Fired the Chemical Guy

[TEEBOX]

For those who operate in below freezing weather, do you increase tip size for your chemicals when the thermometer drops?

Not getting the flow on foamers I once had before turning on hot water and lower outside temps.

I recall chemical guy telling me elevate barrels off ground and increase tip size to allow for thickness of chemical.

Fired the chemical guy and doing this myself.

Naah, he retired!

Trying to become more hands on.


Thanks in Advance!

 

[Ptjanis95]

We change the tip sizes based on weather. Pretty much below 20, 20-40, and 40 degrees and up are the three different sizes. I can't recall the colors off the top of my head. The colder it is outside, the bigger tip size.

What is the reasoning behind elevating the barrels off the ground?

 

[PEI]

It was explained to me by a chemical rep, that the floor of a car wash is one of the coldest parts of the building unless you have floor heat. Getting the container off the floor helps prevent against freezing in poorly heated equipment rooms and allows warm air to pass around the container. This is why most of the new chemical reservoir systems come with legs or recommend mounting on the wall. I will admit I don't personally know if this is true, we never raised our containers off the floor until we went to our first reservoir system.

 

[Washmee]

Adding hot water should increase the effectivness of your chemicals. I would check for other issues like hard water or clogged tips to solve your problem.

 

[Washmee]

Also, we haven't seen enough cold weather to affect the solutions in your barrels.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I laid some 2/4 on the floor and the barrel sits on top with space between the lumber allowing air to circulate.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

As others said, yes the viscosity of liquids increases as the temperature drops, which means as it gets colder it's harder to draw the chemical. We all generally solve this the way your chemical guy suggested - by increasing the size of the hole in the tip so you can draw more chemical, or by raising the chem higher so it doesnt have to get lifted as far/high (which also gets it off that cold concrete floor).
I have all of my soaps on dollys to get them off the floor and so they are easier to move around.
I'm not aware of any formula for figuring out what tips to change, I think we all just adjust by trial & error. Depends on your weather, how concentrated your soaps are to begin with, etc.

Btw, thats another solution - use a less concentrated soap during the winter. You can either mix in some water, or just buy a thinner soap. For example, I use Stoner soaps, they offer them in 2 concentrations.