Over the last week I started having issues with finding a wet area on the cement on the backside of the Coleman Hanna power pack. Wasn’t a lot of water and was able to track in down to the overflow pipe on the backside mixing tank. I did notice that the pre-soak chemical tank was at a higher level than normal. I pulled the hydrometer off the pre-soak to bring home so I can use my vise to hold it while rebuilding it, assuming that was the issue. Before leaving I lowered the chemical mixture roughly an inch below the overflow hole. It was a busy day today at the wash. When I went to replace the hydrometer back the floor was wet again and the level was back up to the overflow hole. It seems something has failed allowing water to back feed into the pre-soak chemical tank. The 5 gallon bucket is not overflowing/backfilling, so the foot valve is good. It is filling up to the overflow drain hole and positive it has to be back feeding due to the fact the water inlet was capped while the hydrometer was being repaired. Where should I start to troubleshoot this? What could the problem possibly be? I included a picture of the capped water discharge where the hydrometer is supposed to be, but hard to see the water level up to the overflow. TIA for any input to get the issue resolved.
Coleman Hanna power pack pre-soak overflowing
- Thread starter Yeaux
- Start date
stampedecarwash
Member
It seems like you got a bad check valve up at the boom my friend, where high pressure and low pressure connect together. The check valve on the boom on presoak has failed and allows high pressure from your pump to come back. Do you see higher than normal pressure on your presoak gauge? Do you see lower than normal pressure on your high pressure pump?
Earl Weiss
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You should be able to rebuild a Hydrominder in place. Certainly it may be easier to deal with if you remove it. but I don't see why you need a vice.
The screws holding the valve body were corroded to the point a nut driver or screw driver had nothing to bite on. Had to grind the heads off the screws and back the screw out with a set of vise grips.
Dan kamsickas
GinSan Technician
Then it's time to replace the whole Hydrominder.
Greg Pack
Wash Weenie
Coleman has the hydros sitting inside the tank and the screws corrode prematurely in that environment. I replace with small short( 5/8" I think )stainless sheet metal screws. I flatten the pointy end with a grinder. Works great.
Greg Pack
Wash Weenie
Back to original problem.
Coleman users a medium pressure presoak which works just like HP soap or wax, in addition it opens a regulator to drop pressure to 400psi. It sucks. The diluted presoak does not clean anything and changeover times can exceed 30 seconds in the bay.
Check your presoak solenoid plungers for debris and that its not stuck open. During presoak you should be drawing out of the hot water tank which is gravity fed and shouldn't be a problem in back filling. If plungers are OK the rinse and/or weep manifold is likely the source of the overflowing. Water pressure on this manifold shouldn't be too high, no more than 40psi and ideally lower if your weep can operate properly. Rinse solenoid should not be open during presoak, Weep could be an issue when running.
Not long ago I converted mine Coleman pump stand to low pressure presoak and presoak usage rose dramatically.
Coleman users a medium pressure presoak which works just like HP soap or wax, in addition it opens a regulator to drop pressure to 400psi. It sucks. The diluted presoak does not clean anything and changeover times can exceed 30 seconds in the bay.
Check your presoak solenoid plungers for debris and that its not stuck open. During presoak you should be drawing out of the hot water tank which is gravity fed and shouldn't be a problem in back filling. If plungers are OK the rinse and/or weep manifold is likely the source of the overflowing. Water pressure on this manifold shouldn't be too high, no more than 40psi and ideally lower if your weep can operate properly. Rinse solenoid should not be open during presoak, Weep could be an issue when running.
Not long ago I converted mine Coleman pump stand to low pressure presoak and presoak usage rose dramatically.
Yeah, I was digging into it more today. I’m pretty mechanically inclined and can usually tinker long enough to learn a system and how it works. I wasn’t sure exactly how the weep worked but understand it now after this description and looking at it for a bit today.
I will say that if I turn the individual weep valves on each pump on it does flow water. Which before today I didn’t know there is a weep solenoid that feeds into the feed line of each pump as well. It make sense now that I can physically see and understand how the weep systems works that the weep supply could actually be the issue. Knowing that the solenoid that feeds the hose to the valves on each pump is open, leads me to believe that the thermostat that monitors the temperature could be the issue. Thoughts? What else would you trouble to rectify this?
Hope I explained this properly for all to understand.
Last edited:
Greg Pack
Wash Weenie
Probably the quickest way to see if we're barking up the right tree is to remove the incoming presoak line, the one that runs from the mixing tank to the solenoid manifolds. Coleman doesn't have a shut off valve so you will have likely have to clamp the line (needle nose vise grips work pretty well for this) or empty the presoak tank into a bucket. Go from bay to bay and run rinse. If water comes out of the manifold during rinse you've got a plunger in one bay not closing properly.. Someone else may have a better plan but that's probably what I would do. Before you go to the trouble to disassemble the presoak manifold be sure and check your incoming water pressure to make sure it is not excessive. Get it down to more than 40psi by adjusting the pressure reducing valve
T
View attachment IMG_8450.mov
he static pressure of the water system supplying the carwash is 62-64psi. When a weep valve of the pump is opened is drops to 30psi, I can open all four weep valves on the pumps and holds at 30psi. Question I have, should the gauge hold at 30 psi when no water is flowing through the weep?
Also included is a video of a bay in rinse with the presoak supply disconnected from the manifold, and it clearly shows water dripping from the male connection of the manifold. Also took all plungers off to visually inspect for trash and all were clean. There is a small stream of water that discharges from the center hole of each manifold. I’ve come to the conclusion that the weep is definitely back feeding into the presoak tank. But what also has me scratching my head is why it doesn’t back flow into the high pressure soap and wax.
I feel that the weep is activated which is causing the back feed. Could it be a bad thermostat that has the weep solenoids opened.
Not sure the next step to take to rectify this. Any input would be appreciated!
View attachment IMG_8450.mov
he static pressure of the water system supplying the carwash is 62-64psi. When a weep valve of the pump is opened is drops to 30psi, I can open all four weep valves on the pumps and holds at 30psi. Question I have, should the gauge hold at 30 psi when no water is flowing through the weep?
Also included is a video of a bay in rinse with the presoak supply disconnected from the manifold, and it clearly shows water dripping from the male connection of the manifold. Also took all plungers off to visually inspect for trash and all were clean. There is a small stream of water that discharges from the center hole of each manifold. I’ve come to the conclusion that the weep is definitely back feeding into the presoak tank. But what also has me scratching my head is why it doesn’t back flow into the high pressure soap and wax.
I feel that the weep is activated which is causing the back feed. Could it be a bad thermostat that has the weep solenoids opened.
Not sure the next step to take to rectify this. Any input would be appreciated!
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