I sell jetters and pressure washers up in Canada and I recently had a customer ask about a run dry pump for his jetter. He said that his current machine claims to have a “run dry” pump, so they want to make sure the new one has that same feature. I’ve been reading up on plunger pumps and I even spoke with a rep at Udor because I wasn’t finding much through my searching. I found a thread on here where a poster claims Legacy pumps are safe for running dry, but here’s what I found out:
According to the Udor rep a jetting company started the “run dry pump” trend simply as a marketing strategy to make their pumps seem more rugged than their competition. According to the rep any industrial quality pump by a reputable company will be able to handle running dry temporarily and infrequently (we’re talking 5 seconds or less and every month or so).
So, I’m just curious if the experienced members of this forum have experience with some pumps that can withstand run dry conditions better than others. I’ve informed the customer that “run dry safe” is marketing smoke and mirrors, but I’d like to have as much information for them as possible to back it up. Thanks in advance for anyone that takes the time to respond!
Edit: To add that I have informed the customer he should be careful not to let the pump run dry no matter what type he is using. He is aware of this, but is just worried about being in the house jetting and not being able to keep a close eye on his buffer tank. We discussed a Hudson Float to control the filling, but he was still more comfortable with a run dry pump too.
