Not sure what

[Chris34]

Just had a look and spec says 4.5 lpm (max) for the pump on the nano trolley. So real world I would guess it's more like 2.5lpm, maybe a little less. I guess that's why you can run at 100% flow and still get over 15mins from a barrel.
I think sometimes we don't know what kit people are working with and they all have different spec so people will run very different numbers on their controllers.

Thanks for looking into that. I've never bothered looking into it but I have thought in the past that the controller settings that everyone states they use will probably be a different flow depending on how it's all calibrated. I've no clue about any of it but common sense tells me that there must be more to it and it's like comparing Apples to Oranges.

I might take a look at it over the weekend as I've had it for 3 years now and have never checked any of it. For all I know one of the pipes might be slightly blocked.

 

[Chris34]

I have no idea how you make it last that long we empty a 25 ltr barrel in around 8 muinits when softwashing using a 10 softwashing nozzle and very similar time if using wfp brush with 2mm pencil jets it certainly does pump the stuff out fast on 99 ,it’s as fast as a van mount .

Yeah, something must be different or not right. Can't think of anything other than a blockage somewhere. The pipes leading to the jets are 5mm minimum so there can't be any pinch points.

Maybe it's the controller? If the controller is at maximum pelt at 100 then that's the limit, but if it were possible to make it go to say 120 then maybe I'd get more flow? Maybe the controller you are using allows a higher flow at 100 compared to mine. Really don't know but I'll have a look at it over the weekend.

Don't want to mess it up though, been working well with it at 100, if it suddenly emptied a barrel in 8 minutes I wouldn't know where to go with the correct setting to get it how I like.

 

[ched999uk]

Thanks for looking into that. I've never bothered looking into it but I have thought in the past that the controller settings that everyone states they use will probably be a different flow depending on how it's all calibrated. I've no clue about any of it but common sense tells me that there must be more to it and it's like comparing Apples to Oranges.

I might take a look at it over the weekend as I've had it for 3 years now and have never checked any of it. For all I know one of the pipes might be slightly blocked.

I am always curious to learn stuff.
As far as I am aware most of the digital controllers are all made by Spring with the sellers logos on! The flow number is a % of speed the pump is running at. So in theory at 100% the pump is running flat out at 50% it should, providing a linear speed vs flow, pump half it's rated flow.
Pumps are normally rated without any restrictions. So having hose connected to the pump will create losses in flow, longer thinner pipe more losses. It could be that there is a bit of a kink in a pipe or in the pickup that causes a lower flow on your vs other people using the nano or they changed the spec of the pumps between yours and PJJ?

If you do find a kink in yours that just slows down your max flow, so if you fix it then you need to lower flow number to get same lts per min. Before investigating it might be worth timing how long it takes to fill a 1 litre container via your brush jets and normal hose, that way if you fix anything you can tweak the flow setting to get same timings on your 1 litre fill.

As for calibration, on the spring system the calibration is all about dead end (DE) detection. i.e. knowing as quickly as possible when you close a tap or univalve on your hose and opening it up as quick as possible after you open the tap or univalve. It basically monitors the current that the pump is drawing and then if that current increases the controller assumes a dead end and stops the pump. While the controller is at DE it checks what current the pump would draw to determine if the tap/univalve has been opened.
So the calibration won't actually change the flow at all, it's just kinder to the pump to have the calibration set. Otherwise it uses the pumps pressure switch (PS) which is not really designed to take much 'high' current switching so fails over time.

Hope that makes sense?

 

[Pjj]

Yeah, something must be different or not right. Can't think of anything other than a blockage somewhere. The pipes leading to the jets are 5mm minimum so there can't be any pinch points.

Maybe it's the controller? If the controller is at maximum pelt at 100 then that's the limit, but if it were possible to make it go to say 120 then maybe I'd get more flow? Maybe the controller you are using allows a higher flow at 100 compared to mine. Really don't know but I'll have a look at it over the weekend.

Don't want to mess it up though, been working well with it at 100, if it suddenly emptied a barrel in 8 minutes I wouldn't know where to go with the correct setting to get it how I like.

To be honest Evan when softwashing the flow on 99 is more than enough quite often we have it on 80 and that’s plenty it really surprised me how much water it pumps out it's an awesome thing , we only use it for chemical application either virosol, hypo, or biocides not for window cleaning on my van mount fir window cleaning the controllers are on 64 and that’s plenty of flow , on the nano trolly I recon I get the same flow wjth a setting of 45-50 but we are only putting that through 20 meters of hose not the usual 100 so that will make a difference.

 

[Chris34]

I am always curious to learn stuff.
As far as I am aware most of the digital controllers are all made by Spring with the sellers logos on! The flow number is a % of speed the pump is running at. So in theory at 100% the pump is running flat out at 50% it should, providing a linear speed vs flow, pump half it's rated flow.
Pumps are normally rated without any restrictions. So having hose connected to the pump will create losses in flow, longer thinner pipe more losses. It could be that there is a bit of a kink in a pipe or in the pickup that causes a lower flow on your vs other people using the nano or they changed the spec of the pumps between yours and PJJ?

If you do find a kink in yours that just slows down your max flow, so if you fix it then you need to lower flow number to get same lts per min. Before investigating it might be worth timing how long it takes to fill a 1 litre container via your brush jets and normal hose, that way if you fix anything you can tweak the flow setting to get same timings on your 1 litre fill.

As for calibration, on the spring system the calibration is all about dead end (DE) detection. i.e. knowing as quickly as possible when you close a tap or univalve on your hose and opening it up as quick as possible after you open the tap or univalve. It basically monitors the current that the pump is drawing and then if that current increases the controller assumes a dead end and stops the pump. While the controller is at DE it checks what current the pump would draw to determine if the tap/univalve has been opened.
So the calibration won't actually change the flow at all, it's just kinder to the pump to have the calibration set. Otherwise it uses the pumps pressure switch (PS) which is not really designed to take much 'high' current switching so fails over time.

Hope that makes sense?

Yeah that's what I was thinking. I connect mine to pole hose after about a metre of the larger hose coming out of the machine. I can't remember how long the pole hose is now but I remember making a length long enough to do two sides of a semi (roughly), so in theory it's only one trolley movement on a semi after starting.

Think PJ got his much more recently so there might have been an upgrade but I wouldn't imagine it would be twice as fast so it must be something to do with the hoses / filter.

I'll have a look at it over the weekend, I've got to have a look at it anyway as I split a hose and had a connector blow itself apart today so got to sort that out before Monday, while I'm at it I'll have a look at the pump.

 

[spruce]

The temperature of the water makes a big difference to flow rate as does the length and internal diameter of the hose.

We have also found a big difference between hose left coiled on the reel compared to the same hose fully pulled out lying flat and straight on the ground.

Resistance in the system to the brush head also makes a further difference to flow on our van. For example, I have only used my diesel heater once in the past 3 weeks. Our water is still pumped through the heater's water to water plate heat exchangers. They cause a noticeable flow restriction with the internal turbulence of the water being driven through those narrow gaps between the plates.

Somewhere on here are the results of flow rates at the brush and current draw comparing minibore and microbore using the same pump and same controller. No inline diesel heater involved with that experiment.