Archive for the ‘Equipment Technical Discussions’ Category

Nozzles – you can’t get pressure without one!

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Look at the end of the nozzle – it will have a four or five digit number which gives the angle of spray as the first two digits. The next two or three numbers are the size. (i.e. 15045 is 15° spray angle with 045 size aperture.)

Pressure starts and ends at the nozzle. The volume of water pushed down the hose and forced through the small hole determines the pressure on the gauge. Try taking the nozzle out and then pulling the trigger. You get virtually no pressure registering on the gauge.

The golden rule when diagnosing a loss of pressure is to start at the nozzle and work back to the pump.

The water is not as hot as it used to be – Why

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

The fuel nozzle in your hot water pressure washer is a wearing item. It needs to be changed regularly. When you change it depends entirely on the quality of fuel passing through it. As the nozzle wears the droplets which are atomised become bigger until they will no longer ignite easily. The symptom of this is flames appearing up the chimney. As soon as the flames are visible half way up the square section, change your nozzle and your filter, as well as removing the fuel tank and draining out the sediment and water that will have accumulated.

Another reason for the water not getting as hot it used to, is a damaged cone. If you strip a fuel nozzle you will find that there are three very small grooves that the fuel travels along before it leaves the nozzle.

Dirt can block one of these grooves which forces most of the fuel out of one side causing a lopsided flame, which will in time oxidise the metal causing it to flake and drop into the bottom of the coil. The flame will burn mostly on one side of the boiler and even heating of the coil will not occur leading to a loss of heat output. Other symptoms include a hot outer casing and a partially melted fuel tank.

I can’t get the pressure to where it used to be – where do I start?

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

Firstly, check the nozzle – assuming that is correct and you still have no or low pressure the golden rule is to connect the pump to the mains water supply – whichever machine you are testing start with a good mains feed.

1. With the gun and lance connected turn the tap on – can you see a leak? If so there is your problem, if water can leak out air can get in and the pump won’t produce pressure – simple as that. (Leaks from underneath the pump are either worn seals or a cracked piston – strip to find out which.)

Remedy: Fix leak or replace seals or piston.

2. Check enough flow of water can get into the pump. Make sure all the filters are clean. The new Tempest hot water machines have a  fine filter which will remove most solids. All Demon machines are now double filtered. Have you checked both of them?

Remedy: Strip and inspect filters.

3. There are no leak’s what next? With the pump switched off pull the trigger, water will spray out. Keeping the trigger pulled switch the pump on, if the water spray does not improve the valves are the fault. Either worn out or dirty. Strip and inspect. (The high pressure hose will also vibrate on the ground.)

Remedy: Replace or clean valves.

4. The valves are OK there are no leaks but it still won’t get up to pressure – what next? The unloader valve piston and seat are damaged or worn allowing some of the water to circulate around the cylinder head – strip and inspect, you will see any damage.

Remedy: Strip unloader and inspect – replace damaged parts.