[Alistair@AWC]

Hi Guys,

Ive just fitted a couple of Varistream 2's to my van mount but I just cant get the pressure that I want

Ive got 1 100psi Shurflo (6.4lpm) and 1 100psi Shurflo (5.2lpm), now when I had the 6.4lpm fitted with an on/off switch I got a real torrent of water coming out it was a little too high but I liked the speed that I could rinse with it.

Now even by messing with the internal blue dial on the Varistream I just cant replicate it. And the lower lpm of the pumps is really boring when rinsing

The System Set-Up

2 Varistream 2's
2 100psi Shurflo
2 700ml DI Vessels (with 1/4" fittings)
2 100m Microbore Hoses

All of the above is fiited together with 1/2 professional hosing (yellow).

Now the pressure seems high enough to ocassionally pop a joint, but I just cant get the pressure at the end of the pole.

Before somebody asks why I want the flow rate so high its just personal preference, water costs next to nothing to produce, ive got a 1000litre tank in the van, winter working days are short and I think rinsing at low pressure is really slowing us down!

Any ideas guys?

Al

[windowwashers]

Hi Guys,

Ive just fitted a couple of Varistream 2's to my van mount but I just cant get the pressure that I want

Ive got 1 100psi Shurflo (6.4lpm) and 1 100psi Shurflo (5.2lpm), now when I had the 6.4lpm fitted with an on/off switch I got a real torrent of water coming out it was a little too high but I liked the speed that I could rinse with it.

Now even by messing with the internal blue dial on the Varistream I just cant replicate it. And the lower lpm of the pumps is really boring when rinsing

The System Set-Up

2 Varistream 2's
2 100psi Shurflo
2 700ml DI Vessels (with 1/4" fittings)
2 100m Microbore Hoses

All of the above is fiited together with 1/2 professional hosing (yellow).

Now the pressure seems high enough to ocassionally pop a joint, but I just cant get the pressure at the end of the pole.

Before somebody asks why I want the flow rate so high its just personal preference, water costs next to nothing to produce, ive got a 1000litre tank in the van, winter working days are short and I think rinsing at low pressure is really slowing us down!

Any ideas guys?

Al

do you have filters on the pumps ?

[Alistair@AWC]

Hi Ian,

The 5.2lpm pump has an inline filter, but I do check it regulary

[john tomkins]

I'm sure the higher flow rate pump 8002? is not suitable for a varistream coz the amps are too high, when I had mine supplied(incorrectly) the flow was crap and kept cutting out had to get it swapped for the 8000 pump

[brightnclean]

I,m a bit confused with this 

The whole point of the Varistream is to be able to restrict/set your flow rate to where you want it. If you were happy with your flowrates pre-varistream why bother with it?

Just one thing though. 6mm (Microbore) can cause flow problems. I suspect your pumps were previously working their nuts off at full blast all the time to give you a decent flow rate on 6mm. Were you getting problems with pressure switches burning out a lot?

[Wayne Thomas]

Change your microbore hose (6mm) for minibore (8mm) and you will get more water flowing at a quicker rate because microbore is far too slow with a varistream fitted.

[NWH]

Change to minibore and get rid of the strainers,the strainers restict the flow rate.I fitted a strainer and had to turn the varistream round to about 3 o`clock to get any sort of flow so with 2 reels i would have been lucky to get any,with no strainer i only need to turn it to 10 o`clock for a torent of water.

[john tomkins]

Change to minibore and get rid of the strainers,the strainers restict the flow rate.I fitted a strainer and had to turn the varistream round to about 3 o`clock to get any sort of flow so with 2 reels i would have been lucky to get any,with no strainer i only need to turn it to 10 o`clock for a torent of water.

Trouble is you can knacker up the diaphragm by removing the strainer if any debris from the tank gets to the pump

[NWH]

I wouldn`t worry about it,how much debris can get into the pump if your that bothered just use a fish tank sieve from time to time to clear bits out of the tank.

[Alistair@AWC]

I,m a bit confused with this 

The whole point of the Varistream is to be able to restrict/set your flow rate to where you want it. If you were happy with your flowrates pre-varistream why bother with it?

Just one thing though. 6mm (Microbore) can cause flow problems. I suspect your pumps were previously working their nuts off at full blast all the time to give you a decent flow rate on 6mm. Were you getting problems with pressure switches burning out a lot?

