Hi All,

I've managed to break the 2 pumps that came with my kites. One of them is a 2005 model wih aluminium shaft. Both pumps went pop inside while under pressure and then no longer worked properly.

To try and fix them I opened them up and pushed the seal disk and valve plug thing back into the hole. Snapped it back into place and screwed the top down. However on testing the pump, it's not the same as before, keeps popping and no longer powerful enough to pump the kite up hard.

Are kite pumps actually fixable or am I better off just getting a new one from the camping section at K-mart?

Bo

G'Day Bo,

Don't know if you noticed, but there are little one way valves on the top and underside of the piston. You need to make sure the little rubber diaphragms are seated squarly against the seats and have no sand in the way.

You also need to be really careful when putting the piston back into the body of the pump so as not to "roll" the edge of the seal around the piston.

Loads of sand get into the pumps so a good wash out with soapy water will clean out most of the crap, then what I do is spray the seals and interior of the pump with silicone spray lubricant. Reasemble ensuring good seals all round and you should be right. They can be fixed!

Best of luck,

Darren

Good luck

Geez, thanks for these brilliant answers everyone. Will buy silicone spray and superglue tomorrow and follow the instructions.

For the sake of future reference, for the benefit of others in the same boat, I'm also going to post a product support e-mail I just received from Best Kiteboarding, which advises on some additional pump fixes:

Bo, sorry to hear about your pumping breaking. If its not the handle that’s gone they are easy to repair. If your pump works on either the upstroke or the downstroke then you’ve just popped one of the valves out of its seal, this is a 2 minute job.

1. If the pump doesn’t draw any air at all then the plunger has separated from the shaft, this is just as easy to repair. Unscrew the lid from the top of the pump, you’ll need some brute force for this, or the careful application of hot water to the top of the pump, sometimes just giving it a couple of good cracks with a spanner breaks the factory seal. Once off carefully withdraw the plunger and the shaft, if the plunger doesn’t come up with the shaft then you need to withdraw the plunger, and epoxy it onto the shaft, clean any lubricant grease off first with a solvent, ram the plunger home with some glue and leave it to set, before reassembling the pump.

2. If the plunger comes up with the shaft and there’s a little bit of plastic floating round then you’ve popped a valve off, just clean the seating hole for the valve, clean the valve and reassemble with some epoxy around the outside barrel of the valve, don’t glue the flap on the top of the valve to the sides of the valves and reassemble.

2. When putting it back together make sure the seals around the outside of the plunger are flat and not twisted as you slide the plunger into the top of the pump, and then just screw the top down.

Cheers,
Bo

Hey Monkeykiter... use a monkey wrench!
Seriously, that's what I used, but mine doesn't open the full width of the cap, so I tightened it on the raised narrow bit where the shaft goes in. There's a few scratches there now, but at least I got it open.

I found heaps of sand and bits of rubber from where the sand had worn down the main seals, so I took the main seals off the piston, and wrapped some plumbers thread sealing tape around the grooves in the piston so that the worn down seals will press out against the body a bit harder and form a better seal.

Then I thought, what the hell, took the whole lot completely apart and put the thread tape on everything that needed a seal or had a thread. (The things we do on low wind days )

I'm also going to get a piece of stocking and stretch it over the "deflate" hole to filter out any sand from coming in.

Instead of a wrench, you can get a tool from Bunnings that looks like a strap with a handle on it, which you wrap around circular-ish things and when you pull the handle (in this case arrange it around the larger part of the main cap and so you pull it anticlockwise), the strap tightens and forms an all-round grip on the object and it should come free easily. I don't have one of these tools, and I don't know what they're called, but I know I want one.

Are you able to tell, from the feel or the sound, whether air is getting into the upper chamber on the downstroke? (It will feel harder than normal to press down if it's not) If yes, check the valve on top of the piston where the rubber part is exposed is not blocked (intake valve for the top chamber). Also make sure this valve is not held open by any grit or air will leak into the bottom chamber in the upstroke instead of into your kite.

If the air is getting in OK, but it's harder to pull the handle up, check the other top side one (you may have to pop the valve open to check the rubber bit) as it may have jammed closed.

If it makes a wheezing sound when you pull up which may continue for a couple of seconds, the seal in the cap where the shaft enters may have gone, but there's not much you can do about that one.

As kitehard said, a silicone lubricant might be the go to help get the seals right, but just remember, as with all rubber and lubricant situations , don't use an oil based lubricant as it can make the rubber deteriorate.

oh one more thing. What PSI are we looking for in a kite?

Oh struth. lucky you mentioned the PSI. I had this wierd idea on my head it was meant to be 60psi.

Good thing I didnt go to the servo to save some time.


When you say the groove that you fill with plumbers thread, do you mean the groove you see when you look straight down the shaft?

ah now I know exactly what your talking about. And i can see my problem. . The rings are gone. yep, gone. there just like big o-rings right.

Do shops sell these?

synthetic lubricants, and their solvents/propelants, can deteriate rubber/plastic faster than they'd normally wear out... use a light vege' oil, like olive oil, for longer lasting rubbers... vege oils will also wash out with dishwashing liquid should they go waxy. vege oils are also cheaper and usually in every kitchen



PS... add balsamic vinegar for a lovely salad dressing