Foam Brush suddenly turned watery

[designflaw]

I am using JBS Fonic Wash (based on a recommendation from Randy) and am running into a problem that I am stumped with. All of a sudden, out of no where, the foam brush is very watery. I took off the tube that goes into the soap tank and when I put my finger on it, I see some suction there. When I press the weight down, I see that it pulls water and soap OK. I was out of ideas and changed the hoses for the hydrominder thinking they may have gotten loose over time but that did not help either. I opened up the foot valve, cleaning it and then put it back together but that did not help either. The only time I am able to consistency to foamy is if I manually put a bunch of soap into the container that flojet pulls from. I am using a brown tip. I did open up the tip and cleaned it and see a clear hole in it.

What could randomly just change the consistency of the foam brush on its own?

 

[Randy]

I am using JBS Fonic Wash (based on a recommendation from Randy) and am running into a problem that I am stumped with. All of a sudden, out of no where, the foam brush is very watery. I took off the tube that goes into the soap tank and when I put my finger on it, I see some suction there. When I press the weight down, I see that it pulls water and soap OK. I was out of ideas and changed the hoses for the hydrominder thinking they may have gotten loose over time but that did not help either. I opened up the foot valve, cleaning it and then put it back together but that did not help either. The only time I am able to consistency to foamy is if I manually put a bunch of soap into the container that flojet pulls from. I am using a brown tip. I did open up the tip and cleaned it and see a clear hole in it.

What could randomly just change the consistency of the foam brush on its own?

You probably have a plugged up tip. Change the tip in the Hydrominder, I'd probably go up one size. Are mixing the Fonic wash with 10 gallons of water?

 

[designflaw]

You probably have a plugged up tip. Change the tip in the Hydrominder, I'd probably go up one size. Are mixing the Fonic wash with 10 gallons of water?

I am mixing it with 10 gallons of water. I will go up a tip size but I am so confused, why would it all of a sudden not foam up like it used to?

I did buy the pallet of soap last year during KR's sale. I wonder if the soap is starting to go bad, is that possible?

 

[Bob-O]

Make sure you have soft water.

 

[TMoliver]

If this is in all bays, My experience has been a bad foot vale on the hydro minder letting water siphon back into the soap bucket.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Make sure you have soft water.

What Bob said.

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

I would drain your holding tank also completely empty. One more thing to look for is when the Hydrominder reaches the desired level that its actually cutting off and not bleeding a small stream of water into the tank through the discharge hose that will water down product tremendously.

 

[designflaw]

Thanks everyone. I do see that I am low on salt (in the past I have run completely out but never had this problem). I am going to replace the hydrominder and fill up salt. I hope that fixes the issue.

 

[Blanco]

Check if you have air going to your bays. If your air solenoid is not opening then yes you will put out just liquid. Air is what makes it foam, not the chemical no matter how strong you run it.

 

[soapy]

I second the check your air solenoid.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I think Tmoliver got i right. Try new bucket of soap and see what happens. If that works make small hole in Hydrominder down tube above water level to prevent siphon.

 

[designflaw]

I think Tmoliver got i right. Try new bucket of soap and see what happens. If that works make small hole in Hydrominder down tube above water level to prevent siphon.

I have heard abt this but what does this do? What is the benefit of making a hole?

 

[designflaw]

Check if you have air going to your bays. If your air solenoid is not opening then yes you will put out just liquid. Air is what makes it foam, not the chemical no matter how strong you run it.

I second the check your air solenoid.

I have double checked air and that seems to be going. I did the following but that does not look like it helped,
- Filled up salt
- Did hard water test and water looks OK
- Changed the hydrominder with a brand new one

I will go up a tip size. The soap I am using has been sitting in my garage since last year's KR sale. Do you think the soap might be going bad?

 

[Earl Weiss]

I have heard abt this but what does this do? What is the benefit of making a hole?

The hole allows air to enter stopping any siphon so the mixture in the tank cannot siphon back to the concentrate supply.

 

[Roz]

JBS Fonic is HP Soap, not foam brush soap per se. Use a foam brush soap like KR Cherry Blossom foam brush soap.

 

[designflaw]

JBS Fonic is HP Soap, not foam brush soap per se. Use a foam brush soap like KR Cherry Blossom foam brush soap.

Oh man, I have been using it several months now without knowing this. I got the recommendation from Randy on this forum and I remember when I asked KR, they said I could use in the foam brush.

FWIW, I got the thing working but I am so confused. Before, I tell u what I did, it is worth mentioning that I tested my water for hardness and it came back normal. I had to up the tip size like crazy, went from Purple (.014) to Blue (.04). I also got a note from a few customers that HP Soap was not well so I upped that from Yellow (.02) to White (.043). I am going to watch it but if anyone has any ideas on what this means, I will really appreciate it. I had gotten the JBS soap back in May of last year and all was well. I still have about 2-3 months of supply left. I wonder if the soap has gone bad or if it is something else.

 

[Randy]

I'd keep using the JBS Fonic, it work fine for both HP and foam brush, the KR Cherry Blossom foam brush soap is garbage. We had nothing but problems with it. The shelf life of the JBS Fonic is years, just want to keep it from freezing. Your tip sizes are why to big, I would have gone up to a Brown or orange.
If you continue to have problems call JBS, there good about taking care of problems.

 

[Roz]

Oh man, I have been using it several months now without knowing this. I got the recommendation from Randy on this forum and I remember when I asked KR, they said I could use in the foam brush.

FWIW, I got the thing working but I am so confused. Before, I tell u what I did, it is worth mentioning that I tested my water for hardness and it came back normal. I had to up the tip size like crazy, went from Purple (.014) to Blue (.04). I also got a note from a few customers that HP Soap was not well so I upped that from Yellow (.02) to White (.043). I am going to watch it but if anyone has any ideas on what this means, I will really appreciate it. I had gotten the JBS soap back in May of last year and all was well. I still have about 2-3 months of supply left. I wonder if the soap has gone bad or if it is something else.

I have never used HP soap in a foam brush but I suppose it is possible. Check your LP product and air settings. Product should about 2x air. The cherry foam brush soap foams like shaving cream and customers love it. You can always mix it with your JBS to give it some extra foaming action.

we use a yellow (90:1) tip, product is set to 60 and air 30. We mix one 5 gal cherry blossom with 10 gal water. In winter we use their winter blend but use larger tips based on their temperature chart

 

[designflaw]

I'd keep using the JBS Fonic, it work fine for both HP and foam brush, the KR Cherry Blossom foam brush soap is garbage. We had nothing but problems with it. The shelf life of the JBS Fonic is years, just want to keep it from freezing. Your tip sizes are why to big, I would have gone up to a Brown or orange.
If you continue to have problems call JBS, there good about taking care of problems.

Thank you Randy. I will call them.

 

[designflaw]

I have never used HP soap in a foam brush but I suppose it is possible. Check your LP product and air settings. Product should about 2x air. The cherry foam brush soap foams like shaving cream and customers love it. You can always mix it with your JBS to give it some extra foaming action.

we use a yellow (90:1) tip, product is set to 60 and air 30. We mix one 5 gal cherry blossom with 10 gal water. In winter we use their winter blend but use larger tips based on their temperature chart

That is a solid idea. I am doing something similar. 60 on the flojet and 30 on air. I will start dialing down the tip size down 1 by 1 to see if I can get it lower. I was just frustrated that it is day # 3 and my foam brush looked bad.