Automatic Litterbox Central

Help help!

I'm having lots of troubles with my Litterfree. Read my messages here for more details viewtopic.php?p=784#784

Basically, I've had to open up my unit to clean the inside of some spilled cleaning solution. After being careful to get things back in the right place (maybe I missed something), I closed up the unit. It worked perfectly for 2 days and now is back to being defunct.

It fills fine, but then immediately (before churning) shows Er1, then drains and that's all. It won't complete the cycle. I've unplugged it time and time again and the ER1 light goes off but the same thing happens when I press start.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe when I went into the unit, I upset the water level sensor. I noticed when I opened up the unit (the 2nd time) that a layer of poop sludge had formed at the bottom of the unit (no sign of it anywhere else), so somehow it is getting in there. I'm wondering if too much water is allowed to flow into the box which in turn is getting into the unit and shutting things down.

One thing that would be very helpful is if someone out there with a working unit could measure how much water is allowed to flow into their box. It can be easily measured after it completely fills just before the churning starts. I have my unit filled to the line with granules (that could make a difference in the measurement).

And does anyone know what part inside the unit is the water sensor?

I need some help! I'm about to give up on this invention...I have 4 little kids and just don't have the time to be fooling with it anymore. Besides, my cats keep "going" on the floor anyway. But I REALLY REALLY want to have success with the Litterfree. So I'm holding out a little longer before going back to the dreaded traditional cat box.

PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN!!

My2cats

IIRC, the water level sensor is located at the bottom-middle. My guess is that unless that sensor is somehow stuck, that the seal around the pump-out hose fitting is not good. If the membrane is torn, remove it completely and cover the fitting with caulk and let it dry at the very least overnight before trying to use it. You could also use a good layer of teflon tape instead of the caulk.

Of course, these are the steps that I took with my machine which was afflicted brand new, out of the box with a manufacturing defect. Since the company was out of business, I had no choice but to try to fix it myself. Taking any of these steps of course may put you at risk of rendering your LF useless. I wish you well, and you might want to go over some of the posts I made when I was going through my troubles. Without the help of Michael ("shfwilf") I may not have been succesful.

NFLnut,
Thanks for the advice. I read over all of your saga yesterday, but didn't think it applied to me b/c I'm not getting any leaks outside the litterbox. I remember the white sealer on the drainage tube at the bottom...it is still in place, no tears or anything. And I didn't see any sign that the sludgy liquid was running down the tube. It was only on the bottom inside the unit, and in between all the cracks where the two halves of the unit casing fit together (from the bottom inside on down), where it's either seeping in or leaking out.

I did see the water lever sensor...a sliding oblong metal piece on two screws that slids into a switch. But I didn't quite understand what makes the metal piece slide. I also didn't understand what the purpose of the loose (on one end) black tube was. The loose end seems to just sit at the bottom of the unit....at least that's where mine is. Do you know the answer(s)?

I'm gonna have to go back into the unit, but I just don't know what I'll be doing!

Thanks for any help!

Still, somehow it is either sucking up sludge through the pump-out tube, or there is a hole in a hose inside the unit, because there shouldn't be ANY liquid getting into the box. It could also be a spot where the two halves of the case somehow didn't squeeze fully back together.

As far as the loose hose .. yes it should be loose. I don't know what it is for, but it IS supposed to be like that.

I'm online for a little while. We got hit by Isabel and are going on day 3 without power. We just got a generator hooked up today so am catching up on e-mails, etc. while it's still light. When the sun goes down, lights take priority over the computer! My litterfree did run one full cycle with no errors, right before the power went out a few days ago. This was after 15-20 unsuccessful cycles over about 3 days. My guess is it just dried out enough to not flip out and shut off.

Anyway NFLnut, I think your last suggestion is probably the most probable....that the 2 sids of the casing aren't tight enough to keep water out. It seems weird, though that there aren't any seals around the casing. Maybe I should fashion some sort of gasket to seal the bottom part of the casing where the 2 sides meet. Only problem with that is if it is leaking from the inside, it will just hold all the liquid inside and not let any run out.

Well, my Litterfree is out of commission until the power comes back on anyway so I'll worry about it then. I'll post after I open the thing back up and let you know what I saw. I may need some more assistance.

Thanks for your help!

There really aren't any soft seals like a gasket or anything. It is just part of the hard plastic around the edges that overlock to create a "seal." The key is to get the two case halves together, make sure that one of the hoses or other apparatus stay in their respective channels so that they don't force the two halves farther apart. And then of course make sure that you tighten the screws down snug (but not enough to strip the threads).

When I put mine back together (about a dozen times!) it was quite a challenge. With all of the hoses, the gears, and the two motors that seem to want to go anywhere but where they're supposed to, you almost wish you had five hands to hold everything in and still put it together!

Good luck.