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Presoak takes to long to get to bay

O

Ontario Car Wash

Member
My presoak is foaming and sparying well just takes almost 25 sec to get to bays
any thoughts
set at 60 liquid and 45 air
flojet

brush is pretty much instant


high pressure soap and wax takes about 20 sec
(these run thru cat 310)

any thoughts on getting out quiker
thanks

my t's for presoak and brush are above boom
high pressure soap/wax at pump
 
IMO you do not need 45 PSI air to get foam. Reduce to 10 PSI check results and if not OK increase in 5 PSI increments.
 
FWIW I run presoak at 80 PSI wide open flow, air at 75-85 PSI with a very accurate needle valve barely cracked open. With a 12' bay hose it reaches the gun in less than 10 seconds.

Soap and wax also seems ridiculously long. With one bay having just over 100' of high pressure line to fill it takes 18 seconds.
 
MEP001 said:
FWIW I run presoak at 80 PSI wide open flow, air at 75-85 PSI with a very accurate needle valve barely cracked open. With a 12' bay hose it reaches the gun in less than 10 seconds.
Click to expand...

OK, so I get it and don't get it. All sorts of strange stuff works depending on the situation. SS washes are basically an open ended system meaning the air or fluid can run out without building pressure. Naturally some pressure will build if the volume supplied exceeds the volume that can be exhausted at the same pressure. So, now you have a boatload of pressure, 80psi, but the volume is choked back with a needle valve, barely cracked open.

It would seem you would get the same volume and pressure of air with less pressure and not choking it back. In tunnel I have a unit with air supplied by a vaccuum motor and get lots of suds. The vacuum motor puts out huge volume but little pressure.

So what is it I am missing in the theory of supplying lots of pressure with volume choked with the needle valve
 
Earl Weiss said:
So what is it I am missing in the theory of supplying lots of pressure with volume choked with the needle valve
Click to expand...

The theory is less variation in output regardless of how many bays are using the same product. Running the pressure lower and wide open will result in varying output. JMO....
 
Earl Weiss said:
So what is it I am missing in the theory of supplying lots of pressure with volume choked with the needle valve
Click to expand...

The difference is the consistency when the trigger is pulled and released. It's a bigger problem on tire cleaner because the customer walks around the car spraying their tires and letting go of the trigger between, and when they get to the next tire they may get nothing but air or nothing but liquid for a few seconds. With the air and liquid pressures close together and the flow controlled, there's little to no change.

You also won't get presoak backing up into the air lines if the pressures are close to the same, then you can eliminate check valves that are there just for that problem.
 
I had similar issues that I was able to work through. My foam brush has always flowed within seconds. Low pressure presoak and bug and tar remover took some work. In my case the psi of the air to the flojet was the key. In order for my presoak to flow within five seconds I have to set the psi to the flojet to 70. For bug and tar it only takes 55. Foam brush is 40. Each chemical runs through maniflolds with need valves for chemical and air. For chemical I have the needle valve for the shortest run open about 3\4 of a turn and the longest run is open about a full turn. From there I have the air to the manifold set at 40 and the needle valves are set at about 1\8 of a turn for the shortest run to 1\4 of of turn for the longest run. I have to keep an eye on the longest run as it has a tendency to get over powered by air on occasion.

For the high pressure I have needle valves where the chemical flows through the solenoid. My soap has always been quick to start flowing, but I had to play with the wax.

I feel your pain. It took me a while to work this out at my wash. I like what one of the members says about all washes being different. Many variables in play.

Hope this helps.
 
FWIW...I eliminated all lp c/v's in the attic by putting ps and tf on a seperate gun. The only cv's I have in the attic are for the sfr connections at the hp manifolds above the bays. Ps and tf is delivered in just a few seconds.
 
Hp soap and wax still at least 20 sec?
Needle valves wide open
once it comes its plenty of soap
the needle valves are 30 years old? But i do get good soap when it comes so i asssume there wide open
cat 310 running at 1150 with 1504 tips
thanks
 
If you have needle valves an run them wide open, my thought is to jusst get rid of them and see what happens. (You can always go back.) Last post you said air was 50 PSI. I would cut it back to 20 and see what happens. Although this should not affect the HP Soap.
 
An 04 tip is smaller than most of us use. You are not moving as much water, so the hose will take longer to clear than if using the more common 06...just a thought.
 
At least xx05. The first two numbers are the angle of the spray, -06 is 3 GPM at 1000 PSI. If you can't exceed 3 GPM because of city restrictions, either reduce the pressure to 1000 or use a 25055 tip.
 
2Biz

What do you do for freeze protection for the "extra" low pressures hoses out in the bays using the separate gun? I have been thinking about doing just this, a separate hose/gun for all the low pressure items, then now waiting like the foam brush. Mike
 
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