Clutch Drive

tomtucson

tomtucson

New member
Can I use a PTO clutch on the engine to turn a pump, or is the 0 to 1750 acceleration bad for the pump?
 
Shouldn't hurt a thing Tom.
 
OK thats a green light from Russ. My concern was the pump sitting still and then getting pushed to full speed could be a problem.
 
I'm not sure right now how to get the pump back on the way I want it configured. What I want is a relief valve mounted 'off line' instead of an unloader. It's like having the unloader on a tee to the side, so the water does not go through the unloader while spraying. When the gun is closed the water diverts through the 'unloader'. This is a car wash type setup. The point would be no restriction on flow.
 
So, if anyone could help with the clutch circuit. I'm not clear on how, after the pump is sitting idle, how the clutch is signaled to re-engage.
 
I thought that the electric clutch was operated by a flow or pressure switch so that when the switch senses flow or pressure, the clutch engages and you get flow, when you let go of the trigger, the switch senses no flow or pressure and turns the clutch off, kind of like the same way the pressure or flow switch operates the burner on a hot water machine. I think that is how it works if I remember correctly.
 
The part I'm not getting is when the pump is not turning, there's no flow or pressure?
 
There were only a couple of vendors that were pushing the electric clutches several years ago and now you don't hear much about them so I don't know how successful they were.

I think it is kind of like the flow unloader, when you let go of the trigger there is no flow and when you pull the trigger, there is a little bit of flow and then you get the full flow.

I think that either it was espec and/or delco were doing the electric clutches back then, don't remember who exactly but you don't see or hear much about them now.

I think that it was limited to about 24hp, that is all the clutch could handle if I remember correctly.

Hope this helps.
 
I'm looking to put the clutch on the engine instead of the pump for higher horsepower. There are tons of PTO clutches for lawn tractors out there.
 
tomtucson said:
What I want is a relief valve mounted 'off line' instead of an unloader. It's like having the unloader on a tee to the side, so the water does not go through the unloader while spraying. When the gun is closed the water diverts through the 'unloader'. This is a car wash type setup. The point would be no restriction on flow.
Click to expand...

Tom, you have me thinking.
It had never occurred to me, that of the possibility of teeing a pressure line off prior to the unloader and therefore using the unloader as a pressure relief valve.

Hmm, there must be some reason that it is not done this way though, but if it worked it certainly would void the restriction to flow that unloaders cause.

This maybe of some interest and I have only measured a few, but I found about 300psi pressure loss measured across these unloaders.

Another option would be to go to a dump gun and therefore get rid of the unloader altogether. A bit messy and wet for me though.
Cheers
Greg
 
I know some guys that operate pressure washers with open guns, no unloaders so you have to be holding the gun from when you start the machine until you turn it off.

For the work they do they like it and it keeps their guys productive, it is not for everyone.
 
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