Cat 1010 pump gets hot

[Rudy]

In thirty years in this business, I've never seen this.

I have a single Cat 1010 that supplies my spot free water to my 3 Self Serve bays via 3 solenoids.

I noticed that the pump sounded slightly rougher than normal. The output (and also bypass) hose was pulsating somewhat. I brushed my arm against the Paraplate BR5 pressure regulator, and WOW. It was almost hot enough to burn me. You couldn't hold your hand against it.

The water in the bypass hose was indeed hot.

The oil level in the pump was right on the mark.

I let the pump cool....and could not duplicate the problem.

The pump was running cool. The exit water was ambient, and the water exiting the wand was also ambient temperature.

The ONLY thing I can guess......could a customer have been using the Spot Free Rinse for an extended amount of time, without having the trigger gun full on? That would cause an excessive amount of bypass for a long time.

Other than that, I don't have a clue.

Ideas?

 

[OurTown]

Have you somewhat recently added count-up on credit cards or raised the per swipe amount if you already were on count-up? Do you have the bypass routed back to the tank or is it still returned to the pump like Super Wash built it? We routed ours back to the tank which should keep it cooler even when bypassing a lot of water. Also we still occasionally have the issue of pump chatter after doing every mod you and others suggested over the years so I checked the pulley size on the pump. It was way oversized and was pumping something like 12 GPM. If only one bay was on then it would bypass dang near 10 gallons even with the trigger pulled. I installed a much smaller pulley that calculates to about 8 GPM (IIRC) and the pump sounds like it just putters along effortlessly.

 

[OurTown]

Also, are you sure you are using a BR5? That seems small compared to the BR10 we used to use and I wonder if that could play into it.

 

[Rudy]

I'm sorry, yes it's a BR10.

Also..

Yes the bypass is plumbed back into the pump.

I wonder how this just got noticed after 30 years.....

 

[edredtop]

I've had this issue when an unloader is taking a dive and the water is set up to recirculate back to the pump.
It also can get hot if a customer drives off and leaves a pump running for an extended period of time with this same configuration.
I now run the bypass water back to the reservoir and it keeps things cool.

 

[edredtop]

Have you somewhat recently added count-up on credit cards or raised the per swipe amount if you already were on count-up? Do you have the bypass routed back to the tank or is it still returned to the pump like Super Wash built it? We routed ours back to the tank which should keep it cooler even when bypassing a lot of water. Also we still occasionally have the issue of pump chatter after doing every mod you and others suggested over the years so I checked the pulley size on the pump. It was way oversized and was pumping something like 12 GPM. If only one bay was on then it would bypass dang near 10 gallons even with the trigger pulled. I installed a much smaller pulley that calculates to about 8 GPM (IIRC) and the pump sounds like it just putters along effortlessly.

Wouldn't a smaller pulley on the pump increase the RPM and the volume of water?

 

[OurTown]

Wouldn't a smaller pulley on the pump increase the RPM and the volume of water?

Yes. Now that you mention it I remember now that I changed the motor pulley to a smaller one.