My foam brush sucks - please help me improve it.

[Randy]

You bet he’s coming out tomorrow morning. He probably got his A$$ reamed for trying to save you some money by leaning out the soap. Most of the soap guys here run everything real rich so you use more of their overpriced product. We no longer use soap salesman, we do it ourselves.

 

[2Biz]

2Biz - My foam generators are PVC ( not sure if they are homemade or commercial) and had about 3" of yellow scrubbie/netting in it. Seemed pretty minimal.

My old foamers were PVC and resided in the ER. Foam was delivered to the bays by 3/4" tubing...Not perfect, but worked...The 1.5" x 10" long PVC foamers had nylon scrubby in each end, hollow in the middle. Made great foam, just took too long to get to the bays. That's why I switched to the 3/4" brass and put them above the bays. The time it takes to get foam to the brush is a lot shorter now. As you can see in the thread I posted, the 3/4" brass pipe still makes good foam.

BTW, it doesn't matter whether you use a Procon or flojet, they both produce volume and pressure. The key is to deliver the same volume of soap and air regardless of how many bays are using the FB. Something to consider.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Earl Weis - I have the numbers switched - 40 psi on the product and 30psi on the air. Sorry about that.

I'd still try a bigger differentiation between product and air.

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

You bet he’s coming out tomorrow morning. He probably got his A$$ reamed for trying to save you some money by leaning out the soap. Most of the soap guys here run everything real rich so you use more of their overpriced product. We no longer use soap salesman, we do it ourselves.

I wish I had the knowledge you have, but I have only been at this a year. I'm just happy I'm able to keep the place running mechanically.

My old foamers were PVC and resided in the ER. Foam was delivered to the bays by 3/4" tubing...Not perfect, but worked...The 1.5" x 10" long PVC foamers had nylon scrubby in each end, hollow in the middle. Made great foam, just took too long to get to the bays. That's why I switched to the 3/4" brass and put them above the bays. The time it takes to get foam to the brush is a lot shorter now. As you can see in the thread I posted, the 3/4" brass pipe still makes good foam.

BTW, it doesn't matter whether you use a Procon or flojet, they both produce volume and pressure. The key is to deliver the same volume of soap and air regardless of how many bays are using the FB. Something to consider.

Yes - my foamers are directly above the bay. I'll take a pic of the setup but it's basically a brass fitting with 3 lines coming in ( product, air, weep water ) and the foamer on the output side heading down to the bay.

I'd still try a bigger differentiation between product and air.

Gonna play with it for a bit before my salesman comes. I might try pulling the foamers and trying with no material inside, and then with the SS dish scrubbies I've seen mentioned.

Thanks again guys. There is a lot to learn with this business. I like it, to to be honest, my commercial rentals are much easier!

 

[Randy]

Gonna play with it for a bit before my salesman comes. I might try pulling the foamers and trying with no material inside, and then with the SS dish scrubbies I've seen mentioned.

The very first thing I’d have done is increase the tip size up at least one tip size or maybe 2 on the surfactant side on the Blendco setup, I would have done this on the 28th. My Foamers are nothing more than a 1" piece of pipe with both air and chemical coming in the bottom and one line coming out the top that goes to the bay. My Foamers haven't been touched in over 25 years, everything works fine.

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

SUCCESS!!

Something was seriously wrong with the foam brush soap. Something got in it or it was messed up from the beginning.

 

[chaz]

Always the easy stuff. Someone had mentioned the soap looked weak. I'm guessing a bad foot valve allowed water to flow back into the soap container. Glad all is well.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Now, what are your settings on air and liquid?

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

Now, what are your settings on air and liquid?

Same as they were - 30psi on the air/40psi on the product.

 

[DiamondWash]

Did he replace the "pail stinger" the PVC pipe that goes into the foam brush soap container?

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

Did he replace the "pail stinger" the PVC pipe that goes into the foam brush soap container?

I don't think he did, but I wasn't near him 100% of the time while we were changing it out.

Why would be need to change the stinger? We checked the check valve and it was good, but what would changing the stinger accomplish?

 

[DiamondWash]

The footvalve on the bottom of the stinger has given me issues in the past so I thought I would ask. If the footvalve fails you will fill the solution tank with more water then chemical. It's a daily thing I check on all of my chemicals. Otherwise you get the joy of waiting for customers to use the rest of the diluted chemical or pumping it all out.