Finally decided to try to make to a 12v bucket lid sprayer for oddball stuff. Got all the parts that you see online to make these. Got everything hooked up and it works, until I attach a hose on the outflow of the pump.
It’s a 12v 1gmp pump off Amazon. I have made sure everything is tight. I have rechecked everything triple-checked everything and like I said water shoots out the outflow during my test but as soon as I connect my hose with spray wand, it will stop pulling water completely.
Any ideas? Is the pump just not strong enough to push through the hose? I literally bought the exact same stuff that was recommended some off one of those YouTube videos. 3/8" air hose attached from outflow to spray wand.
There should be such a simple thing and it’s really starting to piss me off
Some pics below. 25 ft. of air hose with a brand new Solo 28" wand with shut off valve (4900170N). And yes, even with my worn out lungs, if I hold the wand trigger down and blow through the end of the hose, I can blow water through it.
Does the clear tubing collapse when the hose/wand is attached? Could be restricting flow. Not sure about that pump, but it might have an adjustment screw on the top (where the q.c. Sticker is) that you can fiddle with to get more pressure.
The clear tube does not collapse. I’ll see if I can find some type of user manual for this pump and see if I can adjust the pressure. Thanks for the tip.
I know those pumps well and can tell you they don’t pull water very well and won’t put out 1 gpm pulling water. Brand new I’ve had them work, but I’ve tried slightly used ones for other projects and can’t get them to pull anything. I use 5 of them in parallel for my house washing rig to get the flow I want and I’m forcing water into them from the spigot. They are great pumps for how I use them, but not right for what you’re wanting to do. Also, Amazon is expensive, I don’t know what you paid, but I buy them in small lots for $10-12 each.
“They are great pumps for how I use them, but not right for what you’re wanting to do.”
Using these pumps for a 12v bucket lid is far more inline with their original purpose compared to how you use them lol.
@TGKPressureWashing Since the flow stops when you attach the hose or wand, I would have thought it’s probably something to do with that. But if you can blow through it with the trigger pressed, that makes it a bit confusing.
Is the pump actually building pressure when the hose is attached? I’ve only used Chapin 1gpm sprayers for concrete sealing and haven’t had any issues, but sometimes the pump takes a little time to get going. You should hear it running until it’s pressurized and it’ll still sputter air/product out of the wand until a steady flow comes out.
If you take off the wand and only use the hose or use a shorter hose, does it start flowing? I’m more inclined to think the issue lies with the pump. Put a name brand 1gpm in its place and see if it’s still happening.
They are cheap pumps that were targeted for applications like this bucket build, but they just don’t work well. You get what you pay for. Trust me, I’ve been buying and playing with these pumps for years now. I’ve built a setup like his bucket with them in the past and when the pump is brand new, it worked ok. Get any use out of the pumps, they just stop pulling water. My bucket setup only had about 6’ of hose and it didn’t work well, no wonder why his isn’t working with 25’.
If you want a setup like this you can use often and trust it to work when you need it, buy a better pump.
My apologies, I thought you were speaking in general terms and not about that brand specifically… I agree the small price difference between a generic and a name-brand sprayer makes it a no-brainer to just go with the name brand. I’m in my sixth season using a lid sprayer with 25 feet of hose to apply concrete sealer. In that time, I’ve gone through one pump, currently on my second, with a third as a backup on the truck. I haven’t paid more the $25 per pump and have made plenty off them to justify the added expense over generic. That said, I only use Chapin, have a filter before the pump to catch any debris, and rinse them out with Pine-Sol at the end of the job.
Because Pinesol works. Don’t know why and don’t really care, lol. It just does. I think it’s because it helps keep the seals and membranes soft and flexible. If I’m using some aggressive sealer, may run just a tad of mineral spirits or something like that through everything just to break it down. Then maybe a cup of of Pinesol in a gal or so of water and run it thru. Has never failed me once in the past 3-4 years I’ve been doing. 90% of the time, just do the pinesol.
Okay. More testing. I picked up a Chapin pump as suggested. Slightly more flow but as soon as the spray wand is attached (yes I have it held wide open) it will stop pulling water. See videos of it pushing water through 25’ of hose with no wand and then when wand attached.
I ran the pump for 15 minutes per instructions but still seems like I’ve got air in the lines (see videos).
Is the wand really causing too much back pressure? The pump doesn’t cut off, it just won’t pull water through.
Seems like a lot of air being sucked in when the wand isn’t attached… what does the drop stick look like? Do you typically run without hose clamps or was that just for this video?
When I turn on my pump, it’ll take a minute or two to “build pressure”… if I hold down the trigger it’ll sputter like that, but doesn’t build as quickly. Have you tried filling the bucket, turning on the pump, and not holding down the trigger? I’ve found once it’s “primed/built pressure/whatever” the pump will turn off, once I hear that audible cue, I know it’s ready to spray. I can also see the hose expand/move a bit right before that happens… hard to describe in text, once it’s warmer out I’ll try to get a video.
I had clamps on the drop stick and everything else except the outlet hose because yes I had been removing it several times for testing. I made sure everything was tight from the drop stick to the inlet so there’s no air getting pulled in.
So you changed the pump and you took off the wand, so if there are issues, it is either in the hoses or in the power. Your video showed it pumping, albeit with a ton of air. That air is coming from somewhere. Look for tight seals on the pull side. Don’t think, yeah I checked that, redo it. Second, remove the 90 from the bucket. There is a grumpy guy on here that swears you should always eliminate the 90’s. My guess, and it is just a guess, is that the connection between the suction side of the pump and the 90, or the 90 itself is the issue. You should use nylon braided hose, and just make it curve a bit and go directly down. My mini tank doesn’t have a hard 90, just hose going down with a filter on the end.
So to trouble shoot it without completely removing everything, take off the suction hose off the pump. Put on any length of hose and put it in a different bucket of water. start it up without the wand on the discharge side. If it sucks/pumps, it is the connections on your bucket.