The new 5.2lpm pump I got burnt out 3 pressure switches within a week so I contacted the supplier who said it was because I had an on/off switch fitted and would need a Varistream (although I suspected it was faulty) so I decided to buy 2 as the flow on the 6.4 lpm pump was slightly too high, but when I fitted the Varistreams the 5.2 lpm pump still constantly cycled so the supplier exchanged it.


I was starting to think about the Minibore but Im getting sick of forking out cash as ive got 2 100m microbores (One 18 months old and one 2 weeks old) would it make that much difference considering the flow is restricted to 1/4" hose going through the DI vessels and 5mm inner diameter through the pole hose

[Davew]

I had a problem with the varistreem constantly cycling and poor flow. It turned out to be the di vessel leaking a little at the threads. I only found out when i put the di after the pump. As soon as it pressured up i could hear it. So easiest things first would be to check everywhere for leaks. I also had too much pressure recently (enough to crush my reel) but very little flow. Things improved when i turned the blue dial back down and also backed off the varistreem dial. It seems to be a fine balance sometimes between pressure and flow. I'm sure there is a simple way to get it spot on.

[oliver collins]

Having had varistreams in the past, but before that i use to control the flow with a regulator you never get the same flow rate after you have installed a varistream as it restricts the voltage or ampage i forget which one.
Oliver Collins
Rise & Shine Cleaning
 

[macmac]

I have a 75psi pump in a ready made pump box with flow control lever on it ( 3.5 years old ) & have recently gone from 50m 1/2" to 80m minibore (8mm id). the first thing i noticed is the noise from the pump, it has to work harder the smaller the ID of the hose. I too work with a high flow rate & although i still get the flow rate i want at the brush the control lever has to be set higher.
From what i've read on here i would never entertain a varistream or 6mm id hose. I'm pretty sure i wouldn't get the flow i wanted with microbore & couldn't handle the hassle or lost time with a varistream.


tony

[NWH]

Varistreams work fine with 6mm microbore but better with 8mm,you have to adjust the blue dial inside the box depending on what type of hose your using.The problems will start with the hose if it`s not set right as it will give back pressure if it`s not shutting off soon enough,if you use a flow controller which uses pressure switches if this is the case and it`s not set right it will blow switches allday long.

[Davew]

Just a thought here - what if you changed your jets? Most jets seem to be 2mm i see gardiners do 3mm too. Wouldn't cost much to try.

[Alistair@AWC]

Hi Guys,

Just an update on this topic.

Ive now changed the microbore hoses to minibore, the 6.4lpm pump can now fire water out about 8 foot when turned up full but the flow from the 5.2lpm pump is still rubbish and thats with the strainers removed

Any ideas

AL

[Alex Gardiner]

Get rid of the Varistreams and the Shurflo pumps. This is where all of your problems are.

Get a 100psi (you can adjust this cut-off pressure) Flojet pump they are very well built and will work perfectly fine with just an on/off flow valve on the pole. Yes these pumps are more expensive to buy (less than a pump+varistream though), but there is usually a reason for tools being more expensive.

This pump will work perfectly well with 100m of microbore and will even power 2x100m of microbore with no problems. Minibore will probably give you too much flow rate with these pumps.

Make sure that you always fit a pre-pump strainer to any pump set-up as it only needs a small bit of tank swarf to rupture the diaphragm. On your first set-up of this pump system use our guidelines on the link below to 'tune' the pump to perfectly match your exact set-up. This should then give you years of trouble free, simple pumping.

http://www.gardinerpolesystems.co.uk/acatalog/What_pressure_delivery_pump_will_I_need_.html

By the way we do not supply either make of pumps so this information is not swayed by a desire to move stock!!

[Davew]

Still a fair bit cheaper than a varistream + shureflow, why do other suppliers recommend the first option Alex, is there ANY advantage in using a varistreem?

[JM123]

the problem is most likely to do with the di vessels only being 1/4inch fitting.  The 1/4 inch fittings are an od measurement, the id is closer to 3.5mm.

get rid of the vessels and di the water before the tank, we use 75m of microbore on one of our reels and can easily get 3 ltr/min through it using a 5.2ltr/min shurflo and varistream.

[Alistair@AWC]

Thanks for the replies Guys.

Alex, sorry but im not going to take your advice on this for the simple reason of the amount of money ive spent on these and the fact that the 2 pumps are set up identically yet the 6.4lpm pump is working great, I just need advice as to why the 5.2lpm pump isnt giving me the flow I need.

JM, I appreciate what your saying about the DI vessel as its a thought that crossed my mind but as I mentioned above each pump is set up identically including them both having a 800ml DI vessel each yet only one pump is doing the business