[mac74]

Hi all, ive been using 8mm minibore ever since going wfp, but im thinking of changing to the easier to manage 6mm microbore, but i know the flow rate will be less, which is bothering me due to the faster rinse off the glass i do with the 8mm.  I did a experiment by filling a 2L water bottle with my reeled 60m of 8mm, then tested about 20m of 5mm pole by hose swapping the same 1/2" inlet feed off hose reel using connections to take it down from 1/2" to 5mm, and the difference was about half the fill up time, so maybe the 6mm microbore may be somewhere inbetween??  So my Q is has anyone gone from 8mm to 6mm, and gone back to 8mm? And if i compensate it a bit by going to a 150psi 6.8L  shurflo, would this help much? I use the old spring v9 controller which is rated at 10amp max i think, and the draw on a 150psi pump is 12amp max, but i dont think i would be running it at max 99 setting anyway, so maybe it will be ok? without having to buy the new v16 15amp type? Im looking for experienced answers on this one please, thanks m

[Smudger]

I'm not convinced your test is accurate for what you want - water flow is restricted by your jet size - 1mm or 2mm or fans - this will determine how many litres a min you can get - also take into account that your already going from 8mm to 5mm hose diameter unless your sending your mini bore up the pole and connecting direct to your jets

HTH
(Sorry not a spruce answer - I'm not that technical)

Darran

[dazmond]

Just change it!you'll NEVER go back to 8mm hose again once you swap....flow is fine.....I have my controller on 40-45 most of the time and its gushing out of my 2mm pencil jets.....

[Spruce]

I'm not convinced your test is accurate for what you want - water flow is restricted by your jet size - 1mm or 2mm or fans - this will determine how many litres a min you can get - also take into account that your already going from 8mm to 5mm hose diameter unless your sending your mini bore up the pole and connecting direct to your jets

HTH
(Sorry not a spruce answer - I'm not that technical)

Darran

You make a very valid point Darran.

[Spruce]

Hi all, ive been using 8mm minibore ever since going wfp, but im thinking of changing to the easier to manage 6mm microbore, but i know the flow rate will be less, which is bothering me due to the faster rinse off the glass i do with the 8mm.  I did a experiment by filling a 2L water bottle with my reeled 60m of 8mm, then tested about 20m of 5mm pole by hose swapping the same 1/2" inlet feed off hose reel using connections to take it down from 1/2" to 5mm, and the difference was about half the fill up time, so maybe the 6mm microbore may be somewhere inbetween??  So my Q is has anyone gone from 8mm to 6mm, and gone back to 8mm? And if i compensate it a bit by going to a 150psi 6.8L  shurflo, would this help much? I use the old spring v9 controller which is rated at 10amp max i think, and the draw on a 150psi pump is 12amp max, but i dont think i would be running it at max 99 setting anyway, so maybe it will be ok? without having to buy the new v16 15amp type? Im looking for experienced answers on this one please, thanks m

I have a reel of each on the van atm. Using  water from the van's tank at ambient temperature I don't notice much of a difference in flow rate at flow 4 on my Varistream between the two in summer.  And yes, hose management of microbore is much easier. I tend to gravitate to the microbore in summer.

However, at that flow my Shurflo pump is drawing much more current using the microbore.

You will notice a difference in flow rate in winter with colder water.  You will have to increase your calibration settings.  I also notice that minibore in winter isn't as stiff to handle. Both the minibore and microbore came from Gardiners at totally different times so the hoses could be of different compositions. I tend to gravitate to minibore in winter.

My preference is 2mm pencil jets.

I have commented about the difference in pipe sizes to flow rates and pressure previously.  Our problem as window cleaners is our hose reel hose coiled on our hose reel. Water flowing inside the hose will flow smoothly at a low flow with low pressure. Increase the pressure and the flow will increase. But at a certain point the water in the hose starts to become turbulent. Once this happens increasing pressure doesn't make to much of a difference to increased flow.
I'm not totally convinced that adding a 150psi pump is going to make that much difference to your flow rate.

Springs new V16 controller will handle at higher current demand btw.

Dazmond uses hot water.  Microbore works well with hot water. Standard minibore doesn't.

There is no perfect solution. The choices we have to make usually have their pros and cons. You have to figure out if the pros outweigh the cons. If you went over to microbore you might have to expect that your rinse rate will be slightly slower - but its not a life time slower.

[֍Winp®oClean֍]

I went from 8mm to 6mm a few years ago and barely noticed any difference in flow at all with same pump and controller.  You'll have to alter calibration between summer and winter regardless of bore size anyway.

[mac74]

Cheers all 4 the above, (i also use 2mm pencil jets btw) i think i will give the 6mm microbore a go then.

[zesty]

8mm for me with 3mm pencil Jets. I find I get very good flow in the winter with that setup. Also much less amp draw than from 6mm.

Each to their own really...

[swanson]

I changed from 8mm to 6mm will never go back to 8 mm

[s.w.c]

about 14 years ago I went on a massive quest to conserve water consumption but still get good flow on van systems and freedom trolleys , van I switch from 8 to 6 and even changed pole tubing to 5mm for trolley on 1.4mm jets,   
anyway cut a very long story short I sussed it all out, I even put smaller tank in van and made more room for other bits and also it reduced the wear and tear and changed fuel consumption

[Spruce]

In the very early days of wfp all we could get was 1/2" garden hose and 65psi Shurflo pumps were the most common.

When small bore size hose became available Williamson Pumps (importers of Shurflo in the UK) advised that using hose anything less than 1/2" would invalidate their warranty.
We used 2 hose reels with 1/2" hose daisy chained together when we couldn't park outside the house we were cleaning. It was a nightmare to use in winter especially.

Having 100 meters of hose on a single reel was the best upgrade ever. My choice was to go minibore. I believed that at around half the size of garden hose I would be less likely to damage the pump  than if I went to microbore which was around quarter the size of garden hose.

At the same time Shurflo increased the pressure rating on their pumps to 100psi. But we needed to add the newly produced Varistream controllers with smaller bore hose due to increased pressure switch failures.

I've stuck with minibore from 2005 till now.  As I've reported previously, the amp hour cost of the same flow between minibore and microbore has to be considered if you are restricted power wise.

The very first thing I noticed going to minibore with a controller was the amount of water I saved. On a good summer's day my 375 liters of pure and 100 liters in plastic containers was finished by around 3pm using 1/2" hose with 3mm jets.  Once the upgrade was done I could work another 2 hours and still had the 100 liters left over. Having a slower water flow with 2mm jets didn't actually slow me down. Being able to do more houses a day definitely paid for the upgrade very quickly.