# Dental equiptment service



## pauliplumber (Feb 9, 2009)

I've never worked on or even installed dental equiptment before.

With that said, I have a customer who I told this too, yet still insists that I look at this problem. Ok, ya know the bowl you spit in when your getting a cleaning, it has the little faucet that shoots water into it to clean it out. She say she's getting air in the line, and it has been going on for a while. They are on city water. 

I told her it's gotta be something with the dental equiptment, unless someone just turned the water off, which would work it's way out pretty quick, or if their doing work on a main near by. She says there's no work going on near by and no one has shut the water off. 

Any idea's on what to look for?


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## grandpa (Jul 13, 2008)

I haven't seen a spit bowl in decades. I thought they were outlawed. In any event, the water possibly is fed by a pump, protected by backflow and a filter somewhere.


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

Alot of those dental equipment chairs are operated by air controls.....I would look for a valve that had both air and water connected to it....maybe an internal leak of the valve.

Lower the air pressure at the air compressor and hangout for a while....see which piece of air operated equipment fills with water

I'm guessing so proceed with caution:laughing:


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

TheMaster said:


> Alot of those dental equipment chairs are operated by air controls.....I would look for a valve that had both air and water connected to it....maybe an internal leak of the valve.
> 
> Lower the air pressure at the air compressor and hangout for a while....see which piece of air operated equipment fills with water
> 
> I'm guessing so proceed with caution:laughing:


Think the Master has it right on this one. The spit bowl if I remember correctly, returns to the vacuum. There solids are taken out and the water discharges to drain through an air gap. As a plumber my advice after the roughin and putting the new equipment in service is finished. Do no work on dental equipment. Tell the dentist to bring in the dental equipment people. You screw up with the chair equipment, it's going to cost you big bucks. My policy is anything from the electric valve shutoff to the drain where the vac discharges including anything with compressed air and gases is off limits.


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## pauliplumber (Feb 9, 2009)

Thanks guys. If the dental equiptment is the problem, and I'm 99% sure it is, I'm not touching it. I explained this to her, apparently she will feel better if I look over their plumbing to make sure there's no obvious problems. I can't ever remember air in city water lines unless somehow it was shut off somewhere. I'm going there wednesday morning.


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## d78coots (Mar 30, 2009)

agree with plumberbill. DO NOT TOUCH IT. problem is with "equipment", not plumbing.


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## pauliplumber (Feb 9, 2009)

d78coots said:


> agree with plumberbill. DO NOT TOUCH IT. problem is with "equipment", not plumbing.


I didn't touch the equipment. I looked around the basement at their plumbing, just to "make sure" there were no plumbing issues. Everything was fine. She was happy I came out to look, I gave her a bill for my minimum, and that was that. I must have said to her 3 timed on the phone prior that it must be an equipment problem. I guess if it gave her peace of mind to have me out, then it was worth it for her.


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## mongo (Jun 26, 2010)

*MasterPlumber is probably correct*

I had a similar problem at a local hospital (air in domestic water line). After about 2 hours of looking in the equipment room, I found the medical air compressor (water cooled) had a failed backflow preventer, allowing the higher pressured air to be injected into the potable water suppply system.

Dentists do have both air compressors and vacuum pumps. Somewhere tere is a mixing valve that has both water and air, it is probably faulty. 

he bowl is called a cuspidor.


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

he bowl is called a cuspidor.[/quote]


*Even the brass one at the end of the bar? {SPITOON} *


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## mongo (Jun 26, 2010)

PLUMBER_BILL said:


> he bowl is called a cuspidor.


 
*Even the brass one at the end of the bar? {SPITOON} *[/quote]

Yes, I believe that a brass cuspidor is also called a spittoon.


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