Foamy brush winter antifreeze not foaming

[Martins]

Hey all!

like the subject states. I recently got my winter antifreeze foamy brush chem running through my SS but im finding it will not foam, just spew chem. Its foaming in the holding tank like crazy but not in the bays. I tried more air pressure tried changing the tips (due to temp) but still just runs out of the brushes liquidy. I searched a few things in here but didnt find much of an answer. All i did was switch from my mellon mainia to this and the foam stopped.

Im using the Kleen-Rite Pink Cherry Scented Anti-Freeze Detergent For Foam Brushes - 5 Gallon and it even says hight foaming solution but im getting none.

any thoughts would be appreciated

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Sounds like an air issue.
I would check to make sure the air to each bay is adjusted for the new chemical.
Turn the air off all bays, turn first bay foam brush chemical on full, then slowly turn air valve on, check bay for foam, if little/no foam add a little more air until you get the foam you want.
Repeat to each foam brush one at a time.

 

[Twodose]

Don't think it should be foaming in the holding tank, you may have a bad check valve if you have a purge system, you shouldn't have air going back to your holding tank.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Good call
I forgot that.

 

[Martins]

Don't think it should be foaming in the holding tank, you may have a bad check valve if you have a purge system, you shouldn't have air going back to your holding tank.

Thats weird, as its always foamed in the holding tank from the fill pressure when its filling up i assume. then it foams in the bay. This is the distro panel after the holding tank. Pic attached. Normally the system holds at 40psi for the Mellon mania. Can too much air cause the runny soap?

 

[Earl Weiss]

Simple tet would bee to switch back to regular soap for an experiment and make sure it foams. Always possible you got bad batch.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

No too much air will not cause runny soap, exactly the opposite.
You either dont have enough air, and/or your mixed soap in the hydrominder tank is too weak.
A lot of us use/used the KR winter soap, it should pretty much just work, not a lot of fiddling with it other that identifying which hydrominder tips to use. The fact that your summer soap works but the winter doesnt is kind of curious.

Some tests you can do to isolate exactly what the problem is:
-- close off or disconnect the FB liquid, then see if you can hear/feel air coming out of the brush, that tells you if your air is working or not. Adjust the air up/down and see if you can detect the change. (you should be able to).
-- run the hydrominder without any tip at all to get a really strong concentration of winter soap, see if that gets you foam.
-- Increase the air to a few psi lower than the psi of the fb liquid - that should definitely foam. Turn up the psi higher than the liquid and you should practically stop getting liquid.
-- as earl said, switch back to your summer fb soap, see if that still works.
-- If you can do it without too much trouble, I find that throwing the ball valves to shut off every bay except one can sometimes help to debug a problem because it removes a lot of potential variables. Ie one bay at a time rather than the entire system all at once. Including, as JM said, shut off the purge system if you have one.
-- Might be possible that you have an air leak somewhere

Question, do you have foamers? Some of us do, some dont... Not sure it matters, but maybe.

FYI, I use a 5' piece of 1/4 HP hose inside my booms. A couple times over the years the fitting on that hose has corroded and "clogged itself." The symptom was that the brush stopped foaming, just like you describe. I replaced the hose, everything back to normal. Probably not your issue since your summer soap works, but just throwing it out there.

 

[MEP001]

That solenoid board looks like something the Amish might build.

Did you adjust the dilution of the soap when you changed over?

 

[cantbreak80]

That solenoid board looks like something the Amish might build.

Or, one of my ex-partners!

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

Amish & Mennonite guys built our house, they were hard workers and excellent craftsmen, lots of other nice traits too. They also had no problem doing a rigged quick fix, and were quick to joke about it too - here's a shot of a wheelbarrow repair they "autographed", still cracks me up.

 

[OurTown]

I can see in the photo the soap looks way too weak. Need a bigger tip in the Hydrominder.

 

[Martins]

Im messing with the mixtures now. Im currently running a red tip on a 511 hydo. Heres what it’s currently doing. Seems to be getting better this was after I ran it with no tip to fill the tank

 

[Martins]

We have foam!!! i went to a looks like the red or beige tip is it..

 

[Twodose]

I believe I use a grey tip in 511 hydro < 5:1

 

[Martins]

thanks for all the help guys! On a side note (please remember ive only been in the industry since sept) i was wondering what this is called(the round cylinder). I think i have a bad one the weird thing is they are attached to my foamy brushes but only 2 of them the other has a set up like the other picture

 

[Martins]

That solenoid board looks like something the Amish might build.

Did you adjust the dilution of the soap when you changed over?

Hahah yes im in process of ripping out all this old junk and replacing it with the airlogic low pressure stuff i think

 

[Martins]

No too much air will not cause runny soap, exactly the opposite.
You either dont have enough air, and/or your mixed soap in the hydrominder tank is too weak.
A lot of us use/used the KR winter soap, it should pretty much just work, not a lot of fiddling with it other that identifying which hydrominder tips to use. The fact that your summer soap works but the winter doesnt is kind of curious.

Some tests you can do to isolate exactly what the problem is:
-- close off or disconnect the FB liquid, then see if you can hear/feel air coming out of the brush, that tells you if your air is working or not. Adjust the air up/down and see if you can detect the change. (you should be able to).
-- run the hydrominder without any tip at all to get a really strong concentration of winter soap, see if that gets you foam.
-- Increase the air to a few psi lower than the psi of the fb liquid - that should definitely foam. Turn up the psi higher than the liquid and you should practically stop getting liquid.
-- as earl said, switch back to your summer fb soap, see if that still works.
-- If you can do it without too much trouble, I find that throwing the ball valves to shut off every bay except one can sometimes help to debug a problem because it removes a lot of potential variables. Ie one bay at a time rather than the entire system all at once. Including, as JM said, shut off the purge system if you have one.
-- Might be possible that you have an air leak somewhere

Question, do you have foamers? Some of us do, some dont... Not sure it matters, but maybe.

FYI, I use a 5' piece of 1/4 HP hose inside my booms. A couple times over the years the fitting on that hose has corroded and "clogged itself." The symptom was that the brush stopped foaming, just like you describe. I replaced the hose, everything back to normal. Probably not your issue since your summer soap works, but just throwing it out there.

Thanks, this is alot of good info to consider. And for when i upgrade the system adding shut offs.

 

[cantbreak80]

thanks for all the help guys! On a side note (please remember ive only been in the industry since sept) i was wondering what this is called(the round cylinder). I think i have a bad one the weird thing is they are attached to my foamy brushes but only 2 of them the other has a set up like the other picture

They’re “foam generators”. Filled with plastic pot scrubber, they aren’t really needed for foam brushes. I like to use them on foam guns because they seem to smooth the flow from the nozzles.

 

[Martins]

They’re “foam generators”. Filled with plastic pot scrubber, they aren’t really needed for foam brushes. I like to use them on foam guns because they seem to smooth the flow from the nozzles.

Thats what i thought they were but i cannot find them anywhere on kleenrite it seems the bays that have them foam pretty thick and the ones that done foam but its a little less thick. Not sure if i wanna just remove them or not but having trouble finding the connection like the other picture too..

 

[Twodose]

Kleen-Rite Corporation - PVC 1/4"M x 1/2"H Foamy Generator

PVC 1/4"M x 1/2"H Foamy Generator

www.kleen-ritecorp.com

You can make your own, but they are pretty cheap to purchase.