Scum

[CLEARVIEW CARWASH]

I have a crazy question.... I have a self serve carwash. My foam brush, pre soak, and high pressure soap keep building up scum in the tanks. This in turn continuosly clogs the strainers in the bottom of my tanks. Is there anything I can do to eleviate this. I am not there on a daily basis, but it seems I would need to clean the strainers every day. Any thoughts guys? I really don't know what to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[soapy]

Throw some penny's or copper pipe into the bottom of your tanks. It should help retard the scum growth. The other thing to do is to clean the tanks using a good chlorine bleach solution.

 

[MEP001]

If your presoak and high-pressure soap tanks grow a scum, either the soap is too weak or the tanks are too big and it stagnates. I can't imagine a presoak that isn't strong enough to kill off the algae by itself. Try lowering the floats in those tanks as much as you can to reduce the amount of water that sits, and kick up the strength a bit.

I do have a little trouble with scum in the foam brush tank, and every few months I put a cup of bleach in a gallon jug of hot water and pour it all around the sides of the tank, siphon it dry and rinse it thoroughly with hot water, then let it refill. I also have several pieces of 1/2" copper in the bottom of the tank and keep the liquid level as low as I can.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I had the same issue. I cleaned all of that stuff out for the umteenth time and then threw a chunk of copper pipe in each tank. I haven't had to clean them out in a couple of years. It's been one of the best things I have learned here.

 

[madscientist]

i thought this thread was going to be about something very different.

 

[TurboJet]

I also get scum. I don't know if mine is an algae type scum, but in my tanks I often get this marshmellowy jelly type scum. I scoop it out and clear the screens. I'll try the copper pipe trick. I believe that somehow this scum originates from the compounds in the soap.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

The scum I use to have looked like snot from a cow's nose. Before I threw my pipe chunks in there I sanded the coating from the outside. They've been in there for a couple of years and when I pull one out it's unbelievable how shiny it has become.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

I put in some copper pipes (4-5") into the tanks but I'm still getting scum.
My question is what chemicals brands is everyone using?
When I used Arcadia chemicals in early 2000's I never had scum.
Even before Arcadia (back in the 70's, 80's and 90's) I never remember having any scum with any chemicals I used.
Four or five yrs. ago I switched over to K.R. chemicals. The first year or two I didn't have any scum but the last 2-3 yrs. I've been getting it.
I'm just wondering if this is a chemical mixing problem?

 

[MEP001]

Did you clean the tank before you put the pipe in? It will inhibit the growth of algae, but it won't kill it.

 

[rph9168]

Most quality chemical brands have a biocide in their formula which normally inhibits or eliminates the scum problem. Just cleaning the tanks won't solve the problem.

As MEP points out, you have to thoroughly clean out the tanks but also the lines to have any chance of correcting the problem. The best way to do it is to flush the lines completely with a good all purpose cleaner at full strength with hot water. Then flush the line again with fresh water at least twice to make sure the cleaner is out of the line. Then the combination of the copper and a quality chemical should eliminate the problem in the future.

 

[mac]

The scum is most likely caused by cheap soap. I'm in Florida and see this a LOT. Most commonly the guy has switched to something like Stoner soap. I have one customer that put Stoner in eight locations. Every one got horribly scummed up. Stoner kept sending him stuff to correct it, but it got worse. Switched back to Blendco, and it went away. You do not save money with cheap soap. One of his locations had to be totally shut down for two days while every tank and associated plumbing system was cleaned and disinfected. You can put in pennies and copper, maybe even an eye of newt and toe of frog, but you are not addressing the real culprit.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Did you clean the tank before you put the pipe in? It will inhibit the growth of algae, but it won't kill it.

I did clean the tank but did not clean the lines. I'll do that and see what happens.
My question is why in 30 yrs. am I now in the last few years having this problem.?
I like the K.R. product and so does my customers but could there be a problem in the formulation.
It seems more and more people are having this problem lately.

 

[Randy]

We?ve had problems with ?Snot? for years. We?ve used a lot of different brands of soap over the years and it still comes back. It seems to be the worse in the summer time when it?s warm. We only get this at 2 of the 5 washes. I sent a sample of it in to one of the soap manufactures and it came back as a bacterial growth or algae bloom. They recommended that I put swimming pool bleach pellets in the tank. I drilled some holes in a film canister, put in a 1? bleach pellet and hang it the soap tank. They last a couple of weeks before I put in another pellet. We have 100 mesh strainers on all the chemical systems to prevent anything from getting into the pumps. Our soap tanks are small, they only hold about 3 gallons of solution to feed the pumps.

 

[Danny]

I did clean the tank but did not clean the lines. I'll do that and see what happens.
My question is why in 30 yrs. am I now in the last few years having this problem.?
I like the K.R. product and so does my customers but could there be a problem in the formulation.
It seems more and more people are having this problem lately.

I don't know about K.R. product line specifically. I do know many companies do not have the same formulas they had 10 yrs ago. This is mainly do to EPA, OSHA and market costs on products. There is also the (raw material) chemical manufacturers selling something new or cheaper which changes the formulas also.

 

[Jeff_L]

Do any of you having scum problems use a water softener before you mix the soap in the containers?

 

[dwig222]

clean your tanks then add one cup of clorox once a week and you will never have scum again

 

[MEP001]

Do you really want to put that much bleach on your customers' cars?

 

[SCS]

I've had tremendous problems with this as well. It is very bad at some locations and not at all at others. My chemicle supplier has tried many things to correct with no success. I have it worst in wax tank, less in foam brush, a little in hp soap, and not at all in presoak and tire and engine. I tried the copper with little benefit. Now I've started putting pool chlorine pellets in the tank every week and it seems alot better.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

What kind of effect does chlorine have on cars? Foam in the soap, wax?

 

[SCS]

I was concerned about that myself but I don't notice a difference. Of course I am only referring to ss chem and not automatic. The ss chemicles don't do anything but put on a show in my opinion and the chlorine has not effected that.