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Univalve Difficult to turn off.

Dabber

Active member
Messages
256
Location
Aylesbury
Hi

The univalve on one of my poles is becoming difficult to turn off, is there any thing I can do to the univalve to make the operation smoother. Didn’t want to put anything on it that might damage it.

cheers

dabber

 
Hi

The univalve on one of my poles is becoming difficult to turn off, is there any thing I can do to the univalve to make the operation smoother. Didn’t want to put anything on it that might damage it.

cheers

dabber
There’s a video on YouTube that shows you how to take them apart and grease them up. I tried it but it made no difference to mine 

 
It’s a good video. It’s very surprising how much dirt gets trapped in them. A friend took my univalve apart cleaned it. It did last another 3 months so it was worth it. 

 
Hi

The univalve on one of my poles is becoming difficult to turn off, is there any thing I can do to the univalve to make the operation smoother. Didn’t want to put anything on it that might damage it.

cheers

dabber
It's Christmas - go on treat yourself buy a new one ? 

Then service the old one and keep it as a spare.

 
It’s a good video. It’s very surprising how much dirt gets trapped in them. A friend took my univalve apart cleaned it. It did last another 3 months so it was worth it. 
Provided you have a strainer before your pump and keep hose fittings clean you shouldn’t really get any dirt in the univalve . 

Hi

The univalve on one of my poles is becoming difficult to turn off, is there any thing I can do to the univalve to make the operation smoother. Didn’t want to put anything on it that might damage it.

cheers

dabber
I would be tempted to try a dry lube or silicon spray into the uni valve to lubricate the o rings , obviously flush it through before cleaning windows but this might help 

 
Hi

The univalve on one of my poles is becoming difficult to turn off, is there any thing I can do to the univalve to make the operation smoother. Didn’t want to put anything on it that might damage it.

cheers

dabber
After fitting my first univalve the same thing happened to me. I later found out I had pushed the hose to far up the univalve tail. It meant the hose was touching the body every time I pulled it. I removed it from the pole and cut a few millimetres off the top of the hose and it started working fine. ?

 
Hi

The univalve on one of my poles is becoming difficult to turn off, is there any thing I can do to the univalve to make the operation smoother. Didn’t want to put anything on it that might damage it.

cheers

dabber
Have you washed out your pole sections with a hose incase you have grit fouling it 

Is it to tight in the upper pole section

Does it have a double ear O clip fouling the pole

How old is it 

If it's pulled open you could use some silicone grease on the shank but then it attracts grit

 
Have you washed out your pole sections with a hose incase you have grit fouling it 

Is it to tight in the upper pole section

Does it have a double ear O clip fouling the pole

How old is it 

If it's pulled open you could use some silicone grease on the shank but then it attracts grit
We don't use o clips on univalves when we use PU hose because once cooled you can't get them off. So we started fitting them without o clips and hose doesn't come off, mine anyway. ?

 
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If you use cold water it might just be that as the weather gets colder you need to recalibrate your controller or turn the flow rate down a bit as univalves can get a bit unreliable when the pressure behind them is increased. The colder the water is the thicker it gets which will in turn cause the pressure in your system to increase.  This will be more noticeable if you use fan jets.  This has worked for me in the past

If you do need to do maintenance, there's a small part that rotates about the center shaft of the univalve that allows it to close against the seal at the top or holds it back to allow the water to flow.  (It works a bit like a retractable ballpoint pen in reverse, only the whole shaft doesn't rotate, only the ring does)

If that part cannot rotate freely or has become worn it will also cause this problem. If it has become worn you won't be able to fix it. If it isn't rotating freely, stripping it down completely, cleaning it thoroughly and smearing a little silicone grease on the center shaft under the rotating part should fix it. 

 
Do you have a tubeless kit? In some circumstances a Univalve won't turn off if the hose stop/hose stay is fitted too tight. 
Good point, I make sure that I leave an inch or so of free play in the hose between the pole and brush for the Univalve to operate freely. Rarely get a problem.

I use your hose stops as they're very easy to adjust in position. Sorry folks if this sounds like a plug. It's not, it's a genuine observation/review/comment. ?

 
Hey ? your a new univalve convert. I have the above. You will be surprised how dirt gets in. You check. 
No I don’t use them I had one to try and it lasted less than 8 months , with the best part of 27 poles it would be expensive to put them on all poles we just pinch the hose ??

 
No I don’t use them I had one to try and it lasted less than 8 months , with the best part of 27 poles it would be expensive to put them on all poles we just pinch the hose ??
I bought two that @WW2015 had spare in May 2018 and they're still going strong. I wouldn't be without them now. Even if they only lasted 6 months I think I'd still buy them. 

 
Lol not at a cost of over £800 ?????
Maybe it's easy for me to say only having 2 poles in regular use ?

I've found though, that if you spend on anything that saves you time, you make it back quickly. But it's hard to notice the extra earnings as you go compared to the very obvious initial cost!

I noticed a definite improvement though in how fast we were completing houses, I think they paid for themselves in extra earnings within a few days or a week at most. 

 
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Univalves and Hoseless have made our work quicker and easier. We used to use a tap clipped to the belt but that meant clipping on and trailing a loop of pole hose which would get snagged, and then unclipping at the end of the job.

We finished our week's work on Thursday with 38 houses done in just less than six hours. Our highest number in one day, so far.

 
Thanks for all the help, I will try and open it up and see what I can do, if that fails then new one it is. it’s not a tubeless setup. I have increased the flow due to low temps the last few weeks so that might also not be helping.

 
Lol not at a cost of over £800 ?????
But that's relative to the size of business and you wouldn't be using all of the poles on a regular basis. A one man set up is only going to have 2 poles at most. With the extensions you can buy nowadays it might only be one. We have 6 poles but will reduce that to 4. 2 daily poles with extensions to take up to 35', a 47' pole with a 35' end pole to use in case of problems with the daily poles and a 60' pole. Never was a huge fan of Univalves but with all he travelling we will be doing soon then it's something we will be looking at. 

 
But that's relative to the size of business and you wouldn't be using all of the poles on a regular basis. A one man set up is only going to have 2 poles at most. With the extensions you can buy nowadays it might only be one. We have 6 poles but will reduce that to 4. 2 daily poles with extensions to take up to 35', a 47' pole with a 35' end pole to use in case of problems with the daily poles and a 60' pole. Never was a huge fan of Univalves but with all he travelling we will be doing soon then it's something we will be looking at. 
We are a bit different as we have 2 of each pole in the vans due to two staff in each , I liked the univalve but Ime not prepared to pay £  30-40 per pole just to turn water off when squeezing the hose does the same job , also it’s something else to go wrong and needs maintaining , just my opinion but for us it’s not cost effective . 

 
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