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clogged foamers

J

Jimmy Buffett

Active member
I seem to be having a lot of trouble with the foamers on my softgloss. I had a service guy come last week and he cleaned them. I was still not getting enough product so I changed the mac valve. Still nothing. If I'm not mistaken that is all there is so I'm back to the foamers. I'm using a blue and yellow conditioner. The yellow is watery and the blue is barely coming out.
I have never disassembled the foamers and it is going to be a beautiful weekend so I am not willing to tear into it since I can still wash cars. Is there anything that I can run through there that might break up the clog, water, presoak, something else? It looks like I'm going to need to change product but I have quite a bit to use up. Any ideas?
Thanks
 
The foamers contain a material similar to scotch brite pads. These eventually become clogged with extended use. The foamer itself is a large round canitster that contains the scothbrite material that the product passes through and gets mixed up with air to create the foam. I have taken apart the foamer on the inlet side and reached in with some needle nose pliers and taken out the scotchbrite material. I pick up some new material from Walmart. They sell it in the house hold cleaning section. I pick a material that is not as dense and that is less likly to clog. Cut it into round pieces the size of those you have pulled out and stuff the new ones into the canister and reassemble.
 
Before you put it back together I would also flush the line with an all-purpose type cleaner followed by fresh water just to make sure the line is clean.
 
If I pump the all purpose cleaner through the line using the test function will that help?
I hate to tear into the foamer on a beutiful friday afternoon.
 
I have noticed that the methanol FB soap cuts that gunk pretty good. Maybe you could run some of that through there and make it work better without tearing it apart.
 
It might work short term if the nozzles don't clog. I would still do it the firght way when I had the chance.
 
I ran a mixture of detergent and windshield washer fluid through and it seemed to help some. It's pretty nasty out today. Maybe I'll take it apart after work.
Thanks
 
I know some that say a bleach solution works well on waxes,& protectants. Haven't tried it myself, though...

I guess you could scoop some goop out of your mixing tank and see what chemical cuts it.
 
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