Delovan Fat Boy Fried After First Hour?????

A

Al Patterson

Member
I was wondering if any of you guys ever had any problems on wiring up a Delavan or fatboy wrong and burning up the motor the 1st hour of use.
I didn't even get a chance to run some luv thru it....just plain h20.
I am still trying to figure out what went wrong..... I will let y'all know in lamens terms when I get it figured out:confused:

In the meantime could some of you guys in the field tell me some of the things off the top of your head what might could have contributed to the meltdown??
 
Do you have a fuse between the battery and the pump? How is it wired? Through a switch or directly to the battery?
 
Al what size tip were you using? If the tip was too small and the pump was cycling on and off it more than likely just blew the the relay. You need to change the relay to a bigger one. Lots of guys have been having the same problem. You also need at least a 12gage wire and a short line running from the battery to the pump. the fatboy pulls a lot more amps than the regular Delevan, Sureflow or FloJet.
 
Check the relay. Mine blew an hour into my first use. Once I got a heavy duty relay in it, I didnt have a problem.

I am using a new Fatboy now though, and the stock relay has held up great.
 
Scott D. said:
Check the relay. Mine blew an hour into my first use. Once I got a heavy duty relay in it, I didnt have a problem.

I am using a new Fatboy now though, and the stock relay has held up great.
Click to expand...
Can't beat those Old Camaro relays :)
 
William, it very well may be the nozzles. The 40's are a bit too small for the fat boy, depending on what size hose you're using. I would recommend the 50, 60, or even 70 nozzles. Using the 40's, you will lose pressure and draw an amperage that is probably not suitable for the fat boy.
 
precisionpower said:
William, it very well may be the nozzles. The 40's are a bit too small for the fat boy, depending on what size hose you're using. I would recommend the 50, 60, or even 70 nozzles. Using the 40's, you will lose pressure and draw an amperage that is probably not suitable for the fat boy.
Click to expand...
I am using the set up Bob sold with the kuri tec hose. Using larger nozzles would lower my pressure, not raise it. I did pop in some 0060's to try the pattern and it still popped fuses each time I pulled the trigger. I am at a loss.
 
Al, post pictures of the setup, hose and what size nozzles you were using.

It might be something that was overlooked or it could be a lemon, you never know until you step back and take another look or get someone else to see it and maybe they see something that you might not see right now.

I am thinking of using that pump when my Bandit craps out, I have a rebuild kit for it and a spare pump but when that day comes, I really like the fatboy pump idea.
 
I think the only way to get the amperage up too high is to restrict the flow increasing the PSI but decreasing the GPM. The Delavan website lists the following specs for the Fat Boy. Of course electric motors create a lot more amperage upon starting than when they are operating so cycling can kill it. Sounds like it must be a the wrong size tip or a mismatched relay. They also say they aren't thermally protected. 12ga wire should more than cover it within 6'. It comes with 14ga leads which means they would smoke before the 12ga would melt.

<table id="table_1" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="330"><tbody><tr><td class="small2bold">
PSI​
</td> <td class="small2bold" align="right">
GPM​
</td> <td class="small2bold">
Amps​
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10​
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7.0​
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11​
</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="small2" bgcolor="#4c8fb9">
20​
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6.81​
</td> <td class="small2" bgcolor="#f2f2f2">
12​
</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="small2" bgcolor="#00549f">
40​
</td> <td class="small2" align="right" bgcolor="#dddddd">
5.96​
</td> <td class="small2" bgcolor="#dddddd">
13​
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60​
</td> <td class="small2" align="right" bgcolor="#f2f2f2">
4.98​
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17​
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80​
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3.96​
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21​
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100​
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2.55​
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25​
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First thing I want to do is thank Bob from PressureTek for standing behind his product when he did not have too,
I realize that he is going to lose physically loss money on replacing my pump and just from my little moneys I spend with Pressure Tek the profit margin
might take him a while to recoup the loss.
However I do believe in a higher being "God" and I am sure He is going to return Bob's favor 10 fold.
Sometimes have to keep reminding myself its not all about making money, some things are worth more than money.
That being said, I would like to recommend Bob to any of you guys that have not done business with him, I am a fairly new customer myself and I am looking forward to establishing a great relationship with Bob and Andy at Pressure Tek
 
That is great Al, Bob will always do the right thing even if he loses money, kind of why so many people buy from him.

What was wrong with the pump? Was it wired wrong? Too small of a nozzle? Wrong relay or fuse? A lemon pump? Operator Error?

Enquiring minds would like to know, it might help us not make that problem if it was not a lemon.

If it was operator error, don't be ashamed, we have all screwed up things, some cost a little bit, some in the $1000's of dollars. None of us are perfect.

Glad you got it resolved.

You going to Tampa?
 
I buy from Bob too. He has that engineers mindset. I'm sure anything like this is on his A list as far as figuring out what's causing the issues with some of the Fat Boys. Once he sells them I'm guessing the variables on how they are set up can cause problems. Nozzle size, hose diameter and hose length I think would all be factors. This is an evolving industry and Bob has been the go to guy as far as R & D for a more efficient and reliable roof cleaning system for off the shelf purchasers like me.

I still have my original 5800 from almost 2 years ago and have never had a problem (knock wood).
 
Yea Bobs the man for sure. I'm bad to get P'od over something silly and Bobs never bit my head off even when it was warranted, LOL...Love ya man....

Scott at the Sealer Store hooked me up the other day too on some product that came in bad. Anyone ever see a "sweating" HD80 tub? Don't ask I don't know how it just was. Product leaking out too but he took care of it with no question. Kudo's.
 
As far as what happened .....Bob has suggested several things that might have contributed to the problem from the pictures I sent him pictures after we took the motor out. I tried to lay it out the way it was wired (not sure if I did correctly....I had someone wire it for me)
One thing I don't want to do is misrepresent what Bob thinks might have caused the problem,
Since electrical is not my field and I still don't understand everything completely I would probably do Bob an injustice if I tried to explain it to you guys.
We talked about analyzing the pictures, maybe he can still do that for learning purposes.
I can say this, one of the pics show an inline fuse that we installed after the fact to see if it would blow,
We did not have a fuse in it at the time of failure.
 
I would test each component one at a time untill I found out which one had an internal short.
 
OKAY Where are the Pictures? Maybe I can help. Wiring is my specialty.
 
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