pulsating water pressure line

[Ron Werner]

Afternoon guys...and gals
Noticed at the end of a job yesterday that my line going from the pump to the unloader to the LG is pulsing like crazy.
There is no pulsating in the water spray however.
I have lots of water in the fw tank so its not drawing air from there
Metering container had lots of water, plus I shut it down, so not drawing any air from there.
Pulsation dampener is connected well, though it is almost 5yrs old and has had water in it.
Pump has oil.

Just realized, could be a check valve. I'll open it up and look at the top ones, I think thats all there are, or are there ones on the bottom too? Its a Cat 3 I believe. Might have gotten some dirt in it as I was spraying the intake, cleaning the slime off it.

 

[Shane T]

Is the gauge pulsating also? I suspect you'll find a malfunctioning valve. Could be debris of some sort, broken spring, ect.

 

[Jim Martin]

One of the check valves on the cat pump is stuck or your having a problem with the pulsation damper........

 

[pinosan]

One of the check valves on the cat pump is stuck or your having a problem with the pulsation damper........

look for restrictions, majority of the time you have either debris blocking the water or one of the QDs has gone bad getting stuck.
ensure all QDs are working properly if possible replace them and clean you lines.

 

[Ron Werner]

Guage was steady
no quick connect issues, I was testing off an extension line with a male and female with an 06jet. No pulsing water at the jet.
I had to buy the proper sockets for the pump head, didn't have that size. SHould be a check valve issue, hoping its just dirt.

 

[The Great Oz]

In our experience the pulsation is almost always the dampner. On HM units it needs to be taken apart and greased. If that doesn't help replace it.

 

[Ron Werner]

I went to take mine apart, looked more involved than just pulling out some bolts. Is there a video on maintenance of a PD?

 

[Shane T]

Once the caps are off take a pair of needle nose pliers and gently remove the valve assembly.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I'd just replace it. Call Windtrax http://www.windtrax.com/

If you said water has been in there, chances are the bladder has ruptured. Over time corrosion will build up and puncture a replacement bladder. You could bead blast the housing but most pulsation dampeners are relatively cheap. They charge at half the nitrogen pressure of what your working solution pressure is. So if you normally clean at 500psi charge it to 250. Most motorcycles shops can charge it for you, it's what used in the bike shocks.

 

[Out of Character - 0]

Someone school me on pulse dampeners if you could please. All 3 of our tms are without them and so is our hot washer.

Should I instal them? What do you do if your pressure is almost always 600 but you run up to 2000? Are they just for low pressure apps or should I have one on our 3500psi washer?

Thank you

 

[Desk Jockey]

What brand are you running that doesn't have them? Without a pulsation dampener/accumulator it is hard on all parts in the pressure system, pump, fitting, HE coils.

 

[Shane T]

My units have never run a dampener. I was once told that the long flexible solution hoses we use in this industry serve to dampen the shock. Don't know if that's true but I currently have 2500 hours on my PowerClean unit and have not touched the pump or regulator once.

 

[Desk Jockey]

The pulsation and water cut a hole in the stainless steel heat exchanger in one of my units when we didn't recognize the problem until it was too late. I think my distributor said it also damaged check valves in the pressure pump.

Now when a unit goes in for PM we have the dampener/accumulator checked too! I'd rather pay to charge or replace it, than something more expensive.

 

[bob vawter]

Someone school me on pulse dampeners if you could please. All 3 of our tms are without them and so is our hot washer.

Should I instal them? What do you do if your pressure is almost always 600 but you run up to 2000? Are they just for low pressure apps or should I have one on our 3500psi washer?

Thank you

i THINK it's got something to do wit being a piston type pump...
my Hydra Cells use the diaphrams and never require a dampener....

 

[Shawn Forsythe]

i THINK it's got something to do wit being a piston type pump...
my Hydra Cells use the diaphrams and never require a dampener....

A triplex plunger pump doesn't necessarily need one either. It is the nature of certain chemical systems that create the need. When you attach a pulse-type chemical pump on your main pressure pump, you effectively inhibit normal operational flow on that one cylinder. As such, a pulsation is created as two cylinders have full flow, and one is severely diminished. A pulsation dampener is also helpful on duplex pumps.

The real value of the dampener, using a pulse pump, is on chemical flow. By attenuating the peak pressure pulses, you get a much more desirable flow via the differential check valve dropping the pressure to permit the introduction of chemical flow downstream/last step.

 

[Spurlington]

Hey Ron .. I had the same problem .. when I let go of the wand trigger, the pressure line was bouncing/vibrating from the truck to the house .. the needle in the pressure guage was also bouncing up and down .. I opened the valve compartment and 2 out of 3 valve cages were cracked/broken .. I had good pressure but the rattling was driving me nuts .. I put in the new cage assembly and no more vibrating .. it was an easy fix .. good luck!

 

[Jim Martin]

My units have never run a dampener. I was once told that the long flexible solution hoses we use in this industry serve to dampen the shock. Don't know if that's true but I currently have 2500 hours on my PowerClean unit and have not touched the pump or regulator once.

I got my 570 and the needle and hoses were bouncing like a epileptic rabbit.........replaced the pulsation hose with a pulsation damper...and it settled everything down..........

 

[juniorc82]

my guess would have been the chem injection but I saw you listed that. The 2 times I have dealt with crazy pulsing once the pump was low on oil and the other time it was the chem injector sucking air. could a pressure regulator cause this? maybe its sucking air from some point

 

[Out of Character - 0]

What brand are you running that doesn't have them? /QUOTE]



White magics and the pressure washer is a hydroblaster

 

[Ron Werner]

went to open it up this morning and the heads were pretty tight so I took it into a pressure washer mech I know, I didn't want to break anything
Got the heads off, all the check valves were intact, dirty, but intact and functional. The high pressure check valves are dirty but he wasn't concerned about it.

what it turned out to be was a double O-ring on one of the valves, at least that's the theory. We found a broken O-ring stuck in one valve and when we pulled the O-rings, the remainder was stuck to the other O-ring. We figured it was doubled by mistake at the factory and surprised its lasted 2200hrs.

Put everything back together and its all working fine though he's unsure about the unloader, says it may need replacing down the road.

One thing I discovered from him, Subaru makes a 25hp engine that is "built" for propane not just an engine with propane carb installed at the factory. He says it works better than Kohler and its a little less expensive, so if and when...I'll try a Subaru.

 

[GCCLee]

i THINK it's got something to do wit being a piston type pump...
my Hydra Cells use the diaphrams and never require a dampener....

Hydra Cell, So Simple a monkey can smooth it out