Something new popped up today. When doing a house wash I could feel what I would describe as a mild cavitation feeling, intermittent vibration in the line. It’s similar to the feeling when the buffer tank runs out of water but milder.
I checked the supply hose clamps, filter, filter housing…nothing changed it. I had a full tank of water through the whole job.
The machine itself feels smooth, has 600 hours and the pump about 500 hours. Oils changed last month.
GX630, 8gpm GP, K1 unloader, 150’ hose.
I’m at a loss if anyone has suggestions.
Definitely sounds like you are sucking air, or maybe an unloader issue
Are you hooked up to a hose reel or direct to unloader? I would think unloader issue because I had the same issue and got a new unloader and it stopped.
I have the 1” feed line from my vertical tank, through a filter and into my machine.
I’ll check the unloader today, maybe it’s getting out of adjustment.
check piston ceramics and valves
I did some adjustments on the unloader, basically loosened the lock nut and turned the main bolt back and forth a bit. One of the big plastic lock collars on my three way valve at the bottom of the tank was a little loose. I also checked all fluids, for some reason my pump and gearbox oil get dark REALLY fast.
Seems to run fine now with various nozzles including the full pressure white tip. We’ll see how long that holds, thanks for the suggestions!
Oh BTW anyone reading this that still has a trapped unloader, this K1 is the bee’s knees. Not only does it save my wrist, my hoses seem to be lasting longer too. I guess when it doesn’t have constant 3000psi it saves them a bit. I think @Racer suggested it👍
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Honest question: why would anyone keep or want a trapped unloader? Am I missing some advantage?
I think the trapped unloaders are simpler and apparently more reliable, so I hear.
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About a week ago I had stuttering in my hose. I didn’t run the spigot before hooking up and thought maybe something had made its way through. It really felt like something had gotten lodged and was just creating a weird pulsing/vibration/stutter… I flushed out the garden hoses, reel, hudson float, filter, and the line to the pump.
I disconnected the whip line from the unloader and ran the pump. Had good flow. Then I attached the downstream bypass and ran the pump with the bypass both open and closed. Still all good.
Next I connected 100 feet of hose and ran it with the ball valve. Worked fine. But once I added another 100 foot section the stuttering/vibrations started back up again. I adjusted the unloader which helped for a bit and everything seemed okay for the time being.
But today on the third job of the day the issue came back but with the addition of slow pressure build up when the trigger was pulled. I checked the unloader and it seemed to be fine and functioning properly. Then about 20 minutes later I got a pinprick and the hose burst.
K1 unloader? Did you check your check valves in your pump, that can cause pulsation if something is stuck in one of them….
Yup K1, haven’t looked at the check valves yet. I’m running a banjo y filter with I think a 20 mesh screen in it between buffer and pump so I wouldn’t imagine anything made its way past, but I’ll check tomorrow.
