Self Made Foamers

[Rfreeman]

So on the last rehab project I made my foamers for tri foam and foam brush. Used about a 12" PVC pipe and stuffed it with steel wool. Fast forward 15 months and 2 of my 6 bays pushed a small piece of the wool all the way to the tip of the tri foam clogging it up. One of the same bays about 6 months after opening pushed the whole piece of wool and clogged the line where it connects to the tri foam gun.

Question: how do you guys secure the material in your self made foamers?

 

[Randy]

I don't have any steel wool, plastic scrubby pads in my foam brush foamers. When I built my foamers I put a 6" 1/4" brass nipple capped at the end into the foamer with about 20 small holes drilled into the nipple to act like a spray nozzle. It's worked great for the last 30 years, I've never touch it since I installed them, they are installed in the equipment room.

 

[DiamondWash]

I've been using Stainless steel scrubby pads and haven't had one problem. Also added a drain strainer at the bottom of the pvc pipe to prevent any debris from clogging the heads.

 

[cantbreak80]

I do the same as Diamond...sink strainers from HomeDepot or your favorite plumbing supply house.

 

[Earl Weiss]

No foamers - No Needle valves. Plenty of room to make foam from the air and liquid T'd above the bay thru the hose, brush handle and head.

 

[cantbreak80]

No foamers - No Needle valves. Plenty of room to make foam from the air and liquid T'd above the bay thru the hose, brush handle and head.

I don't use foamers on foam brush either.
But, with foam guns...yeah, they just seem to flow smoother. (Might be the placebo effect?)

 

[MEP001]

I make my foamers with the nylon scrubbers - the stainless steel ones I tried aren't tight enough and had almost no effect, which I also made as the following. I cut a ring of PVC about 3/4" long (A little less than half the glue depth of the cap fitting), I use a hole saw to cut disks out of a bucket to fit in the fitting (I think it's 2"), I drill six 1/4" holes in the disk plus the one in the center, then I glue the short piece of pipe into the fitting, push in the plastic disc, then glue in the length of pipe. I've never had these type foamers clog up and need to be replaced, unlike pushing the nylon scrubber in against the 1/4" barb and having only that tiny hole for flow, mostly blocked by the scrubber.

 

[Randy]

Anything that will churn, stir, swirl, whirl or agitate the foam brush liquid with the injected air will make the foam brush liquid foam. Be it plastic scrubby pads, stainless scrub pads the end result is lots of foam

 

[Rfreeman]

Thabks for the replies guys. Looks like I have a trip to HD to see what kind of strainer I can drum up.

 

[Greg Pack]

You know I've been meaning to try throwing a plastic scrubby pad in my foam brush handle just to see if it helped foaming, but the last couple of times Ive been to the store they only had metal scrubby pads. I was afraid to use them, if they broke loose and managed to get tangled in the brush I could see a potential disaster.

 

[cantbreak80]

Amazon Pot Scrubbers

 

[cantbreak80]

Amazon Pot Scrubbers

Enough to make at least 48 foamers. (72 if you cut them into 3rds)

 

[MEP001]

I put two in each foamer. I just bought twelve of those 24-packs.