How to inject antifreeze into lines?

[cityview]

My weep system dies on me at about -5... IE when its below -5 I get lines freezing up even with weep.

Next week we are expected to have extended temperatures below 20 for a week, with nights dipping as low as -12.

Instead of just "letting them freeze" and then spending 12 hours thawing lines and $200 replacing blown boom swivels and lines, I thought I'd shut down for a couple of days.

I did some searching on here and it looks like there's a lot of discussion on what to interject into the lines. Call me an idiot, but I'm not sure "how" you inject that into the lines? (I don't want this to turn into a debate into what you put into the lines... there's a bunch of threads about that already.... I'll probably put winter foam brush soap in there (although my winter foam brush soap actually freezes into a slush so I even question that- probably the water/chemical ratio though)

So my real question is... HOW do you "inject" the antifreeze/washer fluid/whatever into the hoses?

The only thing I could really think of is to run the wheel/tire down to empty, then fill that tank with foam brush, then pump that through each gun until it starts "coming out", then shut the gun down AND turn off the weep to each gun. Then cross my fingers and wait. Is that about right?

If I do that though I'm worried about mixing chemicals... but I guess they haven't exploded yet so I'm probably OK? haha...

Any advice appreciated.

 

[Randy]

This is the procedure we use when we shut down the car wash when it's freezing cold. We installed a "T" in the weep water line with a valve on the down leg of the "T". We turn off the weep water, remove the guns and foam brush handles and connect a air hose to the valve on the down leg of the "T" and blow down the hoses with air. Then we connect a Flo-jet pump to the down leg of the "T" and pump cheap -32 windshield washer fluid into the weep system. When we get a good flow out of the hoses in the bay we turn off the power to the equipment and we are good until it warms up enough to reopen. We don't do enough business to justify staying open when it well below freezing during the day for days ta time. I'm not fighting the cold anymore.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Randy after you blow down your lines with -32 fluid do you plug your hose line in the bay to keep the hose filled with -32 fluid or do you just leave the lines open.
I was thinking about draining the chemicals back into the 5 gallon buckets and filling the tanks with -32 fluid, turning on the gun and brushes and using each process until I saw the fluid coming out steady, capping off the lines and bringing all the bay hoses into the equipment room.

 

[Randy]

Randy after you blow down your lines with -32 fluid do you plug your hose line in the bay to keep the hose filled with -32 fluid or do you just leave the lines open.
I was thinking about draining the chemicals back into the 5 gallon buckets and filling the tanks with -32 fluid, turning on the gun and brushes and using each process until I saw the fluid coming out steady, capping off the lines and bringing all the bay hoses into the equipment room.

Nope we don't plug or cap off the lines, just leave them open out in the bay. It hasn't been a problem. So far this winter we've only had a handful of nights that it's gotten down into mid 20's, pretty mild winter so far. You could drain off the chemicals in your holding tanks and fill them with a few gallons of washer fluid. I've thought about doing that but it's easier to pump the washer into system through my weep system with an old Flo-jet pump. I have everything ready to go to close the car wash in the fall, It only takes me about 20 minutes to close the car wash.

 

[2Biz]

I don't remove my wands after filling the lines with WF. As long as your wands don't syphon, you'd be ok leaving them on. Just turn power off to the bays, put up cones and call it a day. For extended cold spells, I also cover my pits to keep them from freezing. It doesn't take long with below zero temps to freeze the water in the pits. Something you don't want!

 

[Randy]

The only reason we take off the guns and foam brush handles is we get people who come in, pull the floor grates and dip the foam brush into the water and scrub off their car. Then they realize that everything is turned off they leave, leaving the grate off. We also put orange cones in the bays, they’ll move them and still try to get into the bay. I don't think our pit water has ever frozen, the coldest I've seen it here before global warming is about 10 degrees.

 

[slash007]

What if you just want to shut down some of the bays? Are you just turning off the ball valve for the weep to the bays that you want to keep running? I don't think I would shut everything down, just some of the bays.

 

[2Biz]

What if you just want to shut down some of the bays? Are you just turning off the ball valve for the weep to the bays that you want to keep running? I don't think I would shut everything down, just some of the bays.

That's what I do...With my setup, I have a ball valve for each bay that I can turn the weep off...Leave the ball valves on for the ones I want to keep open. But remember, if you have SFR and a single pump for all bays, you'll need separate ball valves for the SFR that you can shut off. When the SFR pump starts, if any of your solenoids leak by it can flush the WF out of the closed bay/bays HP hose and freeze.

 

[Robert2181]

Up in northern MI, have never had a pit freeze.(knock on wood). We are in a cold spell now. -6 last night, wind chill - 25. This coming Mon,Tue & Wed, high of 0 to 5, Wind chill -30, 30 mph wind.

