Equipment: Sakura - TISSUE-TEK VIP 6
It could be bad level sensors, but the front heater on the retort can fail and it will cause these errors. The retort may feel hot to touch and it will not give an heater errors, you can ohm out the heaters to see if they are out of range.
Clean the sensors, for heaven's sake. You don't want any build-up on or around the level sensors. Each level sensor has a vertical slot on one side or the other. You need a brush that will get into that slot and clean it thoroughly.
Yes, Ross, I agree, clean the sensors first, I just figured that was obvious first step and would already have been done. If it happens again after they have been cleaned then it is probably the heaters.
Yep sensors were cleaned several times. Actually after every process. Determined today that front heat unit has indeed failed. Thanks to those who responded. Looks like a fun repair….
Marv422: Was the heater open? Or what did you find?
Techte: How far out of range? Does it cause errors in multiple sensors?
I have had to replace a level sensor on at least two or three occasions, over the years, when cleaning didn't solve the problem.
I did receive a call from a customer yesterday, who just got level sensor errors which cleared after "rebooting." I hadn't heard/read that the heater could be a source. I will certainly want to look into that, before replacing a sensor.
I have seen plenty of sensors fail, but typically if the heater is bad you get the exact same symptoms described by Marv422. The unit will run a program fine with no errors, but will give level sensor errors (unusually in the 2 middle sensors) when you try to run the clean cycle. If you clean the sensors, it will run the clean cycle and the next program fine, then error again when you try to run the clean cycle as there is usually solidified paraffin on the sensor (it can be intermitted sometimes). I don't recall what the range is, but the manual has the ohms listed somewhere. I believe that Sakura only sells the complete retort and it is a project to swap it out. There are other cheaper options to fix this, if you are interested, please provide me your contact info.
