Mobile Water Tank setup....need a little help

I'm no pro, but it does sound like the pump is the issue. I'm also running a Shurflo pump. No check valves in my system. Simple set-up: Water tank, short hose, pump w/added filter, out to hose. On mine, I've had the pump level with the bottom of the tank, and sitting on top of the water tank. No issues either way. Here's a pic showing the way I run it (off a 12v battery that I temporarily pulled from the car for testing/adjusting).

 
Im going to take my chances and go with that new pump and hope all is well to get back to detailing!


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Have you tested the water flow without the PW connected? That way you are certain if it's the pump or not.
 
Well, initially he was running bare hose with nothing in between and it works "sometimes" so that's a good test IMO. It's the pump. For sure. You see the picture above, a good pump doesn't even need to be gravity fed.
 
Don't know the quality of the water pump he is useing. But the specs claims 290gph which is about 4.8gpm and a PW at 1.2gpm. I would asume it's well over powered. But sure some water flow capability is lost with the length of hose and how it's feed from the tank. It's a simple thing to test the water flow with the tank and water pump only. To see if it's really the pump or not. And even disconnect the pump and just the tank and hose alone without the pump on the hose.

I would found a pump that is able to be placed on top of the tank or that can draw the water from the top of the tank with a hose. So you don't need to worry about the vacuum that can be alot of problems sometimes.

Just hope that a new water pump solves it.
 
SWETM said:
Don't know the quality of the water pump he is useing. But the specs claims 290gph which is about 4.8gpm and a PW at 1.2gpm. I would asume it's well over powered. But sure some water flow capability is lost with the length of hose and how it's feed from the tank. It's a simple thing to test the water flow with the tank and water pump only. To see if it's really the pump or not. And even disconnect the pump and just the tank and hose alone without the pump on the hose.

I would found a pump that is able to be placed on top of the tank or that can draw the water from the top of the tank with a hose. So you don't need to worry about the vacuum that can be alot of problems sometimes.

Just hope that a new water pump solves it.
Click to expand...

I have tested all scenarios with and without the pump. The water flow with the pump running out of a hose would be like a kitchen faucet at best, without the pump it's less of course. As in, I can thread the hoses together without getting any resistance or spraying around the connections, if that makes any sense. Either way, neither way is like the pressure that comes out of my water faucet by the garage.


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UPDATE. The shurflo pump arrived today from amazon.....now the fun part. It seems as though I need to wire in a switch and some terminals to attach to a battery.

For those with this experience, would you suggest I use the switch and terminals from my old Drummond pump....or do I need to look for something different. I have attached pictures.
View attachment 62237
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I honestly wouldn't use that switch because frankly it looks like a hunk of garbage and if that's the switch from your non working setup it could be the problem. I'm a huge advocate of eliminating all potential problems from a non working setup and adding them back in after you get it working in it's simplest form. Honestly, you don't NEED a switch. You can hook up the pump directly to your power source. The Shurflo is on demand, so it only runs when pressure drops. Pressure only drops when you're using the pressure washer. You could alligator clip it to a battery and unclip it when you're done.

In our setup, for example, we switch the pump on when we get on the jobsite and we don't turn it off again until we leave. That might be 2 hours or 10 hours. The Shurflo doesn't need to be switched on and off continuously.
 
SWETM said:
Don't know the quality of the water pump he is useing. But the specs claims 290gph which is about 4.8gpm and a PW at 1.2gpm. I would asume it's well over powered. But sure some water flow capability is lost with the length of hose and how it's feed from the tank. It's a simple thing to test the water flow with the tank and water pump only. To see if it's really the pump or not. And even disconnect the pump and just the tank and hose alone without the pump on the hose.

I would found a pump that is able to be placed on top of the tank or that can draw the water from the top of the tank with a hose. So you don't need to worry about the vacuum that can be alot of problems sometimes.

Just hope that a new water pump solves it.
Click to expand...

It's the pump. Or the switch. Would have been nice to see that switch or have it mentioned in the original post because my first recommendation would have been to remove the switch from the setup just to check.

And in case I wasn't clear, I wasn't suggesting that the pump is insufficient for this duty. I'm suggesting that the pump is faulty.
 
sudsmobile said:
I honestly wouldn't use that switch because frankly it looks like a hunk of garbage and if that's the switch from your non working setup it could be the problem. I'm a huge advocate of eliminating all potential problems from a non working setup and adding them back in after you get it working in it's simplest form. Honestly, you don't NEED a switch. You can hook up the pump directly to your power source. The Shurflo is on demand, so it only runs when pressure drops. Pressure only drops when you're using the pressure washer. You could alligator clip it to a battery and unclip it when you're done.

In our setup, for example, we switch the pump on when we get on the jobsite and we don't turn it off again until we leave. That might be 2 hours or 10 hours. The Shurflo doesn't need to be switched on and off continuously.
Click to expand...

Good deal. I believe I can head to Lowes and get some additional length of red and black wire and wire those ends into some cables that will hook to my battery, and like you said just clip them on when I'm pulling from the tank.



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In my pic, you can see I did just that. Long red and black wires so I can run from the front of my Jeep, all the way to the back in the cargo area. Sometimes I turn the Jeep on, sometimes I don't. Depends on how much time I plan on running the pump. I'm guessing it would be better to run the pump off a running car, though. 12+ volts instead of the 11.7-12 volts with it off. (or whatever number it is)
 
12VDC motors like that pump will basically work from about 8 to 16V. DC is not exactly what you'd call finicky.
 
For those still following the thread, I wired up the new Shurflo pump and it works like a dream! Thanks for all the advice and recommendations guys!


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Just anecdotal evidence, but we run our trailer with a deep cycle group 27 marine battery that is wired to our tow vehicle through a 6 pin trailer plug. Unknown to me, my son blew the fuse that feeds the trailer plug fiddling around with a 12v power port inside the vehicle. The battery was not charging for like a week. Voltage dropped in the trailer battery to 8.2V before the pump actually quit working. I could hear it straining, starting, stopping, which is what made me investigate the problem. I popped a fuse from the front power points into the blown fuse spot and we were back in business. It took a full day for the battery to charge by near 12v.
 
can you offer the correct fittings (size & description) to use for this pump and needed fitting (amount) as wells thanks in advance
 
YouTube THIS is what you are looking for if I'm correct, just don't know fitting size/description etc. but this is about the best video currently available
 
keep us updated (photos/videos) parts and fittings (description) for pump set up where was (shurflo)pump purchased, and price)
 
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