 

[mjwalsh]

A little tip in case no one noticed: If we blow out when temps are below 35° or so we put the wands in a bucket of hot water while blowing out. That way the nozzles do not freeze up during the blow out. The air for some reason whizzing along gradually gets lower than the outside temperature.

We just make sure our lines are blew out thoroughly enough with dry enough air coming from our compressor. In the past before our pampering the customers competition came in we would sometimes open our three bays in front as low as 15° as long it was supposed to warm up & there was no wind. Then we had to temporarily run antifreeze brush soap to keep the brushes from freezing.

If you look at a climate map ... North Dakota for some reason tends to have colder temps than its neighboring states ... Of course elevation definitely plays a role for some areas of the USA. Canada tends to have the huge single entry exit 14 plus bays like we had one of back in the early 80s until the SBA (US Marshal) foreclosed because of improper debt paying on the very expensive facility.

 

[slash007]

Any way to inject antifreeze into the HP lines without a flojet? I don't use those at my washes, so no spares lying around and I don't have time to order one now.

 

[OurTown]

Any way to inject antifreeze into the HP lines without a flojet? I don't use those at my washes, so no spares lying around and I don't have time to order one now.

Maybe empty your presoak tank and put washer fluid in it. Turn on the presoak for each bay to fill the lines.

 

[Randy]

Any way to inject antifreeze into the HP lines without a flojet? I don't use those at my washes, so no spares lying around and I don't have time to order one now.

It doesn't necessary need to be a Flo-Jet pump, any pump will work. Do you have a spare Procon pump. I used to use a small water bed pump that one of my customers left me. I just use a Flo-jet pump because I've got a number of them.

 

[slash007]

Maybe empty your presoak tank and put washer fluid in it. Turn on the presoak for each bay to fill the lines.

My system adds water from the holding tank to the presoak, so that wouldn't work. I guess I could get a procon pump to work, but I would have to run power to it.

 

[2Biz]

Do you have push connect fittings on your weep system? Do you have individual ball valves to shut off weep to each bay? I can think of several ways to inject WF other than the way I do it! ....I think the 2nd easiest way would be to use a flojet like Randy suggested. The 3rd easiest would be to get a 2 gallon garden sprayer and rig something up...Like plug the wand hose and drill and pipe tap a hole in the bottom of the sprayer to put a push connect fitting in. I'd do 3/8 LLDPE tubing instead of 1/4" for easier flow. Put a ball valve in-line on the sprayer to be able to turn it off easier once the lines are full.

I like doing each bay separately. I put a clear empty water bottle under the nozzle until the liquid is bright blue. Then go back in the Er, and shut off the WF flow. Then go on to the next bay. Having push connects will make it easier to blow air through the hoses too. I run about 40 psi pressure to blow the lines out. Again, one at a time. Hope this helps...

 

[MEP001]

Rather than try to drill and tap a fitting into a garden sprayer, you could instead just take the tip off and slide hose over the wand. They're usually just rigid tubing 3/8" OD.

 

[Sparkleclean]

I have been told that even anti freeze chemicals will freeze up below 10/15 degrees. So all bets are off when there is negative temps. My foam brush will freeze with anti freeze chems in them but we put up a sign from kleen rite that says brushes may not work in freezing weather. Otherwise i have never had a freeze up with the weep going unless something clogs a spray nozzle. Although with our setup we catch the weep coming out of the spray gun in a giant chemtainer which sits on the heated floor. We then grab water from that bucket and recirculate it through the weep system. As long as the gun is placed back into the holder it is a loop. If the gun is left out or on the floor there is a float valve in that chem tainer that will fill it with fresh water to keep it full. It helps that the bucket is on a heated floor i think. Plus we were sick of weeping water down the drain so we built a way to recirculate weep water so we arent wasting it.

 

[slash007]

I think I like the flojet idea most as I would rather have it setup to be convenient. For tonight I just blew air through my TF lines with nothing else and will see if they freeze up. Guess it's never too late to be prepared for the worst. Been five years since it was this cold and before that it was 22 years. Can't wait to be able to learn and install a system that will auto blow down my TF and FB. Hopefully it will be in by next winter. I do have a procon pump and motor I could use for now, but not sure if I want to go that route and run electric etc.

Sparkle, anti freeze chemicals should go way lower than 10/15 degrees. Depends on the dilution.

What's the best place to buy washer fluid in bulk?

 

[MEP001]

What's the best place to buy washer fluid in bulk?

Check with distributors that sell supplies to auto parts stores, although you can get methanol pretty cheap.

 

[OurTown]

I have been told that even anti freeze chemicals will freeze up below 10/15 degrees.

I believe RV antifreeze turns to slush when really cold but I'm not sure about washer fluid. I have some -22 washer fluid and I may leave it outside to see what happens.