Wfp - the bane of my life!

[Clearview Lee]

Just disconnected the 3" hoses that connect to the brush head via pole hose and plastic 'Y' connector. So have 'Y' connector exposed connected to pole hose, not brush.

It seems to firing ok now thru one of the holes in the 'Y ' connector, but only about 35psi in the other!!??

Any clues??

 

[Smurf]

Best you read that page 1 pdf I uploaded on here that will tell you how to increase the dead end detection which will solve your problem

 

[Clearview Lee]

Thanks, man

 

[Aqua]

If you increase your dead end calibration a little then it will work with microbore hose. Dead end usually needs to be increased when the water gets colder in winter anyway.

So even if you do auto calibrate do you still need to increase it manually afterwards then?

 

[Smurf]

I've found it all depends how much you adjust the flow rate to what you set it too so it doesn't keep cutting in prematurely as ppl like to use different flow rates so there is no hard and fast setting. Air in the system will also exacerbate the problem and changing to a smaller bore hose you use too.

If you set it too high will cause the pump to run on too long when the water is stopped causing too much pressure to build up and blow the connectors. To low and will cut the pump out too early and will get the issue as op.

 

[Smurf]

@Clearview Lee did you get the issue sorted?

 

[spruce]

One of the big issues with some cleaners who have Spring controllers is that they assume that when they set the controller to a flow number believe they are infact setting it to a pressure.

I'm sure that this is why there is such confusion over the calibration settings behind the 'front screen'. No wonder they are confused when asked if they have calibrated the 'dead end' setting.

I would be interested to know what the sales percentages of the Spring Analogue controller are in comparison to the digital ones.

43 years ago I worked for a company that sold Broomwade air compressors and Devilbiss sprayguns. I was surprised back then of the number of people in the industry who couldn't understand the rationship between pressure and volume. It still appears to be the same.

Not having a go at Clearview Lee at all by the way./emoticons/smile.png

 

[Aqua]

One of the big issues with some cleaners who have Spring controllers is that they assume that when they set the controller to a flow number believe they are infact setting it to a pressure.
I'm sure that this is why there is such confusion over the calibration settings behind the 'front screen'. No wonder they are confused when asked if they have calibrated the 'dead end' setting.

I would be interested to know what the sales percentages of the Spring Analogue controller are in comparison to the digital ones.

43 years ago I worked for a company that sold Broomwade air compressors and Devilbiss sprayguns. I was surprised back then of the number of people in the industry who couldn't understand the rationship between pressure and volume. It still appears to be the same.

Not having a go at Clearview Lee at all by the way./emoticons/smile.png

Must admit mine is a spring controller and I'm not sure I understand it correctly. Trouble is I took a lot of advice from someone I know with a wfp system and not sure all of it is correct. I was told when you do the auto calibrate on it that this figure is the amount of water it is using but I'm not sure that's true is it? Is that the dead end setting?

The instructions that come with them are poor to say the least as well

 

[spruce]

Must admit mine is a spring controller and I'm not sure I understand it correctly. Trouble is I took a lot of advice from someone I know with a wfp system and not sure all of it is correct. I was told when you do the auto calibrate on it that this figure is the amount of water it is using but I'm not sure that's true is it? Is that the dead end setting?
The instructions that come with them are poor to say the least as well

No it's not the amount of water it is using. Auto calibrate is the dead end setting.

 

[Aqua]

So is there no way of reducing the water volume then? All you can adjust is the pressure?

 

[spruce]

By volume I presume you mean flow usually measured in litres per minute. When you switch the controller on and the pumps starts - that's the flow controller. Arrows up speed the pump up, arrows down slows it down. When the pump slows it doesn't pump as much water but the water pressure you have calibrated stays the same.

Pressure is the force exerted to move the water.

 

[spruce]

To help further with this have a close look at the analogue controller on Gardiner's website.

http://gardinerpolesystems.co.uk/all-products/pump-hose/pump-controllers/easy-analogue-liquid-logic-trade-pump-flow-controller.html

This does the same thing as your digital controller - its just a bit more simple to operate. I think it will also help you understand a little better the relationship between pressure and flow.

