Foam brush not working right-- why???

[Sequoia]

My foam brushes are acting up and I'm not sure why.

Upon selecting FB, a small stream of liquid soap will first run out of the brush, and after that it will ever-so-slowly start to produce foam. After a few minutes, a small amount of foam is being produced but it is not anywhere near the volume previously. All 3 foam brushes are acting the same.

According to the air gauge, I have plenty of air pressure, although my compressor seems to need to stay on for a lot more time than it used to. The flo jet sounds normal-- pulsing maybe once every few seconds. And I've cleaned the input screen on the soap line. And drained the water from the compressor.

The only thing I haven't checked are the foamers in each bay, but it would seem odd for all 3 of them to become a problem at once.

It has been an abnormally cold winter here-- I'm not sure if that is related to my problem. Any ideas?

 

[Tpoppa]

Is your soap being diluted to the right ratio? Is your hydrominder (or whaterver you are using) working properly?

If the mix is too weak the output would be thin and watery. That could cause your compressor to put out more air as thick foam has more resistence in the lines.

 

[soapy]

If your foamer uses a scotchbrite type of material in the foamers the scotchbrite might be plugged. This can lead to reduced foam at the brush isnce it can't be pushed through it. Also if your mixing air pressure to the foamer is too high and the flojet pressure is too low it could be keeping the flojet from pumping out solution.

 

[MEP001]

With all the downtime you've had lately, it wouldn't surprise me if the foamers are clogged. The foam brush soap is the most susceptible to growing algae in it, which will clog things.

 

[waright]

i would start by checking the water softner/water hardness. hard water will cause the brushes to act like this all at the same time. It will also make your high pressure soap look weaker.

 

[Whale of a Wash]

My thought is the product solenoid is leaking slightly which will give the burst of liquid when it starts. Take the solenoid apart and clean, see if that will at least stop the wasting of product.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Fwiw I wpould try this.

First, turn the supply for the air off completely and set the flo jet to 50 PSI.


See if you get good liquid flo. If not, check liquid solenoids for clogs. Check exit side of solenoid first. If good then it is between the solenoid and foamer. If not, work back from there.

If there is good liquid flo, trun off air to flo jet and turn air supply to 50 psi. If you get good air from brushes and you got good liquid, you have a product problem. If air from brushes is week, follow above procedure for liquid supply.

Report back.

 

[2Biz]

I had the same thing happen just a few weeks ago. A solenoid wouldn't seat and let liquid seep into the "foamers" and fill the line. I have 5/8 id hose going to my bays with the foamers located at the pump station. So it was easy to see the hose filling up with fluid....

Replaced the solenoid, and all is good. Thanks to Randy!

If this is happening in all your bays, then you might need to look elsewhere....

 

[Sequoia]

Foamer

Interesting replies, thanks. Here's what I've done, but its still not 100% fixed:

1. Replaced liquid solenoid to Bay 1. Success- no more FB liquid.
2. Replaced the flojet. No noticeable change.
3. Cleaned each of the 3 foamers. Two were scrunched to about 1/3 their normal size, all 3 had what appeared to be freeze damage or algae or something in them. Cleaned them and cut away anything that didn't look right. Upon doing this I got a visible increase in foam. Not back to 100% normal but much better.
4. Upped the pressure from 42psi to 48psi. Got a slight increase in foam.

The above has helped, and now I have "adequate" foam brush but not "wow-factor" foam brush. With our very cold temps here this year (cold for me, anyway), I did dump a lot more methanol in the soap than I usually do.

Maybe the clogged scotch-bright type materials was the primary culprit, and for the rest of it maybe I'll just have to wait until I'm no longer getting soap diluted by methanol?

Thanks for the replies ...

 

[DiamondWash]

I had the same problem in my touch free automatic triple foam came out looking like crap no foam no deep color I switched chemicals, replace injectors, changed the tips nothing until I changed out the scrunchies in the (foamers) and voila I had increase in pressure the color was back and the foam.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

Duane, sounds to me like you figured it out, but I'd say chemical is diluted too much is probably the #1 problem, foamers may need to be replaced #2.

try swapping out the hydrominder tip to get a much stronger concentration, that should tell you pretty quick.

 

[Tpoppa]

I don't use foamers. Just an air line and a solution line (both 1/4"). It's simple and it produces thick foam.

 

[car washing systems inc]

Do you have any steel fittings in the system, i have seen themstart to rust shut and cause a problem with the foam brush.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I don't use foamers. Just an air line and a solution line (both 1/4"). It's simple and it produces thick foam.

Same here except the lines aare 3/8" t'd together in the trough above the bay. Probably about 25 feet rom there to the Brush head. Plenty of room for micing and foaming. No needle valves either. Just adjust the air pressure to the flo jet and air input for what I want.