Help with Breakdown

HighTide

HighTide

New member
I blew what I think is my burst disc today cleaning bank drive thrus. It blew when I shut the ball valve after finishing my hot water cleaning. Why did this happen as I already seem to have a low pressure problem (2,800 psi) at my surface cleaner. I hooked back up without the burst disc and went back to work...are my coils at high risk now?

I run a Vanguard 18 hp, TS2021 pump with a vertical hot box (5.6 gpm at supposed to be 3,500 psi). I can't seem to stop the "spikes" of 500 to 600 psi over the 2,800 psi when I close the trigger or ball valve. I ran a test today and filled a 5 gallon bucket in 50 seconds before going into heater. The test was the same after hooking back up and running through heater and 100 feet of hose (50 seconds). This test shows that my heater coils are not clogged...right? What do I need to do now...rebuild pump? All equipment is 2 years old and pump has never been touched except regular oil changes. I have never checked psi at pump head and don't have that part to check.

Where is best place to buy burst disc and how much will I have to pay? What is proper psi setting for this part? Is the second pic my pressure relief valve? This started leaking out of hose barb a couple of months ago and I slightly tightened with allen wrench. I hate having low pressure when cleaning concrete and don't understand why my safety devices are blowing due to high pressure when I seem to be losing pressure each week. What do I need to do? Thanks for any advice and I look forward to seeing many of you in Tampa.
 

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My unloader is the YU-2140 Green Spring Unloader. Do I need to loosen and reduce the psi? If my psi falls even more, I may not be able to clean concrete anymore as I have to go very slow now and need a little more impact than the new 1530 nozzles I currently use. Thanks.
 
Sounds like you need to turn the unloader up a bit.

Are you running full rpms?

Is the burner shutting off when you let go of the gun?

Does it have a thermostat?
 
Russ, when I turned up unloader to increase psi a couple of months ago, that's when the pressure relief valve kicked in. I then turned it back down. My Vanguard doesn't have throttle (just on and off). There is not a thermostat on my burner and it does turn off when I close the gun or ball valve.
 
You have some major problems. If the burner does not cut of when you stop flowing water you have a bad flow switch. Get what you need from Russ. When you have the unloader set where it needs to be, tack weld the nuts so you are not tempted to play with the setting and so they don't back off. I have never seen a burner that did not have a thermostat, could it be that you are overlooking it?
 
Do burst discs bust even if the heat isnt that hot? I have run my PW real hot and no problems. now the PW was at 175* and it bust? do I need an unloader too?
 
Yes they can heat is not the cause, the spike in pressure is what does it. Sometimes just letting off the trigger can cause it to go off. I have had it were if you squeeze the trigger several times real fast you can spike the pressure and cause them to blow. It could be your unloader is out of adjustment or is bad, perhaps it just wore out. Put a gauge on the unit and check if it is spiking beyond the rating of the pump when you let off the trigger and you will have an idea if it was a fluke or a bad unloader or one that is out of adjustment.
 
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