[Skyglide]

Anyone had varistream problems? Seems we have one at the moment that cuts out and stays out at a certain point on the dial.  Turn it back a bit and it works, but flow rate too low, turn it past the duff point and it still stays cut off or short pulses.

Any solutions or do I replace it?

[Village Gleam]

Hopefully someone who knows what they are talking about like peter foghill will post but in the meantime you've got me.

I'm an expert inasmuch as I have three, including the new digital one that I recieved today and I can;t get any of them to work.


Right, the answer is that you have a constriction somewhere in your system. Completley unwind your reel and look for kinks.
Do you have minbore?
On the digi ones you can reset the pressure cut off.

[NWH]

If you have the flow up to high it will do this,it will do this with microbore and normally it is because of this.Turn the flow down or alter the number inside the box so it`s set with the length of hose and width of hose.

[Village Gleam]

You've got a cold system?

[geefree]

You've got a cold system?

there was no need for that mr sol... hot water is not the norm yet.. although you are trying your best to set a trend, i think maybe this is not the post for you to tell us you are hot wfp... :0

sometimes mr sol..... :0

[tartan cleaning]

hi have you contacted williamsons pumps they are really helpfull does sound like the water is not able to get out have you checked for a blockage in the pipe?

[d s windowcleaning]

have you got a inline filter mate , this sounds like a problem i was having a few weeks ago i just removed the mesh from the strainer and gave it a clean it was all blocked up causing no flow then every now and then a big flow .

[john tomkins]

hi have you contacted williamsons pumps they are really helpfull does sound like the water is not able to get out have you checked for a blockage in the pipe?

No they are not really helpful,
I've had this problem on and off for more than a year now and they couldnt help me via the phone so told me to send in both the pump and varistream so they could bench test them, the pump is fine on its own so can only really be the varistream but would they think of sending me a new one while my one would be in for at least a weeks testing and I'd be without pump and varistream to work?
No they wouldn't

[cleantech.co.uk]

what size of pipe (internal diameter) are you using, and what length, also which varistream is it, this should be written on the circuit board inside.

[SherwoodCleaningSe]

My varistream does the same thing but I get plenty of flow before the point it cuts out.  You could do a few experiments, does it come out of an open hose no pole ok?  You have probably just got the blue dial set a bit too low, so at higher flow rates the pressure builds up too fast.  Just turn the dial up a bit more and experiment with the pole attached.   If you have a new digital varisteam the problem is even easier to fix as there is no blue dial and you just access the setting by pressing the up and down button together.

Simon.

[tartan cleaning]

hi have you contacted williamsons pumps they are really helpfull does sound like the water is not able to get out have you checked for a blockage in the pipe?

No they are not really helpful,
I've had this problem on and off for more than a year now and they couldnt help me via the phone so told me to send in both the pump and varistream so they could bench test them, the pump is fine on its own so can only really be the varistream but would they think of sending me a new one while my one would be in for at least a weeks testing and I'd be without pump and varistream to work?
No they wouldn't

well i thought they were anyway.

[East coast window cleaning Services]

varistream look is up in the dictionary Comes under nightmare.  .

heard very few words of encoragement about them hence why i will never buy one.

[john tomkins]

My varistream has been through every setting possible, blue dial and main dial, even had just the bare pump running (no pipe connected before or after) from a bowl of water and still it played up.
I used to use fan jets but haven't been able to for ages and ages now coz I cant get enough pressure to operate them correctly.

Good on paper, poor in practice

[drakestar!]

mine works fine with my shurflo 100psi pump, saves me loads of water

[frames to panes]

My digital one is fine but the older one never settles down from one day to the next.

[dai]

Your problem will almost certainly be back pressure, ie trying to force too much water out too quickly.
Forget about PSI of pump, as you will already have disabled the pressure switch, the PSI won't matter.
The flow rate of your pump however is a critical factor.
If you put a pump on that pushes out 10 ltrs a min you would be asking for trouble, I use a Sureflow agricultural pump that was rated at 60 PSI but as it has a high flow rate, I can only use the Varistream on the quarter to position.
Willamsons have tested the Varistream using a 100 PSI pump rated at 5 ltr a min, but even with this pump you may encounter problems if you are using micro bore.
If the water can't get out as fast as the pump is pushing it, you will get back pressure, when this back pressure builds to a certain level the Varistream will stop the pump, it senses that you have stopped the flow.
You haven't but the Varistream cant detect the difference between turning off the flow and back pressure that has reached the cut off point.
A hundred meters of micro bore on a reel offers a hell of a lot of resistance.
Imagine you are coming down a helter skelter, You will never travel at a speed comparable to coming down a straight slide. The friction of you pressing against the side slows you down, it's the same with water coiled on a reel.
If your problem is caused by back pressure, then the Varistream will run at a higher setting when all the hose is laid out in a straight line. Try that first. Dai

[john tomkins]

Good reply dai, but I had no hose attached whatsoever, just the inlet thread of the pump in water and it STILL cycled on and off.
Doesn't do it all the time but a pain when it does

[Skyglide]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I went to windex and spoke to Andrew of Williamsonpumps.

Using microbore 6mm X 100m is causing the problem with the varistream.  A condenser on the circuit board gradually swells and cannot be repaired.  They are not designed for the resistance of 6mm microbore.

The choice is upgrade hoses to 8mm or replace the controller when it starts to fail.

We have been running with microbore 6mm for 2 years without problems, so rather than change hoses we will replace the controller.

[Londoner]

I had exactly what you describe with my old one. Then one day it just stopped working. The switch / speed  numpty is weak. Rather the potentiometer that it operates is weak, not up to industrial standard. Give it a wiggle and you see it moves around.
 
I personally would have prferred one with a seperate switch and speed control. No advantage in having the two combined. When mine failed I put a meter across it and there was no output, move the switch around and the meter would flicker from time to time. Thats classic failed potentiometer.

The other thing is the water can get in down the shaft of the switch so if you have it mounted on a trolly and it gets soaked regularly its not good.

I suspect the digital one will avoid these problems.

They are not that dear, just buy a spare. Its cheaper than losing two days work.

[Londoner]

I'm just posting on this to bring it forward. There is another thread about varistreams running and it would be good to have this ruuning alongside.