[daz1977]

just been out doing a little job when half way through no water,  think pressure switch has gone on this pump only had it less than a week,

pump just seemed to be sucking no water through,  just a trickle at the brush,  cant wait for wintecs to open monday morning

rant  over

[Steve CM]

is the pump still running but not drawing water through?

[Steve CM]

do you have a strainer on the pump as well?

[daz1977]

yes to both, am going to take it apart to moz and have a look

i am ok to run a 100 psi with 100m of 6 mm aint i, as my other pump was 60 psi

[ftp]

Sounds more like an air lock to me. 

[Clive McDonald]

and me

[daz1977]

this might sound stupid, but if i have got too much pipe between pump say 2 m and tank and say anouther 1 m to di vessel and then about 4 m  to reel would this cause me problems, as i only put thsissystem together quickley so i could finish my jobs after i swapped tanks

[ftp]

99.9% sure you've got an air lock. Could be several reasons - check the obvious first like leaking joints and connectors, check the di vessel is well sealed on the lid, check that you have loads of ptfe tape on every threaded connection, make sure the tank is vented, get the pump as low as possible. Get rid of as many hoselock joints as you can - they are designed to seal under pressure and will always leak when the pump is off.

I have done all of the above and it runs a treat untill I get down to half a tank and brake hard - the water sloshes forward and the pump gulps a mouthfull of air again. My last pump ran for three years and has just started getting tired. If it's a new pump don't bother stripping it down - they are so simple that it's very unlikely to be the pump.

[daz1977]

have just emptyed the van, and can get water coming out of the tank all the way up to the pump, then nothing past the pump,  pump sounds like it is dieing,  getting really annoying now

[dai]

I had a problem last week and I was sure the pump or the Varistream was knackered. I then found out that if I disconnected the hose reel, the pump worked fine.
I pulled all the hose off the reel to check for kinks, no everything OK there.
I tried blowing down the hose and it seemed blocked.
I then found out that if I pushed in the hozelock connector where it fits into the centre of the hose reel the pump would start and water would flow.
I examined the connector and found it was the type with a stop on it, I got some narrow nosed pliers and removed the stop from the connector, bingo everything worked fine again.
What must have happened is over time the connector had worn, because the male connector on the centre spindle has to turn inside it when you wind in or pay out the hose. This ware enabled the connector to push back far enough for the stop lock to come into operation, this only happened when I turned off the flow and the system pressurised
Make sure that any connector you fit to your reel centre doesn't have a stop fitted inside it.
This may not be your problem, but it's definitely one we should all be aware of.

[daz1977]

its got to be the pump,  have connected the pump up to just a tank of water, with 2 foot pipeing and hardly any water comes out,   so its got to be the pump

[Craig - CW Window Cleaning]

check your voltage on battery mine done the same this week, charged the battery and hey presto.
It had 11.84 volts in it which I thought should of been enough but then charged it for a day.
I thought I had an air lock too stripped the vessel's down back together still didnt pump properly just trickled like yours.

cheers
craig

[daz1977]

will do, have tried everything else,  what volts do i need to run a 100 psi pump

[Mist A Bit]

i have problems with mine when batt slipps below 12.00volts. sone as my tester reads something like 12.15v i give it a charge and i think when fully charged its reads 12.74v also when my pump dont work well 99% of the time its the hozelock connection to the real spindle and if i remove it and put it back on its all fine again

[williamx]

You say you have strainers on the pump, these can get blocked with gung, remove strainers and see if pump works, if so take the wire mesh out of the strainer and clean.

If this does not work try increasing the pressure head settings, on the top of the pressure swith there is a allen key bolt that you turn.

[daz1977]

have take the strainers out and run it and it is not pulling water throught to the pump

[williamx]

Disconnect the pressure switch and see if this helps, you could also try sucking on the outlet pipe to see if you can draw the water though in case you have an airlock.

[Ian Lancaster]

I've always had trouble with pumps refusing to self prime.  With the pump switched off  I take the hose off the hosereel centre, hold the end up above the level of the pump then pour water into it.  The water runs down into the pump and helps it to prime.  The valves in the pump are just loose plastic flaps and if they get dry they leak air past them and so can't create the vacuum necessary to draw water into the pump.  Wetting them like this helps create the vacuum and so the pump draws water into itself.

I give the water a few seconds to run down into the pump, then switch on and away it goes.

Works every time for me