New to the pressure washing scene, and just got a simpson 420cc pressure washer unit. It has a thermal relief valve, and a built in unloader valve instead of an area for a bypass or a hose loop to be installed.
Thought a picture would be easier so I uploaded one to the post.
My goal is to run a hose from the pump back to the buffer tank so my pump won’t overheat when I’m off the trigger, and the excess water would flow back into the buffer tank.
Would appreciate any help, thank you all.
Your gonna have a tuff time with that because you have a direct drive pump thats not built to suck water/ force fed only. ive seen ppl try to do it by raising their buffer tank outlet higher than the water inlet on the pump to gravity feed, but most just go get a commercial end machine like a belt or gearbox thats meant to pull water.
Hmmm… I will be using a 275 gallon tote so I assume if I have it filled around 100 gallons it would be enough water to gravity feed at least 4 gallons per minute due to the weight…
Is there a way to add a bypass so the water circulates back to the buffer tank with a direct drive set up with this pump?
It doesn’t look like that unloader has a bypass. You’ll just have to be sure to squeeze the gun every minute to keep the pump cool. The bypass has nothing to do with the pump being direct drive, gear drive, or belt drive. It’s all about the unloader. Most built in unloaders don’t have a bypass.
@qons recently tried to run a direct drive off of a buffer tank with no luck. He has a large bugger tank too. Some people have been able to tho. Your best bet is returning the washer and getting a gear or belt drive.
Darn that is what I feared. I will have to make due with this bad boy until it can pay for a gx690. Already have some jobs lined up.
Will have to roll the dice with the gravity feed on the direct drive unit as well. I will let you guys know what I find out - Thank you all
If you have to you can always run a pump and force feed your pump from you buffer. Or, just hook your water supply directly up to your machine. You will likely always get at at least 4 gpm from every house.
No, that AAA pump has no bypass. You machine is a basic homeowners edition and isnt meant to be off trigger more than a minute or two. But if you don’t let it run long while off trigger they’ll last you a season i hear then you can get a 5.5 gpm or bigger is my advice, 8gpm is what most run with on here, I myself run all 5.5 and 6gpm’s to conserve water and pull more soap, We fleet wash. Best of luck.
Thank you sir. Hopefully I will be able to upgrade this season. First go at a legit business LLC/Insurance/Business license/website made etc…
Main goal is pressure washing/soft washing/garage floor epoxy/dumpster rentals/painting garages… got to try to make it out the corporate world…
Thats a common misconception. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that. A foot of water column (no matter how big the vessel) only adds about a half a pound of pressure. So if you took an Olympic swimming pool that was 8 feet deep and drilled a hole in the bottom, the pressure coming out would be less than 4psi. That’s why water towers are over 100’.
If you’re determined to keep going, @marinegrunt 's suggestion about an inline pump is good. But you’ll need a way to power it
Yeah it is but he still won’t be able to circulate back to buffer, the whole idea is to keep the pump cooler while off trigger which isn’t gonna happen unless he zip ties his trigger open with no tip and spray it into buffer which would be a pita.
Oh yes, I totally agree with that part of it. I was just trying to help people that think the weight of water in their tank is going to provide them with 4gpm of flow without a 6" hole in the tank lol
That was a neat fun fact.
Im not to keen on the 12v supply because as soon as that pump craps the bed then his PW is sucking air and then he has 2 burned up pumps. I’d just say take it back and get a 5.5 gpm or bigger, belt or gear drive and be smart out the gate.
It messed up my mind the first time I heard it. So now I feel obligated to share the madness
What 5.5gpm machines do you guys recommend? Would having the tank higher then the pressure washer help at all? It is a triple AAA pump not sure if that makes a difference. Not sure I can return it at this point, but spent $714 on sale so thought it was a decent deal.
If you can get it about 165’ above the pump that would be ideal
We run hot water skid PW’S that range from 7k up to 20k per machine, this is our full time gig. you can look on pressuretek for general pricing for cold water machines, get familiar with pressuretek and dultimeyer for all your good pricing on all PW stuff
Sorry, jokes aside I think a 5.5 is a fine machine and will serve you well. You can build one yourself relatively cheap, but going with a cheap motor and cheap pump will one day come back to bite you. By then you will have made and saved plenty of money to upgrade.
I agree with @Jake_Lambert a 5.5 will serve its purpose but house washers always prefer an 8gpm for water flow and the SC likes it alot. I know @Firefighter4hire is a die hard 5.5gpm washer and doesn’t plan on changing.
Yeah, I was bummed it didn’t work.
Facts
