RonMar
Elite Member
montejw said:Assuming it's an open center valve there's always fluid going through the valve to the return line to the sump.
This is not necessarilly true, only if it was the last valve in the system would you see the high pressure side(power beyond) plumbed to the return, but this is usually accomplished inside the valve with the use of an open center plug.
But he does have a power beyond outlet. A return line restriction also matches his description of heavy load only when a valve lever is operated(requiring a clear return path).montejw said:Unless the power beyond is plumbed to the 3 pt hitch, or something else, then the fluid only goes through the return line when you use a spool in the valve. If you didn't have the power beyond hooked up and the return line was plugging up it would do it whether you were using the valve or not.
montejw said:If the power beyond is plumbed (tee'd) into the return line then the plug (if it's the return line) is between the valve and the power beyond tee connection.
Monte
That would still be a return line problem as I described earlier. Again the connection of the supply line to the return in the last valve in the system is usually accomplished with the appropriate configuration plug (OC plug)in the valve so you only have one line leaving the last valve back to the sump(from the return port). Since he describes the power beyond port being used, I am guessing it feeds another device.
I have seen many times where people get confused about what "Power Beyond" is. "Power Beyond" is nothing more than a high pressure outlet from a valve to feed the high pressure inlet of another valve or device. You could plumb a hundred valves onto a pump in this fashion, pump to first valves inlet port, and the PB outlet to the next valves high pressure inlet. If I place a heavy load on a valve, that high pressure is felt all the way back to the pump. The high pressure passage thru a valve is able to handle the system pressure applied to it by any work being performed by a valve farther downstream. Using power beyond requires another line leaving each valve(return) back to the resovoir so the safety and the fluid returning from a moveing cylinder via the working ports has someplace to go. The return port is supposed to be an outlet to a low restriction path back to the sump. As such it is usually limited in the ammount of pressure it can deal with. Most of my experience is with Prince valves. Many of their valves that I have seen have a 500 PSI pressure limit on the return port. Exceeding this pressure can cause the "O" rings that seal the spools to leak fluid.