Most embalming machines don’t quit all at once. They start telling you something first. The pressure takes longer to come up. The gauge needle won’t sit still. There’s a drip under the tank that wasn’t there last month. You keep working around it, because there’s a case on the table and a family waiting.
Sooner or later you have to decide what to do about it. Richard Jerkins has spent over 30 years in the prep room, and he designed the JMS 1550 embalming machine. Our son Liam builds those machines and does our repair work in our shop in Castlewood, Virginia. We couldn’t do it without him. Here’s how we look at a machine that’s acting up.
Signs your machine needs work
- Pressure won’t build, or it won’t hold where you set it.
- The gauge jumps around or reads wrong. If you can’t trust the gauge, you can’t trust your injection.
- The rate of flow changes from one case to the next.
- Leaks at the fittings, the hose connections or the tank.
- The pump is louder than it used to be, or the motor struggles to start.
- Fluid drains out of the tank when the machine is off.
One thing to check first: if the pressure is dropping and you can’t figure out why, change the cannula. It could be plugged.
If it isn’t the cannula, the problem won’t fix itself. A worn seal or a tired pump gets worse with use, and it usually picks a busy week to give out.
Repair: when one part is the problem
If the machine runs well except for one thing, a repair is usually all it needs. A gauge, a switch, a leaking fitting or a hose can be replaced without taking the whole machine apart. It’s the quickest way back to work.
Rebuild: keep your housing, replace what’s inside
In most cases, this is what we suggest. You keep the housing you already have, and we replace the internals with our own pump and motor setup. The worn seals, valves, hoses and gauges go too, and the machine is tested before it goes back to you. You keep the machine you know, with new working parts inside.
Replace: when the housing can’t be saved
Most machines don’t need replacing. If the housing itself is too far gone, or you’d rather start new, we’ll tell you plainly.
The JMS 1550 is the machine Richard designed because the one he wanted didn’t exist, and Liam builds each one. It runs up to 50 PSI, has a rate-of-flow sight gauge so you can see exactly what you’re injecting, and sells for $2,900 delivered anywhere in the USA.
More than embalming machines
The same shop work covers the rest of the equipment a funeral home depends on: lowering devices, church trucks, cots and embalming tables. If it’s broken and your funeral home needs it, call and ask. You can read more about our equipment repair and rebuilding.
How to get started
Call or text Richard at 336-380-3088 and tell him what the machine is doing. A photo helps. He’ll tell you whether it sounds like a repair or a rebuild. You can ship it to us from anywhere in the US, and we’ll ship it back to you.
Jerkins Mortuary Services works for licensed funeral homes and funeral professionals.