I have a question, I have a diaphragm pump here and I have never used
one before. When I supply air to this particular one, it seems to work
internally, but there is barely any suction or pressure on either
end. Maybe just a tiny amount of suction.

I thought that they can run dry and do not need priming.

What should I expect from a good diaphragm pump?

i

On Apr 11, 3:28*pm, Ignoramus19459 ignoramus19...@NOSPAM.
19459.invalid wrote:
I have a question, I have a diaphragm pump here and I have never used
one before. When I supply air to this particular one, it seems to work
internally, but there is barely any suction or pressure on either
end. Maybe just a tiny amount of suction.

I thought that they can run dry and do not need priming.

What should I expect from a good diaphragm pump?

i

Once again critical information that's needed to properly try and help
diagnose the problem has been left out of the OP's initial post. This
is the case time and time again with the OP who can never make the
time to be specific and thorough.

What is the brand of pump?

What is the model of the pump?

Is this a used or new pump?

My guess is that it's most likely the diaphragm that is dried out and
cracked / torn so that no suction is possible.

On Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:28:25 -0500, Ignoramus19459
wrote:

I have a question, I have a diaphragm pump here and I have never used
one before. When I supply air to this particular one, it seems to work
internally, but there is barely any suction or pressure on either
end. Maybe just a tiny amount of suction.

I thought that they can run dry and do not need priming.

What should I expect from a good diaphragm pump?

i
Likely to be worn or sticking valves. Unless the diaphragm has a hole
in it :-(

--
Cheers,

John B.

On 2013-04-12, J.B.Slocomb wrote:
On Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:28:25 -0500, Ignoramus19459
wrote:

I have a question, I have a diaphragm pump here and I have never used
one before. When I supply air to this particular one, it seems to work
internally, but there is barely any suction or pressure on either
end. Maybe just a tiny amount of suction.

I thought that they can run dry and do not need priming.

What should I expect from a good diaphragm pump?

i
Likely to be worn or sticking valves. Unless the diaphragm has a hole
in it :-(


OK, I spent a lot of time with that pump. Took it apart. The valve
balls are there. The membranes are in good condition. After
disassebmly and reassembly, it does pump water very well.

Then I tried pumping old coolant from a machine into a barrel. It
worked great, then got somehow stuck and did not pump, despite
reciprocating. I assumed that the plastic balls got stuck, shook it a
bit, and then got them unstuck.

Someone told me that if I buy PTFE (Teflon) balls, they would be
lesslikely to get stuck. They are not that expensive and I wanted to
double check if that advice makes sense to you.

Thanks

i

On Sat, 13 Apr 2013 08:31:00 -0500, Ignoramus17560
wrote:

On 2013-04-12, J.B.Slocomb wrote:
On Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:28:25 -0500, Ignoramus19459
wrote:

I have a question, I have a diaphragm pump here and I have never used
one before. When I supply air to this particular one, it seems to work
internally, but there is barely any suction or pressure on either
end. Maybe just a tiny amount of suction.

I thought that they can run dry and do not need priming.

What should I expect from a good diaphragm pump?

i
Likely to be worn or sticking valves. Unless the diaphragm has a hole
in it :-(


OK, I spent a lot of time with that pump. Took it apart. The valve
balls are there. The membranes are in good condition. After
disassebmly and reassembly, it does pump water very well.

Then I tried pumping old coolant from a machine into a barrel. It
worked great, then got somehow stuck and did not pump, despite
reciprocating. I assumed that the plastic balls got stuck, shook it a
bit, and then got them unstuck.

Someone told me that if I buy PTFE (Teflon) balls, they would be
lesslikely to get stuck. They are not that expensive and I wanted to
double check if that advice makes sense to you.

Thanks

i

One assumes you did put a fine..fine screen on the input side..right?

If not..nothing is going to help

Gunner, who has pulled chips out of a 1000 pumps

On Apr 13, 11:52*am, Gunner Asch wrote:
On Sat, 13 Apr 2013 08:31:00 -0500, Ignoramus17560









wrote:
On 2013-04-12, J.B.Slocomb wrote:
On Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:28:25 -0500, Ignoramus19459
wrote:

I have a question, I have a diaphragm pump here and I have never used
one before. When I supply air to this particular one, it seems to work
internally, but there is barely any suction or pressure on either
end. Maybe just a tiny amount of suction.

I thought that they can run dry and do not need priming.

What should I expect from a good diaphragm pump?

i
Likely to be worn or sticking valves. Unless the diaphragm has a hole
in it :-(

OK, I spent a lot of time with that pump. Took it apart. The valve
balls are there. The membranes are in good condition. After
disassebmly and reassembly, it does pump water very well.

Then I tried pumping old coolant from a machine into a barrel. It
worked great, then got somehow stuck and did not pump, despite
reciprocating. I assumed that the plastic balls got stuck, shook it a
bit, and then got them unstuck.

Someone told me that if I buy PTFE (Teflon) balls, they would be
lesslikely to get stuck. They are not that expensive and I wanted to
double check if that advice makes sense to you.

Thanks

i

One assumes you did put a fine..fine screen on the input side..right?

If not..nothing is going to help

Gunner, who has pulled chips out of a 1000 pumps

All one can do is assume with most of the crap iggy posts.

Significant detail is almost always missing.