my pump is driving me crazy!!

[ShellBean_1]

i have a general pump 3000psi. it was leaking between the wet & dry sides telling me the brass & packings are bad.i ordered new brass ,packings,ceramics,check values.reassembled and the pump ran fine but leaking was still there.last weekend it lost pressure from 3000 to 1000 the washer that goes on in front of the ceramics was eaten by the mac. & stuck in the outlet check v.i cleaned & reassembled brass ,pack.,ceramics all look fine. the pump will push up to 3000 then as soon as you pull the trigger back to 1000.i have taken everything apart that could possibly suck air retaped, reassimbled,check hoses,etc. does anybody have any suggestions?p.s i took apart the unloader to check for a restriction.

 

[Roman]

buy a new pump. General pump is only 300 or so. Sounds like you got more in the rebuild than a new pump would cost you.

 

[Dan S]

Those unloader's will wear. They may look good but nothing beats a new one.....

 

[DanKes]

If it is still leaking, the head may be warped. If that is the case, replacement of the pump is best. You can see if it is warped by removing the pump head, and laying it on a flat surface. If there is any gap at all, you're screwed.

 

[john orr]

This just happened to me a couple of months ago. Disassemble and examine your downstream injector. A small piece of valve or gasket may have broken-off and gotten lodged inside.

 

[Robert Willia]

Also check for a cracked ceramic plunger. These are hard to see sometimes. A crack does not explain the low pressure just the leak.
It sounds like you have a pressure type unloader. The reason I say this is you said that you have 3000 PSI until you pull the trigger on the gun then it drops to 1000 PSI. This means that you have the gauge after the unloader and it is reading the pressure in the hose when is in bypass. You can bypass the unloader and connect your gun & hose directly into the pump, this is best with two people. You do not want let go off the trigger! And only run it briefly to see if you have 3000 PSI. If you do, its the unloader. If you are uncomfortable doing this, buy a new unloader. Since you rebuilt the pump I would consider that your engine may be running on one cylinder. It will sound normal but have half the power. Pull each plug wire and check for spark. Briggs are know for this.

Robert Williamson

 

[Robert Willia]

Johns rite, check the injector first.

 

[Mark]

You mentioned "the washer in front of the ceramics" it is best to replace the piston bolt kit with the plungers (Kit#6) this has the brass washers, piston bolts and o-rings etc.

If you are running the pump with a missing or damaged washer, or o-rings on bolts you would have leaks.

It sounds to me like there is something more serious goin on here.

Click on the link below for a breakdown of a General TS 2021 pump.

http://store6.yimg.com/I/pressurewasherzone_1773_4362494

 

[EXTREME]

if your engine is running on one cylinder it will NOT sound the same. I had this problem last year. one of my pistons were not firing, and you could definitly tell the difference. Does your engine slow down and sound like it wants to stall when you pull the trigger? If so, that could be a piston not firing.

 

[Larry L.]

looks like the other guys have you covered if not check the size tip in the end of the wand.If your running a downstreamer the psi will drop when you pull the trigger if you have a soap tip in the wand.

 

[Scott Stone]

I have had two briggs engines that had one piston shatter, and it kept running, and sounded normal. Of course, that is just my experience.
Since the pump is leaking from the head, there are three places usually that it has to leak, in order for water to come out from between the head, and the Dry end of the pump.
Water is either going around the piston, or it has bad packings, or through the piston, the seals on the end of the plungers are bad, or a piston is cracked, so these are the three options that you have to choose from. You said you rebuilt the pump, I assume that to mean that you put in new packings. I would pull the head and do a quick visual to see if the packings have somehow been damaged in the installation. You can quite often either see or feel it by sticking your little finger in and runing around the edge. If there is nothing there, and since one of the retaining washers was missing, I would go ahead and replace all of the retaining washers, and the o-rings on the ends of the plungers. While you have the plunger out, you might as wel inspect them to make sure that they are not cracked. You will need to look at them really close to see a hairline crack. Put it all together, and make sure you use the proper tolerances, because you do not want to crack a plunger, and see if there is a leak. If there is, there might be something even more troubling wrong, and it is time to spring for a new pump. That should also take care of the pressure drop.
From the description, if the guage is on the pump head, you have a flow unloader, and if it is on the unloader, it is a pressure unloader. That being the case, the answer to your problem is different for each one. I would bet that if you get the leak taken care of, that it will solve a lot of your problems.
ANother thign that you will want to check is the valves. Pull them al out, and suck on the end of them. If you can easily pull air through the valve, you need to either take out the blockage, or replace it, if you can't see the blockage. This can really have an effect on the pressure.

Just some of the stuff that I have dealt with before.

Scott Stone

 

[Dan S]

Great Detail Scott ........

 

[Mark]

10-4 You said it quite well, good to see you on the PWN!

 

[Scott Stone]

I had another thought tonight while I was washing. Part of the pressure drop could be that your water filter is plugged. It allows enough water through to get 3000 PSI, but there is not enough water getting through to operate at 3000 PSI. It would be the same as lowering the water volume through the pump< which you are doing. >

Scott

 

[ShellBean_1]

many thanks to all of you who replied. i now have the answer! i replaced the unloader(pressure type), pressure switch,new pump.the machine still ran rough,up to 2250,then2800,then1800,up and down on the pressure.i scratched my head checked everything again,then it hit me this happened to me years ago & through all my excitment these past couple of weak i had forgotten to put the floating tank heater back in the tank.if the water in your supply tank gets to cold,your pump will chatter like it is sucking air 22.00 @tractor supply & the next day i was up & running again 3000psi. thank goddness!!i have never been so confused,everything went bad at once.thanks again for all the suggestions.

 

[Dan S]

It must get colder in Ohio then it does in PA.

I have never heard of the cold h20 in your tank ..


And to think I use to pump outa a dam they call coldstream. where the water temp is just a hair above frezzing .

Where do you get your Info. from ?

All these years of hauling 425 gal of h20 have I needed a tank heater ....... and my pump never sucks air or acts like it .....

 

[Mark]

I think the "too cold" referred to was frozen.

 

[Dan S]

Ahhh thats it !

That explains why the h20 was'nt flowing!!

 

[Aplus]

When he mentioned the pump chattering, I figure it was cavitation. Sounds like ice in the water to me.

 

[ShellBean_1]

we carry 1000 gal. of water & it will freeze on the top. I keep a heat lamp on the garden hose connection to keep it from freezing up. This will generally keep the rest of the tank from freezing. I have always kept the tank heater in the tank to avoid getting ice in my machine & to keep the freezing on top to min. so that it will not expand & crack my tank. I did find ice pieces in my unloader block ,thus probably causing my captivation.We don't always use all of our water so it stays stored in the tank.I am still very interested in how you manage to wash in zero weather & never freeze a lock,parking lot,etc.(dan) Hope this makes more sense!!