[SherwoodCleaningSe]

Hi Guys

I wondering if any body that has Vyair pumps can help.  On their website it states that the 12V 7Litre pump is a 3 amp draw.  I've ordered and installed 2 thinking that it would help my battery as I was running flojets running at 9 amps each. Just after finishing the job of installing them I noticed that on the pump it states "RATED CURRENT 10A".  I've sent off an email with a query but am awaiting a reply. I was wondering if anybody has come across this before and if they know what the true value of this pump is.

By the way I think from what I've seen that the pumps are good and well worth the money.  It would just be good to know exactly what your buying.

Simon.

[Spruce]

Hi Simon
I asked the question of Vyair twice and never got a response. The manufacturer does give a 3amp rating for a 24v pump, but nothing for a 12v pump. According to the formula the 12v pump should be drawing twice the amps which is a fraction more than the Shurflo that I am using at the moment.

Ian Rochester from lionheart Cleaning has just purchased one and a said he would put it on an amp meter to test current draw once he got it connected up.

See
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=123445.0
and
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=121539.0

Spruce

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

Hi Simon
I asked the question of Vyair twice and never got a response. The manufacturer does give a 3amp rating for a 24v pump, but nothing for a 12v pump. According to the formula the 12v pump should be drawing twice the amps which is a fraction more than the Shurflo that I am using at the moment.

Ian Rochester from lionheart Cleaning has just purchased one and a said he would put it on an amp meter to test current draw once he got it connected up.

See
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=123445.0
and
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=121539.0

Spruce

Thats embarrassing, one of those threads was started by me.  I'll see how they compare with my old flojets. I will report back on performance and the effect on the battery. I do feel a little conned though when what is printed on the pump is different to what is on the website.  They look and sound like great pumps at a great price, but there is a 300%+ in the amperage.

Simon.

[alanwilson]

can't sleep as usual - my insomnia is driving me nuts.

anyway, why does it matter what ampage the pump draws?  surely a split relay will do the trick. 

[Spruce]

Hi
Thanks for the interesting comments regarding this.

I think that an average current draw is a good stat as what Simon wants the answer to is the same as I am interested in. If you can get someone to give a current draw on both pumps under the same conditions, then you have something to base a decision on.

At first the pump is 'advertised' with a 3 amp current draw which to us is very important and my Shurflo 'advertises' their at 5.8amps at 100 psi. Logically, looking at Vyairs website, 2 Vyair pumps working together will draw a similar current to 1 Shurflo. This is a good enough reason to change over the Vyair Pumps.

I still ask the question though; where do they get the amp draws for the higher delivery pumps then at 8amps? I bet its the same motor, and yes it will have to work harder to deliver a higher volume of water, but I can't make sense of this large difference.

Because of this I will continue to use Shurflo pumps, which up till now have given me very good service coupled to Varistreams. They have proved themselves to me, whereas the Vyair pump has got good reviews from windies using them, but haven't as yet stood the long term performance tests.

The price difference between the 2 is not that great either. The price difference is about £20.00 and over a 5 year period that's nothing IMHO.

Spruce  

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

can't sleep as usual - my insomnia is driving me nuts.

anyway, why does it matter what ampage the pump draws?  surely a split relay will do the trick. 

I have a split charge relay, but it's not much good when your standing still.  Next tuesday as an example I'm working at a gas plant, I will use my full tank of water without moving my truck, because it is a gas plant I'm not allowed to leave the engine ticking over to charge the battery, mobile phones aren't even allowed on site.


Simon.

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

"I do feel a little conned though when what is printed on the pump is different to what is on the website.  They look and sound like great pumps at a great price, but there is a 300%+ in the amperage."

I don't think that there's anything to be upset about here.

First of all, the flow rate is stated as 7 litres per minute. That is the open flow rate. You'll get a much lower flow rate if you're using a brush with couple of fan jets working at a height of 15 meters and at the end of 100 m of microbore hose. It doesn't mean that they're being dishonest about the flow rate, it's just that they're stating a result that they can reliably measure.

Also, the current they're stating as 3 A probably refers to an open flow. It will probably be a bit higher if the pump has to do more work pushing water through a long, narrow hose. Again, they aren't being dishonest, but they can't easily guarantee a specific current for a variety of different hose types and lengths mch less different jetting in your brushes.

The 10 A rating probably means that the pump will draw 10 A without overheating. It probably isn't designed to work at that current. 3 A sounds much more likely as a working current. It will be rated at 10 A so you have a safety margin built in.

As I said before, don't get hung up on numbers. They can't tell the whole story. Rely on other people's reports about the pump.

(It's a bit like that with cars, isn't it. The numbers don't tell you whether it's a dream to drive or a pig on wheels.)

Not getting upset, I just want to know what pumps are better for the battery.  We all know different manufactures measure from different points.  As an example some pole manufactures name their poles after the reach where as others name it after the actual length of the pole, if I purchased a pole that was 3 ft short I'd be a little cheesed off.

The only reason I got these poles was because of the 3 Amp advertising yet 10 Amps is printed on the pump, I just want to know if I'm gonna have a flat battery.

Simon.

[Spruce]

Hi Simon,

My gut feel is that it will draw a similar current to your existing pumps, so at the tail end of the day, you probably won't notice too much of a difference.

It would be interesting to see what you feel after the Tuesday run using the new pump.

I also run a split charge relay and as my daily mileage is small, have to supplement the battery charge every 3 or 4 days with just me working.

Spruce

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

Got through abbout 600 litres of water yesterday with the truck in one spot. After the battery had settled down from the split charge relay it read 13.1 volts, after the days work and before setting off hoe it read 12.8 volts. I have a 130 AH elecsol agm carbon battery.  So only a slight drop over the whole day.  I've noticed the calibration settings are under half of the other pumps as well.

My conclusion is that these pumps are a lot more efficient even though they have 10 amps printed on the side. Time will tell as to how robust they are.

Simon.

[Spruce]

Got through abbout 600 litres of water yesterday with the truck in one spot. After the battery had settled down from the split charge relay it read 13.1 volts, after the days work and before setting off hoe it read 12.8 volts. I have a 130 AH elecsol agm carbon battery.  So only a slight drop over the whole day.  I've noticed the calibration settings are under half of the other pumps as well.

My conclusion is that these pumps are a lot more efficient even though they have 10 amps printed on the side. Time will tell as to how robust they are.

Simon.

Hi Simon,
Just a thought. My guess is that you have an inline fuse somewhere before the pump which on my Shurflo's are 10amp.
Would it give you an indicator if you removed the 10amp fuse and replaced it with a 5 amp. If the motor draws more current than this then the fuse will pop.
Spruce

edited. as your Vyairs are 7 lpm then you would need to reduce the calibration of your flow controller for the same flow if your previous pumps delivered less.

[LHill]

it might be the peek rating.. ie when you first turn the pump on it will need more current to get going, after that it will settle down.