Is a regulator needed for Cat 310 Pumps?

[slash007]

Most commonly, wax is mixed with hot water just like the soap and doesn't use the rinse solenoids. The quickest way to confirm would be to turn a bay on wax and see if the rinse solenoid coil is energized.

I will try that and see. In regards to the problem bay, it is likely that the check valve is the culprit. All the check valves for the weep are the same, but maybe this one has an issue and sticks or something. I will try replacing it today as an experiment.

 

[pgrzes]

In theory your plan would work... But in reality, I think the solenoids have too small of an orifice for incoming water not to be pressurized. I think you would run into cavitation problems.

If that were the case on a supersaver pumpstand wouldnt it just draw more water from the water tank?? There are not any solonoids to stop flow from the tank just the rinse side.?.?

 

[JGinther]

If that were the case on a supersaver pumpstand wouldnt it just draw more water from the water tank?? There are not any solonoids to stop flow from the tank just the rinse side.?.?

So you aren't going to "switch" water sources? I guess if you wanted to have hot and cold water mixing together for rinse, it would work fine. If you want to totally switch the incoming water, you would have best results with a dual inlet valve (like an erie 3 way) since you never run the risk of starving the pump in the case of a solenoid failure.

 

[pgrzes]

What I would like to accomplish is to use as much reject water as possible. I would like to draw rinse water from a reject storage tank. Inside that tank i will have a low water float valve with city water so I dont run dry.

 

[JGinther]

You could maybe save some big bucks if your r.o. system is sufficiently sized: you could interrupt the float switch that starts the r.o. production through n.o. contacts on pump contactors or relays driven when pump is on... you could then parallel a lower level switch in the tank that will turn on the r.o. so that you dont run out. Then you would just direct the reject water to the main rinse tank. It would save some space in the equipment room anyways...

 

[slash007]

I just spent a few hours at the wash and wanted to type up an update before I totally lose my mind for the night... I started out by cleaning the screen on the regulator. It wasn't dirty, so I knew that wasn't an issue. I then proceeded with my project to run the weep water off a line before the regulator, so I installed a T right before the regulator and ran it to the two weep solenoids while capping off the row of rinse solenoids. View attachment 580 . I tested the weep after that and was still getting 12 oz., so I thought that maybe since the weep has to run through the whole pump head before it gets to the hp hose, then maybe it was the placement of the weep checkvalve. I moved it closer to the hp hose, but still no luck. View attachment 578 . I then tested how much water I was getting right before the pump, and it was full of pressure at maybe 15 oz. in just 5 seconds, so I knew that my problem wasn't enough supplied water. Of course I should have tested that first, but by then it was too late.
I then took off one of the guns in the bay and was getting the same flow as before the pump, so it seemed that the guns were the issue. The guns I was using were J.E Adams weep guns. View attachment 579 . They are only one year old and are the same that I use at my other wash with no flow issues, so I don't understand why the gun is restricting the flow to 12 oz. per minute. I had some old Little giant guns laying around that were there before I took over and put one on, and right away got better flow. I then put on a brand new Adams gun that I had never used just to see if the current guns had somehow gotten defective, and I still only got 12 oz. with the new gun.

Now I wanted to test the flow under various conditions, so I started with only one bay weeping nd all others off and got 23 oz. With all guns weeping I got about 18 per gun. That is with the tri-foam and FB weep off as well. When I turn those on, it dropped to about 13-14. It was late, so I decided to turn off the tri-foam weep and just leave the brush weep on and that gave me about 16 oz per hp gun. I am going to go back once it warms up again and separate the weep valves so that the tri-foam and FB weep is back attached to the rinse solenoids and the hp gun weep is all alone. Hopefully that will give me more flow to the hp guns while still being able to weep the others.

I still don't understand why the Adams guns were restricting flow that much. Anyone else have an issue like that? I've had the occasional problem with my guns restricting weep, but changing it to a new gun fixes the issue. Any other brand guns I should use? I had 4 of the older little giant guns and put those on, but need to buy more.

 

[2Biz]

I use the KR #GUK600W and the Suttner #Sut1500W weep guns. I can't tell much of a difference in the two. I've experienced the same thing with the weep guns. I think I mentioned that to you. Now to figure out why. Although mine will be fine, then all of a sudden start to weep less. I would think the tiny hole in the seat would get bigger from wear, not smaller? I've taken the gun valve apart, but didn't see anything that would cause less weep flow?

 

[slash007]

I use the KR #GUK600W and the Suttner #Sut1500W weep guns. I can't tell much of a difference in the two. I've experienced the same thing with the weep guns. I think I mentioned that to you. Now to figure out why. Although mine will be fine, then all of a sudden start to weep less. I would think the tiny hole in the seat would get bigger from wear, not smaller? I've taken the gun valve apart, but didn't see anything that would cause less weep flow?

I have been using the same guns at my other wash for years with no regular flow issues. Rarely I will have a gun that will not weep more than 12 oz. per minute no matter the setting of the needle valve, but replacing it with a new gun or putting in a repair kit always fixes the issues and allows me to weep as much as I want. At the other wash all guns were limiting to 12oz. and even new unused guns were doing the same, so it doesn't make sense.

 

[MEP001]

I use the KR #GUK600W and the Suttner #Sut1500W weep guns. I can't tell much of a difference in the two. I've experienced the same thing with the weep guns. I think I mentioned that to you. Now to figure out why. Although mine will be fine, then all of a sudden start to weep less. I would think the tiny hole in the seat would get bigger from wear, not smaller? I've taken the gun valve apart, but didn't see anything that would cause less weep flow?

The seat is stainless, so I doubt the weep hole will erode bigger. It's possible the ball flattens out the seat some and over time closes up the weep hole.