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Date: 03 Jul 2007 04:54:10
From: C.H. Luu
Subject: Floor Pump Problem - Air Loss after Pumping
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Hi Guys: My Topeak Joe Blow Sport pump took a dive on me after many years of use. Instead of buying a new hose with fitting, I decided to buy a new pump. I purchased a Topeak Joe Blow Pro with a flip lock switch nozzle that is able to accomodate Shraeder & Presta valves with the same nozzle. Although it pumps very easily, I have noticed a very "annoying" side effect. I pump my tires to 120psi and after unlock the head via the flip lock switch, I remove the nozzle from my presta valve. I notice that there is a loud hissing noise. At first I thought it was from air inside the hose but after checking the pressure in my tires, I find that the tire has lost 5-10 psi. Is there a way of preventing this? I tried a Blackburn Air Tower 5 with a similar type of inflator head and it has the same problem. Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Claude
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Date: 05 Jul 2007 02:11:03
From: C.H. Luu
Subject: Re: Floor Pump Problem - Air Loss after Pumping
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Hi Carl: Thanks for the advice. Reinstalling the head of the same pump onto the presta valve, consistently reveals a pressure drop. I might just go back to my Joe Blow Sport with the Twin Head nozzle. However, pumping a little more to compensate for the drop isn't too drastic of a cure. Many thanks for your insight. Claude
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Date: 04 Jul 2007 21:51:48
From:
Subject: Re: Floor Pump Problem - Air Loss after Pumping
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On Thu, 05 Jul 2007 02:11:03 -0000, "C.H. Luu" <claude.luu@gmail.com > wrote: >Hi Carl: > >Thanks for the advice. Reinstalling the head of the same pump onto >the presta valve, consistently reveals a pressure drop. I might just >go back to my Joe Blow Sport with the Twin Head nozzle. However, >pumping a little more to compensate for the drop isn't too drastic of >a cure. > >Many thanks for your insight. > >Claude Dear Claude, Whatever's causing the problem, it ain't right, butit's hard to see anything wrong f you can pump to 125 psi, drop to 120 psi, and are happy with the adjustment. Something must be pushing the presta valve down and holding it open after the head is pulled off enough that the seal opens. You may have a bent or badly manufactured presta valve that somehow shuts slowly and grudgingly. Or your pump heads could be poorly designed (or even defective). If you're curious, you could borrow a few pumps and test your tubes, or try your pump on a few other tires. My cheap yellow floor pump with a dual head seems to work well on 700x26 at 120 psi. In fact, I use it as a gauge to save time--put the pump head on, pump up until the valve breaks, and replace the tube if it's lost more pressure than seems right. Usually I find a slow leak from a goathead thorn, partly sealed by slime. Cheers, Carl Fogel
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Date: 05 Jul 2007 22:37:51
From: Dennis Ferguson
Subject: Re: Floor Pump Problem - Air Loss after Pumping
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On 2007-07-05, carlfogel@comcast.net <carlfogel@comcast.net > wrote: > On Thu, 05 Jul 2007 02:11:03 -0000, "C.H. Luu" <claude.luu@gmail.com> > wrote: >>Thanks for the advice. Reinstalling the head of the same pump onto >>the presta valve, consistently reveals a pressure drop. I might just >>go back to my Joe Blow Sport with the Twin Head nozzle. However, >>pumping a little more to compensate for the drop isn't too drastic of >>a cure. [...] > Whatever's causing the problem, it ain't right, butit's hard to see > anything wrong f you can pump to 125 psi, drop to 120 psi, and are > happy with the adjustment. > > Something must be pushing the presta valve down and holding it open > after the head is pulled off enough that the seal opens. The pump he has is this one (I have one too): http://www.topeak.com/2007/products/floorpumps/jbpro.php The pump's head doesn't have dual holes, one for each valve type, it instead has one single hole which accomodates both Schrader and Presta valves without any adjustment. Inside the head is the pin needed to open Schrader valves. This pin moves into and out of the head fairly freely when the locking lever on the head is open (it is pushed out by a very light spring), but is pushed all the way out into the valve when the locking lever is closed. The problem with the pump when used on Presta valves seems to be that when you've finished inflating the tire and have openned the locking lever, for the Presta valve to close, the valve must push the pump head's pin back into the pump head against the force of the pin's spring. This seems to slow the closure of the valve enough (with the valves on the tubes I use, at least) that the tire loses a few psi before the valve manages to entirely close. I've done alright with the pump for 2 or 3 years now by the same method, inflating the tire 5 or so psi higher than I actually want it to end up. I wouldn't mind if something happened to the pump which gave me an excuse to buy something else, however. Dennis Ferguson
