I'm de-lurking...

[Brandon]

evening all, been traditional window cleaning since the beginning of last year, I'm 18 years old and I've just bought wfp kit.

been setting it up this weekend it's a pretty basic setup (hope i've got it right as i've based it off online advice)

Rain water tank

hose to in-line strainer

hose to di vessel

hose to shurflo 100 psi pump

hose to 100m microbore 6mm hose reel

microbore to trigger flow valve

gardiner slx25

only problem is, the water does come out pure but there's hardly any pressure, it just dribbles out the brush on the pole. It does have the occasional good moment but then goes back to a dribble. what am i doing wrong?

 

[Tuffers]

No mention of a battery. I asume you have one, is it charged fully?

 

[Brandon]

Oh yeah and a battery lol!!

its a basic 12v car battery 44ah, it's brand new and got one of those "magic eye" things so you can see the charge and it's green so i'm assuming that it's charged? may be wrong...

 

[Tuffers]

Oh yeah and a battery lol!!its a basic 12v car battery 44ah, it's brand new and got one of those "magic eye" things so you can see the charge and it's green so i'm assuming that it's charged? may be wrong...

Have you tried the DI after the pump? You have a controller? Try recalibrating the controller.

 

[Solarpanelcleanington]

Shouldn't use a car battery man. Do you have a volt meter?

 

[Brandon]

I was thinking that could be the problem, i'll try that in the morning. no i dont have a controller.

it seems as tho its not drawing enough water?

 

[Brandon]

really, why not? i've got basically the same system as a mate of mine and his works really well. i'm just confused as to why the pressure is so low.

yeah i think i have a volt meter in the garage somewhere

 

[Bingo]

Tank - pump - di - reel :thumbsup:.....

Make sure you connect the DI Vessel correctly...on the vessel-head there will be a flow direction arrow and/or be worded for flow 'IN' and 'OUT'.....

.........or maybe an air-lock...

.........or maybe the hose is kinked somewhere on your reel.

 

[WWC]

Yeah, assuming your pump sounds ok, then probably an air lock or some sort of restriction, maybe something's not connected right.

I'd check for airlock by taking off the reel (the narrow bore hose) and starting up the pump. If the flow is better after a moment or two, then you have cleared the airlock. Put back the reel & pole, open up the trigger fully and give another 4-5 minutes for the water to flow freely to the brush.

 

[Simply Business]

Welcome to the forum @Brandon

 

[Brandon]

thanks for the replies guys!!

putting the di vessel after the pump helped a lot, it seems to be behaving better....but it still losing pressure completely after holding the trigger for a while, as if it builds up enough to last a minute or two and then back to dribbling. i'm using all brand new hoselock connectors so they shouldn't be an issue. could it be the 1/2" hose in between all the kit? thats the only thing that's not new, borrowed some of the old mans garden hose, could be a small slit or hose in it somewhere letting air in/out?

 

[Tuffers]

If there was a slit in the half inch hose you'd see a leak. Is the strainer clogged? Is the slowing down of water repetitive ie it slows down and then picks up then slows down then picks up?

 

[Brandon]

Ah okay can't be that then all dry!! It might be, i'll check that.

not really, it's more like it starts losing pressure so i go and see what's up, i disconnect the hose going to the microbore reel...a big spurt of either lots of water or water and air, wait for it to start flowing again, plug it back in then the brush starts spraying fine for a few more minutes then the cycle starts again....

 

[kahoona]

Hi Brandon welcome to the forum mate.

you might have an airlock in the hose reel. try connecting the pole hose directly to the the hose you currently use to feed into the reel (e.g. bypass the reel) see what your flow is like then. if its all good then you need to let a lot of water run thru the hose reel.

let us know how you get on.

 

[Tuffers]

Ah okay can't be that then all dry!! It might be, i'll check that.not really, it's more like it starts losing pressure so i go and see what's up, i disconnect the hose going to the microbore reel...a big spurt of either lots of water or water and air, wait for it to start flowing again, plug it back in then the brush starts spraying fine for a few more minutes then the cycle starts again....

It's got to be an air lock then. How long have you been using this set up? The thing is, if you're not using a controller the system will be running flat out, so why hasn't the air been pushed out by now? Strange. Try unreeling the hose on the reel to see there is a kink in it like someone above mentioned.

 

[Brandon]

that's a good idea, i think it might be an airlock in the reel....how would i get rid of that and also prevent it in the future?

i would try what you said but the pole uses microbore 6mm and the rest of the system is in 1/2" so i have nothing to bypass with unfortunately, thanks for the idea tho!

 

[Brandon]

i've only just set it all up in the last few days tuffers. i know that's exactly what i thought, and yep i've unreeled the entire 100m of hose (that was fun lol) and still no better?

 

[Brandon]

it's not something silly like the pump being a certain height over the water or being mounted a certain way up is it? just a thought

 

[adamangler]

use the good old process of elimination to check where the fault is.

first thing first, wire the pump directly to your battery charger to make sure youre getting 12v

if that fixes it then its your battery if not its likely an air lock.

the air locks gotta be on the inlet side so remove the d.i from the equation and check again, still doing it? change the inlet hose

better? check the d.i and fittings

youve mentioned the hose, bypass it and see if that helps

so on and so forth

most problems in almost anything can be solved by having a think and eliminating things one at a time it shouldt be hard to find the fault its not a complex system

 

[Tuffers]

@Brandon, how high up is your pump? It's a good idea to have it sat as low as poss. When replying to a post it's a good idea to click the 'reply' button so that people can see who you're replying to and it also gives that person an alert that you've replied to their post :thumbsup:

 

[Bingo]

it's not something silly like the pump being a certain height over the water or being mounted a certain way up is it? just a thought

If your pump is above the tank, you should install a 'Non-Return Valve' in the hose feeding the pump.

The pump will work fine either laying FLAT or UPRIGHT..........most people install the pump at the lowest point possible with the 'Inlet/Outlet at the bottom of the pump.