Rattle in puck feeder

[jjslinger]

I hear a rattle which seems to be coming from this puck feeder. I've never used it, I've been using bleach.

What can I do to troubleshoot this and see if this is really the problem? Everything seems to be working fine, I just hear a rattle. It sounds like a little pebble or something bouncing around.

Thanks,
Don

 

[JamesW]

It might be the ckeck valve. Does the rattling stop when you close the flow control valve? Also, I would check to make sure that the feeder was installed in the correct direction.

 

[jjslinger]

It might be the ckeck valve. Does the rattling stop when you close the flow control valve? Also, I would check to make sure that the feeder was installed in the correct direction.

I must confess, since I don't use the thing, I never bothered to learn how it works. How do I open, or for that matter close, the control valve? Is it that little knob? I've never touched the thing since day one.

I'm pretty sure it was installed in the correct direction. The flow is from left to right in the picture.

Thanks,
Don

 

[JamesW]

The flow control valve is the black valve with the numbered dial. Rotate the white knob clockwise to make the pointer point at zero.

 

[jjslinger]

The flow control valve is the black valve with the numbered dial. Rotate the white knob clockwise to make the pointer point at zero.

Does it take alot of effort to get it to go from one to zero? It was set to three, and it turned to one fairly easily, but did not want to go to zero, and I was afraid to turn too hard (I don't want to break it). Is that normal for these things?

Thanks,
Don

 

[JamesW]

It should go to zero fairly easily. Try opening and closing it a few times, but don't force it

 

[jjslinger]

It should go to zero fairly easily. Try opening and closing it a few times, but don't force it

This is as far as I think I can turn it. Is this fully "off".

Thanks,
Don

 

[JamesW]

Did that stop the rattling?

If not, there is a small screen inside of the feeder that sometimes comes loose. I would check that next.

 

[asxetos]

If at some point in time the top of the dial was unscrewed from its axle and then put back on, it could be aligned incorrectly and so the valve might actually be fully closed when pointing to some number other than zero.

This can happen if the top dial and bottom axle part do not have a single slot alignment, but use a star interlocking pattern which can be misaligned very easily once the top part is unscrewed for whatever reason.

 

[jjslinger]

Did that stop the rattling?

If not, there is a small screen inside of the feeder that sometimes comes loose. I would check that next.

The rattling is not stopped, but I think it affected it. I'll pop open the top (for the first time ever) tonight and check the screen.

Thanks,
Don

 

[jjslinger]

If at some point in time the top of the dial was unscrewed from its axle and then put back on, it could be aligned incorrectly and so the valve might actually be fully closed when pointing to some number other than zero.

This can happen if the top dial and bottom axle part do not have a single slot alignment, but use a star interlocking pattern which can be misaligned very easily once the top part is unscrewed for whatever reason.

I have never taken it apart, but it may have been installed incorrectly for all I know.

Thanks,
Don

 

[jjslinger]

Did that stop the rattling?

If not, there is a small screen inside of the feeder that sometimes comes loose. I would check that next.

The small screen was okay, not loose. There was no debris inside the feeder tube either. At this point, I'm just going to declare this a non-problem, since everything is working fine. I think turning the control knob to as far "off" as possible changed the nature of the sound, which I would now call a water trickle rather than a rattle.

Thanks for all the comments.

Don