointing to a likely build up of mould of some sort in the tubing.

Have any other KM RCM owners experienced similar problems, and have you managed to resolve them without returning the unit for repair? Has anyone successfully replaced the tubing by taking the unit apart, or do you think it's not something an owner could do? I can see that the Keith Monks web site does indeed sell replacement tubing, and I'm willing to give it a go if it's possible, but I really am not sure that I could do it successfully.   

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Posted on: 21 January 2018 by FangfossFlyer

I own a KM Discovery One which has recently developed an issue which I thought was loss of suction. It was easy to dismantle and check the tubing etc. All seemed fine to me so I suspect it is the pump as it leaves rings of fluid on the surface of the LP although it could be the arm tracking is no longer effective? Either way I am looking to replace and move on from KM.

In your case replacing tubing should be easy but I would try suppling replacement tubing yourself as if you can get any after sales response from KM I would be impressed and also I think they are expensive. 

Good luck,

Richard

Posted on: 22 January 2018 by NewNaim16

Regardless of any tubing change, I'd suggest considering a flush through with Milton Sterilising Fluid which is sold for cleaning baby feeding bottles and also used by some on scuba diving bouncy compensators and photographic print washers, etc. Cost about GBP 2.0 for half a litre at UK stores. 

Posted on: 22 January 2018 by FangfossFlyer

Good suggestion as I do similar using diluted IMS (Industrial Mentholated Spirits)  by placing some in a saucer and then allowing the KM arm to suck it through the system to clean the tubes.

Richard.

Posted on: 23 January 2018 by NewNaim16

And you can do all this without having to have a baby 

Posted on: 23 January 2018 by Hmack
NewNaim16 posted:

Regardless of any tubing change, I'd suggest considering a flush through with Milton Sterilising Fluid which is sold for cleaning baby feeding bottles and also used by some on scuba diving bouncy compensators and photographic print washers, etc. Cost about GBP 2.0 for half a litre at UK stores. 

Thanks NewNaim16.

I'll give this a go if I can get the RCM up and running again.

At the moment, I think the tubing is completely blocked (possibly made worse by my attempts to clear it) because I am getting absolutely no suction at all, which means that I will almost certainly have to change the tubing before I try anything like this.  

Posted on: 23 January 2018 by Hmack
FangfossFlyer posted:

Good suggestion as I do similar using diluted IMS (Industrial Mentholated Spirits)  by placing some in a saucer and then allowing the KM arm to suck it through the system to clean the tubes.

Richard.

Thanks FangfossFlyer,

but I don't think I'll try this for a couple of reasons. 

Firstly, I have already been doing this since the record cleaning solution I have used in my RCM almost since I got it has been diluted IMS, largely on the recommendation of a number of people on this forum. I would have hoped that (fairly) regular use of IMS would have kept the build up of discolouration and contaminants that can cause blockages at bay, but it appears not.

Secondly, a member of the forum (can't remember who it was) recently pointed out to me in a post that one of the main constituent components of IMS is methanol, and long (or even short) term exposure to methanol can be pretty dangerous. I'm not sure how to quantify the potential danger of infrequent handling and occasional inhalation of methanol fumes in context of its use in an RCM, but I decided not to take any more risks. I ordered a bottle of L'Art du Son cleaning concentrate and was about to mix up a solution to clean a few LPs when I discovered the blockage problem.  

 

Posted on: 23 January 2018 by Mulberry

Hi,

 I have a Keith Monks Classic, which is approximately ten years old now. Its tubing is noticeably discolored, but everything works fine. I once had mould inside the jar, unsurprisingly as I completely forgot to empty it .

Hopefully you can get yours going again.

By the way, nice picture of the Primare. It always reminds me of my Bow ZZs.