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Hydrominder Pickup Tube Question

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MDrost1

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Hello,

We just installed a new rinse tank in our SS bays. HP rinse/wax/soap. I have Hydrominders(both with rebuilt diaphram kits) in the wax and soap tanks. I have been having inconsistent chemicals being drawn up in to the tank. To the point where the soap was completely diluted when I showed up this evening.

The hydrominder seems fine. Has been working well all week. I have the blue foot valves from KR on the new tube. Both ends are hose clamped. One to the Hydrominder pickup and one to the foot valve end. Seems as air tight as I can get it. Totally intermittent performance. I had this happen on the wax a week ago and turned out the new "gray" foot valve I had was using was faulty and allowed chemical to just empty back into the pail.

Any words of wisdom?
 
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Jeff_L

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If you haven't done it already, cut a chunk out of the discharge line above the mixture level. This will prevent the siphon back to the concentrate. This is the only problem it solves, and may not be your current one. But it's good to do it now.
 
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RAATCB

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MDrost1 said:
Hello,

We just installed a new rinse tank in our SS bays. HP rinse/wax/soap. I have Hydrominders(both with rebuilt diaphram kits) in the wax and soap tanks. I have been having inconsistent chemicals being drawn up in to the tank. To the point where the soap was completely diluted when I showed up this evening.

The hydrominder seems fine. Has been working well all week. I have the blue foot valves from KR on the new tube. Both ends are hose clamped. One to the Hydrominder pickup and one to the foot valve end. Seems as air tight as I can get it. Totally intermittent performance. I had this happen on the wax a week ago and turned out the new "gray" foot valve I had was using was faulty and allowed chemical to just empty back into the pail.

Any words of wisdom?
Click to expand...
First: Remove the discharge tube from inductor, pull the float down and back up. Check and see after the float closes if there isn't any slow water leak that's continuing to flow out of inductor. If there is water leaking after the float is closed, buy a hydrominder rebuilt kit.

On the hydrominder that's giving you problems, what size tip are you using? Is the concentrate soap "water thin viscosity" or thick?
Pull the concentrate hose off the inductor and put your finger on the tip, you should feel enough suction that's drawing the chemical in.

Run these tests and let me know the results.
 
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Earl Weiss

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MDrost1 said:
Hello,

We just installed a new rinse tank in our SS bays. HP rinse/wax/soap. I have Hydrominders(both with rebuilt diaphram kits) in the wax and soap tanks. I have been having inconsistent chemicals being drawn up in to the tank. To the point where the soap was completely diluted when I showed up this evening.

I had this happen on the wax a week ago and turned out the new "gray" foot valve I had was using was faulty and allowed chemical to just empty back into the pail.

Any words of wisdom?
Click to expand...

Is it possible the concentrate is now diluted? Try a new bucket / Barrel.

Make sure the educator has not become encrusted restricting the flow encouraging water to drain back to the concentrate line on shut off.
 
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MDrost1

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Thanks! I am using the larger tips. Green tip specifically. After a cycle, the inductor seems dry. I have a siphoning hole in the tube. Well above the water level.
 
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MDrost1

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I put a brand new gray KR foot valve in. Cut the hoses reseated them. Hose clamped both ends of pickup tube. Seems to be drawing normally. After a cycle there are a little bit of bubble for a second, but then subsides. Normal right?
No back up, just an air bubble where the pickup tube comes up and over into the tank. Normal? Thanks, guys!
 
MEP001

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If the foot valve was leaking back, the liquid will drain back into the bucket, then each time the Hyrdominder comes on it will only put water into the tank until the chemical reaches the eductor. It can really dilute the chemical especially on a slow day or if your tank is small.

Just yesterday I put a kit in one that was filling so slow that it wasn't drawing at all.
 
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MDrost1

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Still having issues. It seems to work fine, but have air pocket where the pickup tube comes up from underneath the tank and feeds into the tank then to the hydrominder. These air pockets are normal correct?
I put another inductor on. Maybe that's it. The thing is so simple, just can't seem to get it working consistently. Thanks!
 
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If you have a hole in your discharge hose just above your fluid line to prevent siphoning, then take off your foot valve and test out the draw. You will see the pickup line empty the concentrate back into your bucket, but that's fine as it's not diluted. If that works fine, then you have a foot valve issue (even though it's new). If it's not the issue, then your tip or educator has a problem.
 
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You should also throw away those freaking cheap, worthless plastic foot valves. I used to buy a lot of them but when I was finding half of the new ones were bad I switched to others. You can actually find stainless foot valves for about the same price. Can you say "China"?
 
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MDrost1

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Mac, do you have a link to a replacement stainless foot valve for the plastic blue/gray ones I've been using?
 
2Biz

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JMMUSTANG said:
I've gone back to using these:

https://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-4689-dema-strainer-38-ss.aspx

https://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-4688-dema-strainer-14-ss.aspx
Click to expand...
I bought these when I was having issues with the grey and blue foot valves bleeding off, but haven't tried them yet. I must have went through a dozen of the plastic ones (bad right out of the box) then must have found some good ones. Its been almost 2 years and no issues with the last plastic ones I installed. Maybe someday, I'll switch to the SS ones. But I hate fixing something that isn't currently broke!
 
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