always clogging hopper with granules
Cory
out of nowhere a month ago my gat genie started just dumping granules into the hopper and causing backups and clogs and wet paws
what am I doing wrong? is it something as simple as the drain hose being upset about its position? my drain pipe is kind of high up.
Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you.
I'm also unsure if I'm having the 'dim LED' problem for the water sensor maybe making the granules wet to cause the clog
(using cat genius)
Robert Deliën
- Make sure your hopper is squeeky-clean. Lime build-up has to be removed, especially in the drain ports, no granules should be in its outlet. The grinding teeth should be installed.
- The drain hose should be completely unobstructed. Sometimes small lumps of earlier dumped granules are still hiding there, impeding water to drain properly. A good way to clean it out is to remove the bowl and attach the drain output to the faucet
and open it to have the water pressure clear it out. If debris comes out the bowl-end, you have found the problem.
Cory
And I squeaky cleaned the hopper (and the whole cat genie and its components) twice this month, with vinegar and all the calcium and lime destroying things.
Every single time the cycle ends wet even though it spends a lot of time drying and it appears dry, I will soon notice wet pawprints on the floor, spend a lot of time cleaning and justifying to my bf not to throw the catgenius into the trash.
I'd hate to do that for a part that's like a dollar, after all this work and effort. I despise the scent of traditional litter, as well as its cost and environmental impact.
I did a lot of troubleshooting and I don't know what else it could be. The LED seems really dim compared to something that should be shooting enough light through a plastic shape.
It thinks it's dry when it isn't. It dumps granules into the hopper and doesn't sufficiently drain. The hopper gets clogged, and so on.
It turns fine, it cycles fine, and it used to dry very effectively. I can't think of anything else in the 'water detection' gamut that could be to blame. This thing is dim compared to all the reference images in these group threads.
I purchased it second hand about two years ago, and the original owner didn't mod it or open it up. I had to give it a deep clean when I got it because it had a funk.
The power outlet is also slightly damaged, you can tell she didn't use the correct type of plug when she owned it.
But it worked, up until recently. It'd used to only give me water sensor errors once every month or so, I'd pull out the little plastic clear thing, clean it with vinegar and that would be that.
I'm scouring the internet for the precise type of LED (we don't have radio shacks anymore in Canada) and am ready to solder it myself.
But I don't know what I'm doing and I'd be hella bummed if it were for nothing.
Cory
Ken Kolbly
First, do you feel that the issue is more that it is not draining properly or that once drained it is not drying properly?
If the latter, how confident are you that during the drying cycle that...
1) the heater is remaining on during the entire cycle (I can't remember what protection devices are in-line with the heater element.)
2) The air flow on the dryer is fully up to par. e.g. that nothing is restricting the blower and that the blower motor is running at speed.
We absolutely want to help you for all the reasons you mentioned, so let's keep this going!
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CatGenius" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to catgenius+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/catgenius/cddc79f2-5814-4756-9d95-7b8bd4a37ff4n%40googlegroups.com.
-- The ideal engineer is a composite ... He is not a scientist, he is not a mathematician, he is not a sociologist or a writer; but he may use the knowledge and techniques of any or all of these disciplines in solving engineering problems. - Nathen Washington Dougherty I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses. - Johannes Kepler
Robert Deliën
> lets me see script outputs though.
Fantastic! I'm still amazed by how many brave people are irreversibly flashing a total stranger's firmware into their box.
> And I squeaky cleaned the hopper (and the whole cat genie and its components)
> twice this month, with vinegar and all the calcium and lime destroying things.
That's a good starting point. It is a really filthy job, one I used to do every 3 to 4 months, but now we are running our boxes on warm water, it's hardly even needed anymore.
Things to look out for is lime scale buildup in the little 'gutter', running from the pinion to the hopper well. That needs to be clean. Also check the hopper itself: the two half-shells each have a little hole, a bit above the impeller housing; These are what it draws in drain water with. Also check the rubber seal on the hopper exhaust, between the hopper and the drain hose on the bottom of the box. If that leaks, drain water is just pumped around instead of drained.
> Every single time the cycle ends wet even though it spends a lot of time drying and it appears dry,
> I will soon notice wet pawprints on the floor, spend a lot of time cleaning and justifying to my bf
> not to throw the catgenius into the trash.
Please note that the drying time is fixed. The box has no way of detecting whether or not the granules are dry.
Right after drying, check the granules in the center of the box, and the bowl floor at the center. This should be bone dry. If not, check under the bow, see if there's some water left in the base.
> I'd hate to do that for a part that's like a dollar, after all this work and effort. I despise the
> scent of traditional litter, as well as its cost and environmental impact.
No need for that yet; We're not at the end yet.
> I did a lot of troubleshooting and I don't know what else it could be. The LED
> seems really dim compared to something that should be shooting enoug
> light through a plastic shape.
Did you check this using the GenieDiag firmware, in the special LED check mode? If not, it will appear very dim even if not worn out.
> It thinks it's dry when it isn't. It dumps granules into the hopper and doesn't
> sufficiently drain. The hopper gets clogged, and so on.
Did you flush the drain hose, as I described?
> It turns fine, it cycles fine, and it used to dry very effectively. I can't think of anything
> else in the 'water detection' gamut that could be to blame. This thing is dim compared
> to all the reference images in these group threads.
The only thing the water sensor detects, is whether or not the box is filled up with water. Anything less than 'filled up' will result into a false output from the sensor.
> I'm scouring the internet for the precise type of LED (we don't have radio shacks anymore in Canada)
> and am ready to solder it myself.
> But I don't know what I'm doing and I'd be hella bummed if it were for nothing.
I honestly don't think the LED is your problem. Did you watch the box do a full cycle, and did you notice it stop filling prematurely?
I do not know what type of LED it is either. It's 5.5mm infra-red, but I do not know the exact wave length, and I do not have a spectrometer to measure that. However, I don't think it's that critical.
Robert Deliën
>
> If the latter, how confident are you that during the drying cycle that...
>
> 1) the heater is remaining on during the entire cycle (I can't remember what protection devices are in-line with the heater element.)
>
> 2) The air flow on the dryer is fully up to par. e.g. that nothing is restricting the blower and that the blower motor is running at speed.
Yes, that is a really good point!
Please check if the air intake is not obstructed by 'cat wool'. And that the radial fan (squirrel cage) inside the box is still clean.