Shurflo Longevity

[uberfast]

It's been 9 months since I've ran water/alcohol through my shurflo pump (redseigning system and finding time to do it took a while). Anywho... with my original setup the shurflo was pumping water and water was atomizing it was very nice, but now when I try to run the pump, it doesn't pump. It's getting electricity, making the same oscillating vibration sound when it used to work, but it's not pumping a damn thing!! Could it have just gone bad after sitting after 9 months? The pump was mounted in the engine bay on the opposite side of exhaust, so it's not in any extreme heat.

[hotrod]

The shureflo will sometimes lose prime and air lock.
I've usually had this problem when I take the intake side hose off for some reason and put it back on. This introduces a big air bubble into the pump and it can't pump air against the back pressure of the closed outlet side.


If the motor runs and you get no build up of pressure 2 things you can try.

First try to squeeze the intake side hose a few times while the pump is running, sometimes that is enough to push the offending air bubble past the pump check valve.

If that does not work, open the pressure side line so the pump is pumping against zero resistance and try it. If if flows freely you should have cleared the problem.

Let us know what you find.

Larry

[uberfast]

I thought that the shurflo check valves are rated up to 200 psi. I don't know if squeezing would be enough, but it's worth a shot to save me $100 for a new unit.

[hotrod]

The problem is not due to a problem with the check valve its just that the design of that pump does not allow it to build pressure when there is a large bubble in the intake and the outlet has no flow. Each time that the pump strokes it only moves a small volume of fluid and if the air bubble is large enough it just expands and contracts so the pump never sees any liquid to move.

Anyway at least 2 of us have had the failure to prime problem and the solution for both of us is covered by the steps I gave above.

By squeezing the intake you create enough fluid motion so the pump can get some flow started. If you disconnect the outlet the free flow allows the pump to push the air bubble through without problems. My pump has been shut off in the trunk all winter so I will be doing the above steps when I turn my WI back on here in a couple weeks. I'll crack a fitting on the pressure side of the pump and then turn it on.

That should get it going. Then I'll pump a gallon or so of clean WI fluid through the system into a clear jar to check for any crud in the lines. If its clean I'll close everything up and be done. If I see any sediment, then I'll break all the lines and examine things and flush each line out.

Larry

[uberfast]

Well I didn't have a bike pump handy so i trying blowing into the inlet of the pump while it was operating. I had to blow as hard as I could but only a little spurt of water and bubbles came out. It's still stuck

[DuMaurier 7]

Just disconnect the discharge end of the pump and run it for a while , it wil begin pumping soon after.

[uberfast]

I am thinking about hooking the inlet up to a garden hose to give it extra pressure.