Unloader question

When someone asks me what size tank they should have I always tell them to get the biggest they can handle. The more water you can carry the better. I guess it also depends on the work. Who wants a 100 gallon tank you have to refill every 20 minutes. I have a 500 gallon tank. I don't use a float valve. If I have a job where I am using their water I stick my hose in the tank and start filling as I set up. I usually leave 100 gallons in the tank at the end of a job so I have some to get started when I get to the next job. I just leave the water running. I sometimes will shut it off if it gets to full but after awhile you get used to how much you use and when to shut the water off. Most houses I will get there and let the water run for an hour to a hour and a half and then shut it off. So if I show up with 100 gal and I leave the water running for 90 minutes and I get 7 gpm a minute out of the spigot I end up getting 730 gal. Like I said though, I have a 500 gallon tank and can let it fill for a long time. It all depends to the job. Every job is different. By the way your bypass tank is your supply tank. I had one guy want to still use the water spigot from the house as his source. If that was the case you might as well just pull off your bypass hose and let it spray in the air. Hooking up the bypass is the easy part. It is plumbing from the tank to the water inlet on your machine which is the harder part. You have to make sure that your supply hose from the tank is big enough diameter so you don't starve your pump. Also try and make your supply line as short as possible. Remember that a belt drive pump will pull water better then a direct drive unit.
 
OK Wiz, I plumbed my new pump just the way you showed, about a year ago. The only problem, when I want to anti-freeze my pump, coil and pressure hose, the anti-freeze goes into my tank! Then My pump and unloader are protected, but not my coil and hose. Sure glad I have a propane heater in the back of the van. I have a small tank on the wall ( 5 galon bucket) with a hose going to the inlet of the pump. this hose has a valve so I can control the flow to the pump. I also have a valve in the supply line so the anti-freeze does not flow backwards into the supply tank ( a 55 gallon barrel) I start the PW, open the gun (without a nozzle) and run the water into the barrell until the anti-freeze starts to come out. Then I put the gun into the anti-freeze tank and recycle the anitfreeze. The only problem, when I shut the gun, the unloader diverts the anti-freeze into the tnak and I loose the antifrezze. Do I need the put a valve in the hose going to the tank, thereby forcing the anit=freeze throught the coil and hose?

Tie open the gun. Put the gun in the tank, with a nozzle on the gun, then the burner will fire and give you hot water. This will keep the coil from freezing when you go down the road. It will also cut a hole in your plastic tank.


Douglas Hicks
General Fire Equipment Co of Eastern Oreogn, Inc
 
The Gunn:

I have two supply tanks, one 500 gallon and one 225 gallon, and a belt drive machine. So you're saying to use the supply tank as the bypass tank. I think my rig is already setup that way, I will have to check. I have had it about two weeks and have not had the opportunity yet to familliarize myself with it at length.

Thanks!

Mike
 
We use only the factory supplied tanks within the machine for bypass, no external hi capacity tanks and have not had a problem as the water does not heat up that much and the float valves allow a small amount of cold with any system loss.
Sure a big tank will keep the water even cooler, but how cool do you want it?
 
Yes that is all you do is run your bypass line back to your supply tank. That way it recirculates the water. You cannot do it that way though if you are running chems through that line because it will get back into your supply tank and you don't want that. That is why I use the x-jet. I have been thinking about a shur flo pump.
 
gunn man

you can do it if you use DOWNSTREAM INJECTION[after the pump] not if you use UPSTREAM[BEFORE THE PUMP]
The x-jet is a good tool, it is not a replacement for downstream injection. I mean you could but it's not practical for a lot of chems.
 
That was what I meant. Sorry I didn't make myself clear. I prefer the x-jet over the downstream but both work fine. It is just a personal preference. Downstreaming hasn't worked well for me when I have a few hundred feet of hose. It works good when I am close to the machine.
 
I see the problem now. You are worried about the water freezing in the Tank and the machine before you can use it. How do you do it in your house? Does your machine have a generator? How about running your machine with the heat turned off and plugging a heating blanket inti the generator and strapping it around the machine?
 
Jon gets the credit for this idea.

If you want to run your machine in bypass to the tank and still have the ability to run Upstream soap, then install a 3-way ball valve in the bypass line.
When you run upstream, close the valve and it runs bypass to the pump. When you don't run upstream, open it and you have bypass to the tank.
 
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