Tri foam turning to jelly in the mixing tanks

[Dan-Ark]

the tri foam chemicals in the mixing tanks on my D&S 5000 have recently started to jelly/slime. A week ago my pink was barely coming out and I discovered 2" of jelly in the bottom of the pink and yellow mixing tank. Blue was much cleaner only a little slime. Been running a couple years so I figured it was bad maintenance on my part. emptied and cleaned the mixing tanks, foam flowing great all was good. this week, noticed pink was barely coming out. checked the tank and it had alredy slimed the strainer screan on the bottom. Using JBS Glow Foam. Its a low volume wash so I get about a year out of a 7 gallon jug of chemical. Could it "go bad"? what would make it turn to jelly in only a week? today I checked the tri foam for the SS bays, had a little build up around the strainers but nothing like what is happening in the automatic.

 

[MEP001]

It's not unusual, especially with a low-volume wash. It could be the product has gone bad. You have to completely kill the algae in the tank or it'll come right back. I haven't found anything that works better than bleach. If you belach the tank and lower the liquid level in the tank as low as you safely can and it still comes back, either the product is contaminated or there's not enough algaecide in it.

 

[Dan-Ark]

Ah, never thought about algae. I'll give the bleach a try and see what happens. Thanks!

 

[Greg Pack]

Another possible option if the slime returns is to swap to a low ph tri color.

 

[Randy]

Been there and done that. The bacteria that causes the slime is in your water. It loves your neutral PH product that you’re using and the hot weather is what makes it bloom. It’s also bad with KR soap products that have a neutral PH. The only way to control it is the hang 1” swimming pool bleach pellet in the solution tank. I used an old 35mm film canister, drilled a bunch of holes in it and hang it in the tank. But the bleach pellet might kill the color. your going to have to play with it. How big are you solution tanks?

 

[Greg Pack]

I've never tried it, but I wonder of an occasional bottle of hydrogen peroxide would keep it under control. H203 is supposed to kill algae and I would think would not kill the color.

 

[Randy]

It might be worth a try. But hydrogen peroxide is also a bleaching agent, it’s the primary bleaching agent in OxiClean and Tide.

 

[Dan-Ark]

If I had to guess, I would say 4 or 5 gallon tanks, but I keep the float low so they mix fresh more often. I think I drained 1 1/2 to 2 gallons when I cleaned up the sludge. We have been getting notices the the local water is below standard....

 

[$!cmad3k]

This is why i love hydraflex

 

[MEP001]

This is why i love hydraflex

You sure do push a lot of equipment.

Please dont mistake me for a salesperson.

 

[Greg_T]

Been there and done that. The bacteria that causes the slime is in your water. It loves your neutral PH product that you’re using and the hot weather is what makes it bloom. It’s also bad with KR soap products that have a neutral PH. The only way to control it is the hang 1” swimming pool bleach pellet in the solution tank. I used an old 35mm film canister, drilled a bunch of holes in it and hang it in the tank. But the bleach pellet might kill the color. your going to have to play with it. How big are you solution tanks?

The only problem with this plan is that 35mm film canisters are nearly extinct (along with Kodak)! Although I'm sure some modern equivalent could be found.

 

[$!cmad3k]

You sure do push a lot of equipment.

How am i pushing equipment? I work on car washes everyday and i know you wont have this problem with hydraflex because its on demand. No mixing tank that just sits and coagulates.

 

[mac]

How am i pushing equipment? I work on car washes everyday and i know you wont have this problem with hydraflex because its on demand. No mixing tank that just sits and coagulates.

Good answer.