Running 2 pumps on the same machine

[Glenn]

Guys and Gals,
Anybody running 2 pumps on the same machine powered by one engine, except for Dave Olson who has everything, hehehe. I am wondering if anybody has any experience with the magnetic clutches that engage and disengage the pumps while the engine runs all the time. This way you would only run the pumps you needed. I would put the clutch on one where one would run all the time and when needing 2 activate the other one with the magnetic clutch. Just something I had been thinking about. Basically already decided against it for different reasons but was still curious as to if anybody else had tried it.
Glenn

 

[HI-Pressure]

GLenn,

I have never used the electric clutch driven pumps. It is the same type of clutch that lawn tractors use and they hold up for many years.

We have built several hydraulic driven units that can consist of as many pumps as you desire and can afford. The last unit I built had a 112.5hp Yanmar turbo diesel running 5 pumps. It has a chemical application pump: 10gpm @ 400psi, two 5,.gpm @ 4000gpm pumps, one 8.7gpm @3000psi pump and a 350gpm 275psi pump: used for major mud removal! It is controlled by solenoid valves so you could run one, run all, or any combination. The solenoids were wired into a pressure switch at each pump so when you release the gun it stopped the pump. Whats really nice about this unit is the fuel usage. The customer has commented several times his fuel usage was cut in halve. Also no more gasoline and the burners use the same fuel tank. The cost is almost as much if you bought all the units seperate but alot less maintenace. This unit has over 3200hrs with only one reapair and that was an unloader.

Just another way of doing things. Hope this give you more ideas.

Daren Marshall

 

[Mike Hughes]

Daren,

That is one serious piece of equipment! It would be great to see a picture......if you could even fit it all in one picture.

 

[Dave Olson]

Hello Glenn,

Before I upgraded our main unit I also looked for a different way to run our equipment. The engineers and vendors that I talked with said I would have more problems with any other power source than electric.

One of the downsides of hydraulics is when the temperature is real cold we would have a hard time running.

Since we have several different horsepower demands and at different rpm's we stayed with electric and increased our power source output from 15 to 45 Kw. The genset has almost 4000 hours on it and doing great!

Dave Olson

 

[HI-Pressure]

Dave,

Since this system is located in Seattle we installed a oil to water heat exchanger. This system is installed in a 1998 Ford 750 enclosed truck with diesel engine. Anytime they run the truck or plug it in for cold weather the hydrualic oil is preheated. It works well and the really nice thing is we can lower pressure and GPM by changing the hydraulic fliud flow with needle valves. Now you have a pump that can put at 1gpm@3000psi to 8.7gpm@3000psi without bypassing through the unloader all the time. Have also expermented with a variable flow rate system that does not even use an unloader but has a pressure relief valve for safety. This is done by using a pressure transducer which in turn operates a variable flow valve through a PLC using a 4 to 20ma signal. This works very well but is $$$$$$$$. Prices are coming down and feel this will be the answer to replacing an unloader on larger systems. Also working on a high pressure injector to add chemicals on the outlet side of the pump. This also works well but is costly.

Lots of ideas but no $$$$$$$

Daren Marshall

 

[Dave Olson]

Hello Daren,

Pur primary unit is a 1998 GMC 6500 Series. Our equipment is mounted in a 14' vanbody.

Our main pump is a Duplex P-100 Wheatley. We are currently running 1-1/8" plungers at 485 rpm. We use a Baird by-pass relief valve to dial up the pressure.

We change the nozzle size on thw wand to determine flow. We also use ballvalves instead of trigger guns. We can use the balvalves to further reduce flow and pressure when needed.

The pump runs at a constant speed and volume, and whatever water we do not use out the wands returns to a surge tank. It also has teflon packing so it can run hot. We try to keep it under 3000 psi and it is putting out a little over 9 gpm.

We use a 1500 psi 2 gpm pump with a hoseend sprayer to apply our detergents.

We have a 3rd pump that supplys the other two. 15 gpm 100 psi or so running on single phase 220 power. We can also use this pump for low pressure garden hose type rinseing.

We use 24 volt switching to control all of our pumps and boiler.

Dave Olson

 

[ParadiseProWash]

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thats some serious equipment.

 

[mudbug]

mudbug

That is some interesting information. We are just getting ready to launch ourselves into the world of commercial pressure washing, and are poised on the brink of buying an 8 gpm, 3000 psi hot machine, because we hope to eventually specialize in flat work with recaptured water...

My only concern about this machine is the water supply. We will have a trailer mounted tank, but you still have to fill that tank, and there will be a fair amount of water loss from seepage and evaporation, so we'll really have to keep an eye on it.
My question is this- most of the time, we won't need that much flow, but when you do need it, there just ain't no substitute (or so we're being told), and I'd like to be able to set up our plumbing to only send as much water out the end of the nozzle as necessary. The ball valves instead of trigger sound cool to me, as well as diverting unnecessary water flow directly back to the tank. How exactly does that work?

 

[Mike Gwas]

I am doing it without the support of a clutch system......