[Simon Trapani]

18 trad

[Ian Sheppard]

I use a high flow as I find it speeds up my rinsing and so overall I work faster.

Yesterday after 4 hours work the flow went right down. Couldn't rinse properly.

I checked for air gaps in connections but no joy. Could it be the controller? A red light was flashing which I haven't seen before. I have the old style dile style controller.

What are the possible causes and what are the fixes?

Thanks

I am guessing you have a V11 Analogue http://springltd.co/assets/uploads/content/manuals/V11_A.pdf

The RED LED is the pump pressure switch activating  due to high pressure in the system. What is possibly  happening is that high pressure is causing the pump pressure switch to open and close ( this is cycling the pump on and off. The V11A does not cause the pressure switch to activate It is just reporting what is happening. The pressure switch can activate if
1. A blockage in hoses,brush jets. Pump pre filter
2. Twisted or kinked hoses
3. Running very high flow and cal rate ( Pressure switch activates instead of DE)
4. Loose/damaged wiring connections including fuse/fuse holder
5. Low battery volts

Check hoses and connectors are ok and no blockages. Also check wiring for any damage or corroded connectors. also check fuse and fuse holder.

Low battery voltage can also cause an issue after 4 hours use the battery might be low. A pump needs 9V minimum to run. As others have commented having a separate battery for the system is useful.

The Van battery will need approx 10 minutes of engine running in order for the alternator to recharge it after each engine start.
Vehicle batteries are designed to give a very short high amp output to start your engine they are not well suited to long periods of current draw.
 

[Simon Trapani]

I think we’re all lucky on this forum to have Ian Sheppard from Spring drop in with his expertise from time to time.

Thank you Ian.

[Spruce]

I use a high flow as I find it speeds up my rinsing and so overall I work faster.

Yesterday after 4 hours work the flow went right down. Couldn't rinse properly.

I checked for air gaps in connections but no joy. Could it be the controller? A red light was flashing which I haven't seen before. I have the old style dile style controller.

What are the possible causes and what are the fixes?

Thanks

I am guessing you have a V11 Analogue http://springltd.co/assets/uploads/content/manuals/V11_A.pdf

The RED LED is the pump pressure switch activating  due to high pressure in the system. What is possibly  happening is that high pressure is causing the pump pressure switch to open and close ( this is cycling the pump on and off. The V11A does not cause the pressure switch to activate It is just reporting what is happening. The pressure switch can activate if
1. A blockage in hoses,brush jets. Pump pre filter
2. Twisted or kinked hoses
3. Running very high flow and cal rate ( Pressure switch activates instead of DE)
4. Loose/damaged wiring connections including fuse/fuse holder
5. Low battery volts

Check hoses and connectors are ok and no blockages. Also check wiring for any damage or corroded connectors. also check fuse and fuse holder.

Low battery voltage can also cause an issue after 4 hours use the battery might be low. A pump needs 9V minimum to run. As others have commented having a separate battery for the system is useful.

The Van battery will need approx 10 minutes of engine running in order for the alternator to recharge it after each engine start.
Vehicle batteries are designed to give a very short high amp output to start your engine they are not well suited to long periods of current draw.

Certainly agree with recharging time after starting the van. The thing is that most of us with compact rounds don't drive longer than 10 minutes to recharge that starter battery.
As I've said before, I need to put my van battery on charge every couple of weeks.

Last week I started to notice the central locking wasn't working properly and then the glow plug coil light started flashing with a warning on the screen to check glowplugs. When I checked the starter battery voltage is was down at 12.2 v. I fully recharged the van's battery over the weekend and no more issues. BTW, I replaced the battery about a year ago. The original battery was fitted at the Fiat factory when the van was built. It had the factory's sticker and date on it. It was 11 years old.

The alternator is charging fine and my b2b has been switched off this past week.

There is no way I could run my pump off of the van's starter battery.

[dazmond]

There's an easy way to find out if it's the battery for the OP....just start the van and see if the flow gets better....



I've always had at least one separate leisure battery to run my system

I currently have 2 x numax 105ah batteries in tandem wired up to my van battery with a b to b charger. I also bench charge them every night because they need to be tip top when running a diesel heater,pump and electric reel for 6 or 7 hours a day.

[Stoots]

Temperature as well, even running 99 on the controllers when the temps drops i can notice a reduced flow over summer temps.

[dazmond]

Temperature as well, even running 99 on the controllers when the temps drops i can notice a reduced flow over summer temps.

This is another advantage of using hot water...no drop in flow during the winter months 👍

[Ian Sheppard]

Temperature as well, even running 99 on the controllers when the temps drops i can notice a reduced flow over summer temps.

Morning Soots. The lower temperatures o have an impact on how quickly hoses expand. As temps fall the hose wall is stiffer and slower to expand than it would be in summer. This means the hose ID can be slightly smaller and flow can be reduced. Another common effect as temps fall and impact on the hose is that the pump will have to work a little harder to generate similar flow. Some may find that the pumps starts to DE unexpectedly with the pole valve open. the answer is calibration value will need to increase a little to allow for this. As an example if Cal is usually 45 it might have to increase to 50. Running auto cal  will resolve this in most instances