Flojet Issues...any advice?!
Hello! I have a stumper for all techies out there with flojet pump system experience. We installed two systems at a drive thru 7 months ago. One goes to the espresso machine and has nothing else in line. The other supplies water to the triple sink, handwashing sink, pitcher rinser and hot water heater. The water heater was installed by another company and they did not put a check valve in line to prevent back-pressure. The pump was having a harder and harder time and finally gave out completely, we think due to the back-pressure from the heater. We installed a new pump and put the check valve in place. The barista arrived the next day to find all the fresh water was pulled from the bottle and into the drain tank over night. The safety shutoff activated so the pump system is fine. We had them unplug the water heater overnight to see if it still happened and it is, but only sometimes with no pattern or reason. We are officially out of solutions and our customer is about ready to kill us for "installing multiple faulty pump systems". I highly doubt the new pump system is faulty because we tested it in our shop before installing on location. Any suggestions? Anything helps at this point. :( I hate unhappy customers.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mike McGinness on
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You have one known good pump (to espresso machine) and multiple pumps with problem on another line. You don't suspect new pump tested before installed, which may or may not be valid assumption. Confirm by switching pumps between lines and see where the problem follows. If problem now at espresso machine it's the new pump. If problem stays on other line you have more trouble shooting to do to isolate the root cause. Sometimes trouble shooting sucks and takes time, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
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Permalink Reply by Brady on
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A caveat... I know nothing about Flojets, other than basic operating principle.
What path is the water is taking to the drain tank? Is it going through the pressure relief valve on the water heater? Somewhere else? Seems like figuring that part out will be a useful step.
Mike's suggestion seems like a good one to me... though the fact that you tested the pump first leads me to think that it is some aspect of the system that is causing a good pump to act funny. Still would be good to verify.
Is it normal to install a check valve on a Flojet system? Could that maybe cause the pump to fail to accurately read the system pressure if there was a slow leak somewhere between the check valve and the Flojet - say at one of the faucets? Maybe you could learn a bit more by putting a pressure gage just downstream from the Flojet?
Again, all unguided speculation. Please keep us posted.
Good luck.
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Permalink Reply by Espresso Rescue on
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Thanks gents!
Great suggestions. I'll let you know the results...or if i don't respond, you know my customer has gone on a caffiene and rage induced killing spree.
-clio
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