lunchboxx
Active member
Both but barely noticeable on the other pump, and i have not touched anything on that pump.
Car Wash Forum
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Get rid of gravity feed hp soap and wax
- Thread starter lunchboxx
- Start date
lunchboxx
Active member
Yes city water for rinse and there is a solenoid for that. The main line for the gravity feed is copper pipe and has not been touched, it ends at this pump. From that copper pipe to the pump is all new.
Dan kamsickas
GinSan Technician
Just because it hasn't been touched doesn't mean it's any good. I have a customer that right now is having to re-plumb his whole site because it's so old he's getting pin hole leaks in the copper and air infiltration.
lunchboxx
Active member
I Think i would have been time and money ahead to gut it and start fresh
Waxman
Super Moderator
with a pulsation or cavitation you have to just troubleshoot it by going back from the pump to the feed tank and verifying that all the connections are clear and no air leaks --like has been previously stated. Even something like a loose hose clamp will let some air in and make the pump chatter. I went through this a while ago on an arimitsu pump and went crazy for a few weeks trying to figure it out and it wound up just being a loose hose clamp letting air in.
Take the check valve off the blue and pink line feeding the pump.
It is way too difficult to diagnose an issue on the pump from sounds on a video but to me it sounds like the pump is low on oil. I dont hear any cavitation. Ive also spent many years getting my hearing destroyed by the constant noise of pumps and motors running so most likely im wrong and dont hear right.
It is way too difficult to diagnose an issue on the pump from sounds on a video but to me it sounds like the pump is low on oil. I dont hear any cavitation. Ive also spent many years getting my hearing destroyed by the constant noise of pumps and motors running so most likely im wrong and dont hear right.
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lunchboxx
Active member
I Have 3/4 but its throttled back some, honestly ive spent so many hours on this already, its working its staying for now.
lunchboxx
Active member
I doubt it, because it only happened when i removed that check valve.
2Biz
Thread Killer!
A check valve shouldn't be needed on the soap and wax??? Can you tell us what kind of solenoids are in use? I used 1/8" kips (with needle valves built in) and never had an issue with backfeeding the soap and wax tanks. Sounds like your solenoids are allowing backfeeding. But I used gravity feed hot And cold water tanks. Its quite possible it could be your city pressure causing the issue? Are you running a regulator on city water for rinse? If not, that would explain the need for the cv's on soap and wax....
The setup you have complicates things as you don't want city pressure backfeeing your soap and wax and hot water gravity tank. I see a needle valve and gate valve on what looks like your hot gravity tank feed....If this is correct, you will just have to play with the needle valve and soap/wax flows and dilution to keep the pump from cavitating...Without flow meters, it would be hard to get it all regulated.
Like others have commented, I used cantbreak80's advice and installed 1/2" hose from my hot and cold gravity tanks and from the erie 2 way valves that controlled hot and cold water flow. I did not have to throttle the hot water to the pump to draw soap and wax into the pump at 10oz per minute each. It was a set it and forget it since retrofitted over 10 years ago....
Attachments
lunchboxx
Active member
There is no needle valve or gate valve on the hw gravity feed, just a ball valve and swing check.
only pic i have of the solenoids for the wax/soap solenoids are inside the cabinet.Everything is currently functioning fine, going to focus on the broken stuff for now, before i reopen that can of worms.
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Roz
Well-known member
First check to see if issue exists if just using one bay and no others. Then see if consistent with all three HP functions.
Three areas I have seen for potential problems as we have gravity tanks for HP Rinse Soap and Wax too.
City water pressure. Put a gauge on it to see what you are getting on a consistent basis. Ours is 80-100psi for a 5SS/1IBA which is considered very good. If lower you may need a constant pressure pump added to your system after water enters the building.
Second check the fill flow to the tanks. Sometimes debris can slow the refill.
Third area is the multi port manifold below the tanks to each pump stand. Debris can block one or two holes in the manifold and not block others. I created a new manifold for each tank with an extra port so I can easily drain the tank for serving plus I changed orientation from being horizontal to being vertical with the extra port on the bottom. It the event debris falls into the line it should fall to the bottom of the manifold and out of the way. We also added a drain filter inside the tank to prevent big debris from entering the manifold.
Item three was a brief issue for us and took me longer than I care to admit to check. Once identified the issue with water flow was resolved.
Oh we did have to replace a soap and wax solenoid once or twice in ten years.
Three areas I have seen for potential problems as we have gravity tanks for HP Rinse Soap and Wax too.
City water pressure. Put a gauge on it to see what you are getting on a consistent basis. Ours is 80-100psi for a 5SS/1IBA which is considered very good. If lower you may need a constant pressure pump added to your system after water enters the building.
Second check the fill flow to the tanks. Sometimes debris can slow the refill.
Third area is the multi port manifold below the tanks to each pump stand. Debris can block one or two holes in the manifold and not block others. I created a new manifold for each tank with an extra port so I can easily drain the tank for serving plus I changed orientation from being horizontal to being vertical with the extra port on the bottom. It the event debris falls into the line it should fall to the bottom of the manifold and out of the way. We also added a drain filter inside the tank to prevent big debris from entering the manifold.
Item three was a brief issue for us and took me longer than I care to admit to check. Once identified the issue with water flow was resolved.
Oh we did have to replace a soap and wax solenoid once or twice in ten years.
Our pumps are plumbed where gravity fed water comes in on the left side inlet and our chemical solutions come in on the right side inlet after passing through a solenoid. I wonder how this affects the dilution as the pump pulls both solution from both inlets and how i might get a stronger solution without changing the tip on the hydrominder. current hose size for the water inlet is 1/2in and hose size for chemical solution is 1/4in. TECHNICALLY CAT PUMPS RECOMMENDS A HOSE SIZE HIGHER ON THE INLET PORT AND THEY RECOMENNED NO HARD PIPING. However my question remains if enlarging my hose size is the best move to increase chemical strength and show for the hp soap and wax without changing the tip size. I'm already diluted so high that the foam brush stains my walls just to get the foaming action that i like.
