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CWRob

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I have an 8 bay self service car wash. I am not getting high pressure soap to 4 bays. All bays pull from the same soap tank and the lines nor port seem to be clogged. The wash is about 40 years old just so you might have an idea of how it is set up ( 8 pump stands with CAT pumps and electronics for each bay). The soap seems fine in bays 1-4 then the next 4 bays spray water but no soap. My knowledge about how It all works is a little limited but any suggestions about what the problem might be?
 

cantbreak80

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Turn on a non-soaping bay.
Place the tip of a pocket screwdriver on top of that bay's soap solenoid.
If it feels magnetized the electrical circuit is functioning properly.
If it doesn't, you have an open circuit...most likely the 24v commons for those 4 bays have become disconnected.
 

Greg Pack

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Can be a ton of things, and CB80 mentioned electrical/magnetism to check for the solenoid. Look in the soap tank to see if the liquid is clear or if it is cloudy or has gunk in it. Some HP soaps can gel up in the lines and valves and prevent soap from flowing. see if there is a mesh screen that is clogged.

Pictures would be enormously helpful, as some pumps systems are built differently and are more complicated than others and also have injectors that can go bad or get out of adjustment
 

CWRob

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Thanks cantbreak80. I will check that. I was thinking earlier today it seems like it has to be something electronic but then my eyes sort of glaze over. I have had the wash a while but had a friend here in town that had been in the business for 30 or 40 years so I could always call and ask. I am spending a lot of time scrolling through old text when I recall something has come up before. Thanks again.
 

CWRob

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Thanks Greg Pack. I was just chuckling over Wash Weenie earlier. The guys in my neighborhood started calling me Car Wash Rob years ago it kind of stuck. I think I mostly checked that stuff and drained the tank. I can feel the suction from the tank when the soap is turned on in one of the working bays. I disconnected the tubing at the pump stand and there is flow so I am thinking it has to be something else.
 

cantbreak80

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HA! Virtually every customer of mine has the “glazed eye” condition.
My service calls would likely be halved if there were corrective lenses or medication.
 

water guy

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My question is how did you get this carwash or why you bought something you know nothing about.
 

Greg Pack

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Back to electrical, with it being multiple bays you could have a disconnected neutral on the solenoid bank, usually marked with a white wire. That would be a good reason for it to affect multiple bays.

Also, if there is a gate valve to each bay, you can try closing the water supply valve until the pump gets noisy and see if soap begins to come out of the nozzle. You don't want to leave the valve that way because it's rough on the pump, but that will again help diagnose if it is electrical or not.
 

TMoliver

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Do not assume that the common / neutral wires are all white. MarkVII, Clean Concept and others used Black for their common. D&H used Purple for common as well.
 

cantbreak80

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Do not assume that the common / neutral wires are all white. MarkVII, Clean Concept and others used Black for their common. D&H used Purple for common as well.
Several hundred bays here...
Orange = 24 hot
Green = 24 common
 
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