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Date: 03 Jul 2007 16:53:26
From: Michael Warner
Subject: Re: Floor Pump Problem - Air Loss after Pumping
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On Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:54:10 -0000, C.H. Luu wrote: > At first I thought it was from > air inside the hose but after checking the pressure in my tires, I > find that the tire has lost 5-10 psi. Is there a way of preventing > this? I tried a Blackburn Air Tower 5 with a similar type of inflator > head and it has the same problem. Unless the valve is defective and not closing quickly when the hose is removed, it's merely a difference in the readings between the pump gauges and whatever else you're using afterwards. Cheap gauges aren't very accurate. -- Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw
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Date: 02 Jul 2007 23:08:20
From:
Subject: Re: Floor Pump Problem - Air Loss after Pumping
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On Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:54:10 -0000, "C.H. Luu" <claude.luu@gmail.com > wrote: >Hi Guys: > >My Topeak Joe Blow Sport pump took a dive on me after many years of >use. Instead of buying a new hose with fitting, I decided to buy a >new pump. I purchased a Topeak Joe Blow Pro with a flip lock switch >nozzle that is able to accomodate Shraeder & Presta valves with the >same nozzle. > >Although it pumps very easily, I have noticed a very "annoying" side >effect. I pump my tires to 120psi and after unlock the head via the >flip lock switch, I remove the nozzle from my presta valve. I notice >that there is a loud hissing noise. At first I thought it was from >air inside the hose but after checking the pressure in my tires, I >find that the tire has lost 5-10 psi. Is there a way of preventing >this? I tried a Blackburn Air Tower 5 with a similar type of inflator >head and it has the same problem. > >Any help is appreciated. > >Thanks, >Claude Dear Claude, At any significant tire pressure, a presta valve should close almost instantly when the outside pressure drops. If 120 pis pressure really does drop 5-10 psi when the pump head comes off quickly and normally, then you have a defective presta valve. But the dedicated gauge that you're using to measure the pressure afterward may simply be reading low and thus disagreeing with the inline gauges of your two air pumps. If that's the case, the vote is two to one in favor of the higher pressure. That is, you may be seeing this situation at a true 120 psi: Topeak inline gauge: 120 psi Blackburn inline gauge : 120 psi unknown tire gauge: 110-115 psi Of course, the dedicated gauge could be right, and your two inline gauges could be reading 5-10 psi. Another possibility is that you are mis-reading the inline gauges, whose markings are not always as clear as dedicated gauges. With a floor gauge, you can reattach the hose, pump up the dial slowly, tapping the valve with a handy screwdriver, and note when the presta valve breaks loose--if it settles at the same setting, then you aren't losing 5-10 psi. Cheers, Carl Fogel
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Date: 04 Jul 2007 21:17:09
From: Steve Gravrock
Subject: Re: Floor Pump Problem - Air Loss after Pumping
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On 2007-07-03, carlfogel@comcast.net <carlfogel@comcast.net > wrote: > On Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:54:10 -0000, "C.H. Luu" <claude.luu@gmail.com> [ air loss when removing pump head from valve ] > At any significant tire pressure, a presta valve should close almost > instantly when the outside pressure drops. > > If 120 pis pressure really does drop 5-10 psi when the pump head comes > off quickly and normally, then you have a defective presta valve. I have the same problem with my floor pump as Claude does with with his, and at least in my case the pump head seems to be at fault. The problem is that some pump heads open the valve when pushed on but don't seal around it until the lever is flipped up. I have a Bontrager floor pump that works that way. Air escapes from when I push the head onto the valve until I flip the lever up and again from when I flip it down until I pull the head off the valve. Pumping to 90 PSI, removing the pump head, and putting it back on consistently gives me 80 PSI. On the other hand, my Road Morph and my friend's Specialized floor pump both seem to use the lever only to hold the head on the valve. I don't lose any pressure with those pumps. I also have a shock pump with the same problem. It uses a thread-on Schraeder valve. The faster you unscrew it, the less pressure you lose.
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