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pre-soak arch or high pressure?

kostasgree

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after correlator what is better to exist, pre-soak arch or high pressure?the hot wax is better than plain wax?
 

Earl Weiss

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after correlator what is better to exist, pre-soak arch or high pressure?the hot wax is better than plain wax?
IMNSHO unless you need it for some unusual condition like blasting snow or ice, or a really short tunnel low pressure pre soak is fine. Save the hwater and electricity.

I find my DA and therefore wax will bead better if I warm it up a little . This is not as important when outside temps are above 60 degrees. I mix hot water with the incoming City water to warm it up a little .
 

Chiefs

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The effectiveness of your high pressure arch will be far less than it should be without putting on a touchless pre-soak first and giving it at least 8-10 feet before hitting the high pressure. Part of the reasoning is dwell time for the pre-soak but also so that the high pressure is not so close that it prostitutes the pre-soak before it has a chance to loosen dirt and roadfilm.

If you use the combination of the pre-soak and the high pressure, vehicles will come out of there at least 80% clean so that your cloth just has to polish the remaining roadfilm off the vehicle. This will also serve to keep the cloth cleaner as the majority of your cleaning is done by the touchless equipment.

This idea perpetrated by so many in tbhe industry that says to place the pre-osak or foam on first, then the cloth then the high pressure is ass backwards. Even worse, it will do nothing to mitigatethe need for the substantial vehicle prepping performed in most cloth washes. Having the pre-soak and high pressure first will eliminate nearly all your prepping save for the absolute worst vehicles and for the hardest to reach areas that cloth equipment cannot reach.

We've been operating our 150' tuunel precisely this way since 1997 and I would not dream of changing it.
 

kostasgree

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Isn't there any problem without high pressure ,during summer, when soap touches hot cars?
 

Chiefs

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First of all, in a combination touchless and cloth system a.k.a. Hybrid, the pre-soak soes not need to go on anywhere near as strong as it does in an all touchless wash process. We've used only our high PH touchless solution both while we were touchless (1985-1997) and since 1997 when we added Lammsclotrh after the touchless wash process. In touchless we would run anywhere from 7:1 - 20:1 depending on the season. With Hybrid, only concentrations of 25:1 -48:1 are necessary. This is because in touchless, you have only pre-soak and high pressure to do the cleaning. In hybrid, you are looking for the touchless part to get vehicles 80% clean, removing the heaviest dirt and then have the cloth available to remove the remaining 20% of the roadfilm and polish. This by the way, alleviate a huge burden from the cloth and enable it to do what cloth does best, namely polish.

Secondly, while in the winter we set our boiler to 120 degree. When temperatures get to 80 and above we turn the boiler down or even off completely if temps get above 100. At these temperatures the heated surface of the vehicle is all the heat required by the pre-soak.

Sure, if you were to put the pre-soak on at 7:1 with hot water onto a hot car, you may experience trouble. However, that is true of any pre-soak you put on. All good operators make seasonal adjustments with their pre-soak and drying agent. Line speed also plays a role in determining concentrations for these products. We vary our line speed from 70-80 cph in the spring, summer and fall to 100-110 on peak days in the winter. This also requires us to vary concentrations. Its simply a matter of being aware as well guidance from your supplier and personal experience.
 
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