Head leak on Cat 5cp

[Mikey P]

Replaced all the seal and O rings today but I'm wondering where all this corrosion is coming from?

Soap Free?

 

[ronbeatty]

Mike, I had the same thing happen to one of mine.

 

[Out of Character - 0]

Does it have a brass head? I was shocked when I serviced my 3120 last month. It's 1 year old and looks almost as bad as yours.

I also serviced 2 cat 310's with stainless(I think) heads that are 10years old and they had almost no corrosion.

Am I wrong to think that's the difference?

 

[Jim Martin]

the pump is made out of a cheap soft medal..you will notice that there is no gasket or anything that separates the pump body from the brass head.....once you blow a seal the water has to go somewhere....the brass head is way to hard for the water and the pressure to hurt it so it starts eating away at the softer medal of the pump.....because we don't stand out there and monitor our machines while they are running the little bit of pressure drop that we get when a seal goes out no one even notices....then one day there is a white build up on the bottom of the pump and water dripping...by then the damage is already done.....

 

[Walt]

So what is a normal pressure drop? How often should seals Be replaced?

 

[bob vawter]

soooooo then...i guess that brand new 5CP Stainless WITH a brand new clutch that i sold for FIVE HUNNERT...
was a good deal?

 

[KevinD]

soooooo then...i guess that brand new 5CP Stainless WITH a brand new clutch that i sold for FIVE HUNNERT...
was a good deal?

Twice that still would have been a deal.

 

[Jim Martin]

So what is a normal pressure drop? How often should seals Be replaced?

kinda a hard question to answer...the best way is to pay good attention to the PSI gauge when you first turn on the pump at the beginning of each job....normally when a seal goes out you will notice that it is taking a bit longer to pressure up then normal....once you have ruled out that it may be an air leak..then more then likley you have a weak seal.....how often to replace the seals more depends on how you use you machine...do you do a lot of tile with higher PSI..things like that....

 

[The Magician]

what emufsifier you running??

 

[Duane Oxley]

That "cheap soft metal" is cast aluminum. And what you're seeing is chemical reaction to aluminum. Dunno what's in the chem's you been usin', but they just love aluminum.

(See, the thing is that if the pump was set up so that you could see it in operation, you'd know when it was leaking and address it sooner.)

Pressure drop should be no more than 100 PSI in normal carpet cleaning operation, IMO. Our systems when new, at 600 PSI through a 6 flow jet size drop 50 to 75 on the average.

 

[ronbeatty]

Duane, There should be no chemical in the pump. The pulse pump is on the brass head.

 

[Jim Martin]

Duane, There should be no chemical in the pump. The pulse pump is on the brass head.

Yep.......

 

[Mikey P]

Not on my Judsonfied/siphon set up.

Soap Free was the culprit.


my vortex has suffered from a 200 to 300 pis drop from day one, two different pumps too. No restriction to the pmp that I can see.

Learned to live with it.

 

[Duane Oxley]

Ron:

Based upon the picture you posted, you do have actual corrosion on your 5CP body.

Miguel's actually looks like it possibly could be a build- up or residue. Will it scratch off, Mike?

Dunno what to tell you, regarding, "It can't be chemical because I have a pulse pump.", thing. Maybe you have hard water, or are you using RO or DI water...?

 

[Mikey P]

I have hard water for sure, but I have a nice softener on board..


that now that I think of it was not working for a couple of months.

 

[Demien]

Could it be the salt or potassium from your softener attacking the aluminum ??
Demien