What am I doing wrong with water pump?

[gocards1177]

Did the same thing today. Don't think it was gas camp. Didnt matter if on or off. Looked inside tank and despite what I thought I should see (a hole) instead there's a short clear tube sticking straight up about 2 inches. Thought it was an obstruction at first. The outlet is in a hard to reach corner but I poked at the tube and it looks like its supposed to be there. Also let gas run out with hose disconnected from carb. Seems to run out at a reasonable pace with cap off and on. Customer service emailed me back and they said it sounds like a faulty oil level sensor. I'm supposed to call them back tomorrow on how to trouble shoot this.

 

[gocards1177]

Yep oil level sensor can be finicky so make sure it is sitting as level as possible. Other than that it sounds like ignition/shutoff circuit issue. Another thought is you are choking a 3" pump down pretty far. Do you have drip emitters on the far end? I am wondering if you are idling the pump to keep the output down and when it reaches too much back pressure it kills the engine. Shouldn't need any kind of emitters, just an open line everywhere you want water.

My plan was emitters at each tree plus an elevated 300 gallon tank. Let the pump run long enough to fill the tank then shut it off and let the tank slowly drain out into the drip system.

 

[the old grind]

The oil sensor is either a N-O or N-C switch, so no harm would come to anything to crank or run with it both grounded and disconnected. ('how it works') If it IS the switch, one way will run ok till it can be replaced.

btw: Not that it's related, (as in OT) but you must be close to max vertical head (pond surface to tank top), and I might guess total head as well. What I mean is that filling the tank would seem to take a while at 30'+. (What's the flow of your emitters & how many are there to be run at each time?) I wouldn't assume you'd filled or put much into the 300g tank either time yet, but I also wouldn't assume the pump would stall at max head. Is the plan to fill the tank first & then shut down & meter-out the 300 gal? (a 'baseline' qty to be adjusted as needed?)

Anyway, if the gas tank vent isn't the issue I'd test-out the lo-oil switch, and look into the carb bowl & jets for something that might not just drain from its tap. The tube sticking up into the gas tank should be the inlet for the 'on' (vs 'reserve') position on the fuel shut-off.

 

[crazyal]

I think you really need to identify which is your problem, spark or fuel. When it dies you should check to see if you have spark. The easy way is with a spark tester, cheap at any auto parts store. The no thrills way is to remove the plug and put the plug wire back on and have the metal outer edge of the plug touch the metal on the engine. When you pull the engine over if the switch is set to run you should see a spark. Just be careful, if there's any fuel around you could set it on fire and you do not want to touch the plug while doing this, you could get a nasty shock (it's thousands of volts).

Once you know if there is spark or not then you'll know where to look next. It could be a bad kill switch, remember reading a review at HF that said the engine was great but it had a faulty switch. Could be the low level oil switch (if it has one). I remember reading about someone who had to put extra oil in their engine because the dip stick level was right on the edge of shutting itself down. Heard of bad plugs. I could imagine that there is something inside your carb that's floating around. As the engine runs it blocks a fuel orifice and starves the engine of fuel.

 

[gocards1177]

The oil sensor is either a N-O or N-C switch, so no harm would come to anything to crank or run with it both grounded and disconnected. ('how it works') If it IS the switch, one way will run ok till it can be replaced.

btw: Not that it's related, (as in OT) but you must be close to max vertical head (pond surface to tank top), and I might guess total head as well. What I mean is that filling the tank would seem to take a while at 30'+. (What's the flow of your emitters & how many are there to be run at each time?) I wouldn't assume you'd filled or put much into the 300g tank either time yet, but I also wouldn't assume the pump would stall at max head. Is the plan to fill the tank first & then shut down & meter-out the 300 gal? (a 'baseline' qty to be adjusted as needed?)

Anyway, if the gas tank vent isn't the issue I'd test-out the lo-oil switch, and look into the carb bowl & jets for something that might not just drain from its tap. The tube sticking up into the gas tank should be the inlet for the 'on' (vs 'reserve') position on the fuel shut-off.