This controller has two rotary contol k nobs on the front panel. The left is slightly larger than the right control k nob.

The left control is for pump flowrate and the right control is for Shut off calibration.

As you turn the left controller clockwise the speed of the pump increases as so does the flow rate. The controller on the right increases shutoff pressure as it is also rotated clockwise.

This controller requires manual adjustment of its calibration. Your digital Spring controller's shutoff pressure can be set both manually and automatically. Just as with the analogue controller, your digital controller has two levels of control. The top level or first level is the one that controls the water flowrate (speeds pump up or slows it down) like the left k nob on the analogue controller and the second level (behind the scenes) controls the shutoff pressure, the right k nob on the analogue controller.

An ordinary Shurflo water fed pole pump has a mechanical pressure switch built into it. It is set to stop the pump at about 100psi.

But a digital or analogue controller like Springs allows you to reduce that cut out pressure - this saves battery power and reduces stress on the pump, hoses and connectors.

The pump doesn't need to work as hard to push water through a 10 meter length of hose as it would need to with 100 meters of hose. Pushing water through microbore requires more pressure than pushing the same amount of water through minibore hose which has a bigger internal diameter. So you can adjust the shutoff pressure to suit your circumstances.

 

[Clearview Lee]

Sorry, I've only just seen these extra replies. I thought I must come back here, and day thanks very much all you great people!! And I mean 'great people!!' This is a wonderful site.

Anyway, I decided to 'Charge it over night' and Bingo!

After that it lasted about 5 days with the split charge relay also. (Until yesterday) before it started to dribble again. I charged it all last night, and is working a dream this morning.

So my question is; is it okay to charge it all night once a week or so??

 

[spruce]

Sorry, I've only just seen these extra replies. I thought I must come back here, and day thanks very much all you great people!! And I mean 'great people!!' This is a wonderful site.
Anyway, I decided to 'Charge it over night' and Bingo!

After that it lasted about 5 days with the split charge relay also. (Until yesterday) before it started to dribble again. I charged it all last night, and is working a dream this morning.

So my question is; is it okay to charge it all night once a week or so??

I'm glad you have started to get it sorted.

If you have an Intelligent battery charger then you can leave it on for the weekend if you want. They are designed to be left on the battery for the whole winter in a motorhome to ensure that the battery is always fully charged.

http://www.tayna.co.uk/Numax-Leisure-Battery-Charger-10A-P6127.html

There are plenty of other makes available that do the same job, but they must be leisure battery chargers. CteK make one and Halford also supply one - but you need to ask the Halfords staff if the charger you buy from them can be left on all winter if need be.

I supplementary charge mine every second night. It must work as this current battery is 4 years old. It drives a 2 man system. If I have to run the lead out for the frost heater, I will plug the charger in as well as it only takes a second. It gets left on all night.

For your battery to perform best and last for as long as possible you shouldn't let it drop to below 75% of charge. Each time you flatten it you speed up its demise - you use one of its cycles.

Here's the Maths.

Your battery is a 110 amp h battery. If your pump draws 4 amps (using your controller) an hour and you estimate your pump worked for 5 hours that day, then you have used up 20 amps of your battery charge. (Your pump doesn't work for the full time you are cleaning windows.) This leaves 95amp plus any charge your alternator has put back in. If you do the same the following day, then your battery is left with 75 amp plus 3 or 4 the alternator has added travelling around if you do minimal mileage like we do.

If you have 80 amps left in your battery after your two days of work then your battery is only 70% charged. This senario seems to agree with your experience this week.

Its also our experience over the past 5 years that I have been monitoring this and the previous leisure battery I had in the van before this.

Another point to remember is that your battery performance can drop by as much as 25% in the winter when the temperature is very cold. The batteries in each of our vans sit on a 12mm thick piece of rubber to isolate them from the cold of the metal of the van's floor. A piece of wood will also work.

BTW, this Numax charger comes with two fly leads, one with crocodile clips to fit the battery and the other a permanent fixture that you bolt onto the battery so you just need to plug your charger into this flylead. This helps me as my battery isn't in an easy to reach place.