Pump Bypassing Excessively?

[Rudy]

My self serve bays use Cat 623's with Paraplate BR5's as regulators. On one of my bays, the "bypass" sound is higher than the other bays. One of my attendants noted, "Something about that bay doesn't sound right".

If you put your ear against the bypass hose and compare.....one bay is 2-3x louder.

The output in the bays appears to be normal. I use 2507 spray tips.

Any ideas about what is going on? Is this pump probably bypassing more than the others? If so, what would cause this....an obstruction in the hose and/or check valve feeding the bay?

 

[Kevin Reilly]

If you've ever taken a BR-5 apart to overhaul they do get pretty cruddy inside if you haven't done it in awhile.

What pressure do you run your 623's and what RPM are you running the pump(s)?

Do you have a pressure gauge on the pump to tell you what the pressure is?

One thing you might do is take the pressure down to near zero and then take it back up. Do this a few times and see if it doesn't change. (I would lubricate the shaft (pipe) where the water comes out the top of your BR-5 and when you get the pressure down low turn that shaft back and forth. We tend to not check on the regulators and they can get stuck.

Just a thought!

 

[Rudy]

1000 psi. Not sure about speed.

Pump is smooth. Pressure steady. Just a little noisier bypass sound....

 

[Kevin Reilly]

If all the connections are identical to the bay that seems to be making more bypass noise. Try doing what I suggested above. It really is a good idea to do this if you're using BR-5's to keep them loose (flexible). If you've ever taken one apart you see that there's not much to it s far as parts and there is not much movement inside of it. Lubrication (we use vaseline) is your friend. If that doesn't solve your problem you will have at least cleaned & checked the regulator!

 

[MEP001]

If the tips are the same, the pressures are the same, the pumps are running at the same speed and there's no blockage to the flow to that bay, there's probably nothing "wrong" with it. It may just be something slightly different inside the plumbing.

 

[JIMT]

1000 psi. Not sure about speed.

Pump is smooth. Pressure steady. Just a little noisier bypass sound....

Make sure the trigger gun trigger is pulled when you read the pressure.
JIMT

 

[Kevin Reilly]

Mep, you're probably right, but it doesn't hurt to check your BR-5's because there is not much movement in them and they do get corroded.

 

[MEP001]

It doesn't hurt to check them, and I never suggested not to, but in my experience they only get corroded when they start leaking, at which point they have to be opened up and rebuilt with new o-rings or replaced.

I've also seen issues with them actually bypassing too much, and unscrewing them completely to unseat the unit to flush out debris sometimes does the trick, but this is indicated by a drop in pressure. He says the pressure in the bay is normal, so there's nothing wrong indicated.