[Carpet Dawg]

HELP!

Think i need to stay away from powedered detergants! from now on!

When i press the trigger i lose pressure! goes all the way down to 100psi, then 50psi! Doesn't matter what i set it at to begin with. Need to prime the pump again to get 10 minutes worth of normal wanding before it does that again 

Started doing this yestarday at my last job and today its been a total nightmare!

This happend to me a few months ago and The Ken told me to run hot water through it to clear any crap caused by the powdered detergants from the pump! That worked back then but hasn't worked today when i tried it.

Any ideas??

Cheers
Tony

[robert meldrum]

I've used powders for around 10 years with no problems..............when I lose pressure it's almost always filters blocking from grit and lint. Yesterday a wand was acting up and I thought it was a hose problem but when I removed the filters both were completely blocked and only supplied a trickle even at 400 psi.

[Carpet Dawg]

Did the reading on the pressure gauge go down when u squezed the trigger though Robert??
What kinda filters are you talking about? I checked the ones inside the solution tank and its clean! Cant be the wand filters as it does it with my hand tools. I even changed the solution line in hope it might be that!  :

So much for running 3 liters of fresh water through the system every night  what a complete waste of life that was! 

[Fintan_Coll]

The worst scenario could be you need a new pump, but it is worth trying everything in the hope that you might hit on the problem. What type of pump is it, could it be drawing in air.

[Carpet Dawg]

PumpTec pump for my Airflex. Sounds silly, but how would i know if it is mate? When i "re-prime" the pump no air is present in the water...

Forgot to say, when i does start to loose pressure it makes a horrible noise as if its really struggling! The sound its makes when its running almost empty?

[Jon Oldham]

Had a similar problem myself a couple of times. Working in hard water areas clogged up filters etc. I mixed up some limescale remover in solution tank. Ran it through pump into wand for 30 seconds then left it for 5 minutes. Ran the remaining solution through. Worked a treat.

Just an idea incase it is limescale from hard water.

Regards

Jon

[stuart_clark]

I have a bit of expeience with pumptech pumps the 500 psi variety! try bleeding the pump with an open ended hose, this will dipell any air that might be trapped inside the thing, do this for about ten mins, if this dosent cure the problem its time to dismantle the pump, assuming the filters are clean and lint free! try putting descaler through it! start with hot water descaler and leave it in the pump for about half an hour, then flush well with clean water, as for podered detergents, i use noyhing else and they have never caused me any problems! hope yhis helps
regards Stu Clark

[wynne jones]

PumpTec pump for my Airflex. Sounds silly, but how would i know if it is mate? When i "re-prime" the pump no air is present in the water...

Forgot to say, when i does start to loose pressure it makes a horrible noise as if its really struggling! The sound its makes when its running almost empty?

As suggested run an open ended hose and pop it in the waste intake to help suck water through. Sounds like an air lock to me mate. Hope so, it's a cheap fix.

[Carpet Dawg]

^ I hope so mate! I'll try in the morning.  Cheap is the keyword here! lol

Like the limescale remover idea, going to get some tomorrow! Cheers.
This is my second pumphead, this one was fitted a few months ago, first one went after 320 odd hours and the machine is sitting at 521 now so i dont think its that type of problem..

Things like this can only happen when your heving with work ah! A right pain in the ar_e!! 

[Mike_Roper]

Is it not under warranty ?
I had similar probs with pumptec in a Speedster , replaced the head. Out of interest took old one t bits ad found the problem - a small peice of the alloy casing had come away and trapped under a valve holding it open , hence not sustainig pressure.
Mike

[Carpet Dawg]

It  was an air lock! thank god for that

It is under warranty Mike but cant have the down time. I have a steampro as a back up but really dont want to go back to 120psi even for a day lol