Losing high pressure with weep on.

[Rfreeman]

I have a JC pump stand that has weep feed off the cold water rinse manifold. I have a ball valve installed there to manually turn on/off the weep.

At the pumps I also have 1/4" ball valve to turn it off there as well (see picture)

If I have the weep on at the pump (1/4" ball valve) the pump will not build pressure.

If I turn it off at the pump it builds pressure.

If I have the weep off at the pump turn on the bay with good pressure 1200 psi then slowly open the 1/4" weep ball valve at the pump pressure begins to drop. The more I open it the more it drops. If I close it it builds pressure back up

Thoughts on what it could be?

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Shut off your main weep feed. Close the 1/4” ball valve at the pump and take the weep polyline off the fitting. Then turn on pump and slowly open 1/4” ball valve. Bad check valve?

 

[Rfreeman]

You thinking it's a bad valve under the rinse tank?

I am down here in TX and we just had a bad freeze for the past 3 days maybe it got shot

 

[Randy]

You thinking it's a bad valve under the rinse tank?

I am down here in TX and we just had a bad freeze for the past 3 days maybe it got shot

That would be my thoughts, bad check valve. I replace a few every winter season.

 

[Rfreeman]

Couldn't I also check this idea by switching it to soap and wax bc on the jc stand it would be pulling from the product and the rinse tank as well.

Honestly I didn't spend much time as today was a solid day above freezing so I was working in getting the rest of the wash up and running

 

[GoBuckeyes]

If the check valve is bad the water output from the pump would be going back into the weep feed, hence the no pressure. Just take the poly line off the check valve…it’s a 30 second experiment to identify a bad check valve or rule it out.

 

[Rfreeman]

Yeah I will for sure thanks for the feedback.

So your thinking it's a bad check valve, the one on the front of the pump that the weep goes into right?

 

[MEP001]

Yes, it has to be the weep check valve. Closing the ball valve is stopping the pressure from being lost out the bad check valve.

 

[Greg Pack]

I agree with others on it's likely the weep check valve. Just thought I'd add that while you're working on stuff might as well check the check valves under the hot water tank. I just replaced four on my 20 year old Coleman pumping unit. The symptom I was trying to treat was a weak weep. If you have warm water in the tank, just turn the bay on rinse and feel for cold water coming up out of the opening at the bottom of the tank. If you do, you have a bad check valve.

 

[MEP001]

If you have warm water in the tank, just turn the bay on rinse and feel for cold water coming up out of the opening at the bottom of the tank. If you do, you have a bad check valve.

The way I test them is to run each bay on soap to get the check valve hot, then switch to rinse and feel it. If it's bad it will get cold.

 

[Rfreeman]

Hey guys just reporting back. Earlier today I did exactly what GoBuckeyes said and sure enough it was a bad check valve. Changed it and we are up and running again on that bay, as always thanks for the help and support!