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Shurflo pump with low psi

best

Active member
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279
Location
Wiltshire
I have at present a 100psi pump that delivers 3.75lpm. I need more water to come out of my pole.

While searching eBay I came across a 50psi shurflo pump that delivers over 10 lpm at only £50

What if any are the disadvantages of lower psi.

What's the lowest psi do you use?

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I believe I have this right. A higher pressure pump means you can push a given volume of water down a longer hose or to a greater height. So for instance, I only clean domestic properties and the greatest height I go to at the moment is about thirty feet from ground level. I also work with a trolley and my longest hose is 25mtrs. I'm currently using a 5lpm 40psi pump with no problems at all. but that may not be enough if I was using 100mtrs of the same hose and cleaning windows 60 or 70 feet high.

 
You may find that the pressure switch on the pump cuts out if your doing high windows or using microbore hose. I've had my 100psi 7lpm flojet pumps for 6 years, never missed a beat. A mate of mine had some for 15years. The sureflow are good but seem to be a bit weaker although only marginally cheaper.

Window Cleaner Chelmsford Chelmsford Cleaning Services

 
This sounds like a pump used in a caravan or motor home to supply a shower or tap @best.

Just because its a Shurflo pump doesn't mean it is suitable for wfp. This pump is for high volume and low pressure and not suitable for window cleaning IMHO.

A 1/2" hose will allow more water to be pumped through it than a smaller diamt hose. The smaller the bore size of the hose used the lower the volume of water that can be pumped through it.

This will give you an idea of how much water will flow through a given size steel pipe at a given pressure.

Water - flow through pipes

So a 50 psi pump will most probably just deliver 10lpm of water through a 1/2" hose, but never through microbore hose. At 88psi a 15mm pipe will support a water flow of nearly 17lpm. An 8mm (minibore sized hose) pipe will support a flow of 4.26lpm at 88psi and 6mm pipe (minibore size) will only support 1.68lpm at 88psi. Of course the longer the hose the slower the flow of water through it.

The other point to understand is that water can flow freely through a straight pipe with a smooth inside water fairly quickly. But there comes a point when it starts to become turbulent due to friction. It starts at the sides and this turbulence interrupts the follow and creates a restriction. This can be overcome to a certain extent by increasing the pressure but that uses more energy and probably self defeating.

Replace that smooth pipe with coiled plastic reinforced hose and you will get turbulence much sooner.

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I use a shurflo 60psi pump and have done for nearly 20years just on its micro switch no controller, just adjusted the switch with the allen key to suit and works fine.

 
I use a shurflo 60psi pump and have done for nearly 20years just on its micro switch no controller, just adjusted the switch with the allen key to suit and works fine.
Yep. The first wfp Shurflo pumps were 65psi pumps and worked fine with 1/2" hose. I once did a pressure gauge test to see what pressure our Varistreams were cutting the flow off at. It was 55psi and that pressure was fine at the height we run at during the summer. The 100psi pumps only started to appear with the onset of minibore and microbore hoses. Coincidental? Could be.

The part numbers for all the parts were the same so I deduct from that that it was just a pressure switch adjustment that raised the pressure from 65psi to 100psi.

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