I’ve been using the AR 45 for a few seasons now and while it is a great machine, I feel that it could definitely have some improvements. Unfortunately, there is no more expensive version that I can find that will hold up to SH at high concentrations.
I try to keep the pressure no higher than 190 psi, always keep the hand on the trigger or in bypass mode when starting and stopping, put Loctite on the bolts and torqued them to the proper level, eliminated a whole bunch of the unnecessary 90° fittings they put on and fixed the feet to make sure that it doesn’t vibrate much.
Yet I still get leaks regularly through the cheap plastic pieces that they use. I was thinking of replacing all of the plastic parts with new ones, and then strengthening them by adding a whole bunch of JB plastic Weld to the outside of all of the pieces. Anyone who has one of these knows that frequently a small leak will spring out of the plastic somewhere. Has anybody done this?
Would I be compromising any heat distribution through the design of the ridges in the plastic (if that’s even a thing)?
Basically, I want to reinforce all of this cheap plastic to eliminate or drastically reduce the leaks that seem to happen almost always.
Additionally, the only 90° fitting that I have left is the custom one that comes out of the back for the bypass hose. I talked to E-Spec and they do not know about a straight fitting with the weird connection it has going into the machine. There is a threaded ring on the outside but the fitting itself has a unique design that is different from our standard pvc fittings… I’ll add a picture of it later when I get to the truck.
This is the best match for the bypass threads that i found. Very few options for fittings on this. Parker makes a 3/4 hose barb with the correct threads. I haven’t tried it yet.
I don’t use the same pump, nor have i been using one very long. I was trained by the vendor to always put into bypass upon starting and shut down and also operate slightly above 100psi and increase if necessary because they are fragile. So i do. It was very expensive. One thing i wasn’t warned about was air in the system. I noticed the pump behaving very erratically because there was alot of air in the system. I now know the problem but haven’t fixed it yet and everytime i start the system i have to bleed out a little air and the pulsation the pump goes through is almost unnerving. For me its a bad hose clamp/connection with the bulkhead 90 on top of the chem tank
If you look closely you’ll see the air gap that has to be bled straightaway. I believe its also causing a problem with my mixing ratios because of the air it must be drawing in under suction. My vendor keeps giving me excuses but ive finally realized that must be the problem. Maybe not your problem but i wonder if you have an air leak or are riding it too hard
I have the same issues as you. I’ve fixed the problem by pretty much parking the AR and just using it when i absolutely need it like for a roof or stucco. And thats pretty much it. I used it for 2 seasons to wash houses until I realized downstreaming was 100% better for a number or reasons.