On the two occasions the pump stayed running it took it about 10 minutes to fill the tank. I have multiple shutoff valves in my setup. My plan is to fill the tank, shutoff pump, divert water to trees. Each tree will have an adjustable emitter so I can try to dial them into similar flows. If done correctly, each tree will get about 15 gallons this way. Over the course of the summer ill do this 1-2 times per week. That's the plan anyway. I figured this way would be less finicky than just going from pump to trees directly and will hopefully require less babysitting of the pump.

 

[gocards1177]

I think you really need to identify which is your problem, spark or fuel. When it dies you should check to see if you have spark. The easy way is with a spark tester, cheap at any auto parts store. The no thrills way is to remove the plug and put the plug wire back on and have the metal outer edge of the plug touch the metal on the engine. When you pull the engine over if the switch is set to run you should see a spark. Just be careful, if there's any fuel around you could set it on fire and you do not want to touch the plug while doing this, you could get a nasty shock (it's thousands of volts).

Once you know if there is spark or not then you'll know where to look next. It could be a bad kill switch, remember reading a review at HF that said the engine was great but it had a faulty switch. Could be the low level oil switch (if it has one). I remember reading about someone who had to put extra oil in their engine because the dip stick level was right on the edge of shutting itself down. Heard of bad plugs. I could imagine that there is something inside your carb that's floating around. As the engine runs it blocks a fuel orifice and starves the engine of fuel.

One other thing: my SWAG is that I have at most 30' of head. Probably 7' from trees to bottom of tank.

 

[gocards1177]

I think you really need to identify which is your problem, spark or fuel. When it dies you should check to see if you have spark. The easy way is with a spark tester, cheap at any auto parts store. The no thrills way is to remove the plug and put the plug wire back on and have the metal outer edge of the plug touch the metal on the engine. When you pull the engine over if the switch is set to run you should see a spark. Just be careful, if there's any fuel around you could set it on fire and you do not want to touch the plug while doing this, you could get a nasty shock (it's thousands of volts).

Once you know if there is spark or not then you'll know where to look next. It could be a bad kill switch, remember reading a review at HF that said the engine was great but it had a faulty switch. Could be the low level oil switch (if it has one). I remember reading about someone who had to put extra oil in their engine because the dip stick level was right on the edge of shutting itself down. Heard of bad plugs. I could imagine that there is something inside your carb that's floating around. As the engine runs it blocks a fuel orifice and starves the engine of fuel.

I'm pretty sure it's not electrical - or I should say I don't think its lack of spark. In a way I'm doing what you suggest. When it dies I immediately choke it and it restarts with one easy pull. I'm curious what the tech will say about the oil sensor when I call tomorrow.

 

[DFB]

The pump starts pretty easily. I've used it on 4 different occasions. The first time it worked for 30 min as expected 3 weeks ago. The second time, last week, it would start and run for about 2-3 minutes and die. Restarted and died about half a dozen times then I have up. This morning it appeared to do the same thing but after the 3rd start I fiddled with the choke and throttle I guess in a way that it kept running for about an hour. Then this afternoon I tried to use it again and it was like the second time again.

It's a Chinese-made amazon buy, so the manual is sparse and I'm not confident what customer service ill get if any when I try tomorrow. I know it has a low oil sensor for shutoff but the oil level is fine. Any help out there?

From your own description it does sound like a fuel delivery problem and that something is clogging the mainjet especially if it stayed running by choking the engine some. Be interesting to learn if it is the low level oil sensor switch though seems like they can be more of a problem than they're worth sometimes.

 

[charlz]

Clogged main jet usually requires the choke to stay on for the engine to keep running. Sounds like he is giving it choke to get started. Shouldn't be needed on a warmed up engine but who knows. If it just shuts straight off that sounds like low oil sensor or other electrical like the kill switch. Inspect the kill switch and wire(s) to make sure it isn't unintentionally grounding out and shutting the motor down. If the engine cycles up and down a bit and then dies that is usually a sign of fuel starvation.

 

[jinman]

My two cents is it sounds like manufacturing trash that got into the carb and is now clogging the jet or needle valve. The question is whether you want to pull the carb on a new piece of equipment and void the warranty. Considering the pump's short life, I'd say they should let you return it or give you a very low cost solution for repair. They will probably want you to drain all fluids and ship it back. You'll end up paying one-way shipping fees. Even though it's a hassle, I think I'd do that before tearing into the carb.