What's new
By:
Car Wash Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Proper Touchless Drying Agent Usage

D

Dick Nitro

Member
All, I'm working with a Laserwash G5 S-Series. What is the proper way to use drying agent?

My distributor has me injecting drying agent on the 2nd to last rinse using soft water and then finishing with a a "quick speed, low pressure" spot free rinse.

Generally the result is:
-the drying agent beads water great, but leaves more residue the faster the gantry moves for the spot free
-The air dryers and drying agent are less impressive when I slow the last pass and use more spot free, but the car is spot free once dry.

I can see utility in drying agent when the beaded water rolls right off in your driers - impressive to the customer initially, but the droplets that do remain on your windshield will spot.
Without drying agent, there will be small droplets everywhere, but the car will be spotless once it does dry.

Is there a benefit to injecting DA to the spot free only using a small tip? What do you guys do?

Thank You
 
If you are getting spots after your sfr, then the sfr coverage is not removing your drying agent. Aside from that, I know a lot of operators who do not use sfr and dry off the drying agent injected final rinse without a problem of water spots. This makes me think that maybe your problem is the drying agent your are using. Maybe too much or not the best product. Some da’s need a rinse - either spot free or not, and some do not. Your chem rep should know the particulars about what you are using. In the drying agent world, less is more, for sure.
 
I guess my confusion is whether or not my spots are cause more from leftover soft water or excessive residual DA. The soft water alone WILL spot, that much I know... Distributor says there is a fine line, but Ill just have to keep dialing to find it.

I'm going to try a hefty soft water rinse followed by a medium - fast spot free rinse with a touch of DA and go from there. Looks like all I can do is throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks
 
Yes - there is experimentation involved, but sfr should be pretty close to spotless. I don’t know what injecting da into the sfr will do, but it’s worth a try. Any chance you are leaving a little bit of detergent on the car that is reacting with the Da?
 
SFR alone is very sticky to the car and shears into a million droplets when entering the dryer. However, The car is spotless when dry.

I'm trying to make the SFR droplets more "grabby" so that I get an impressive result at the exit dryers AND after the car is dry. Right now I'm kind of one or the other.

I used to think it was a detergent problem, but I crossed that off when we titrated and troubleshot last.
 
What kind of drying agent are you using? With the small amounts used per car, it's worth using a premium ceramic drying agent. Also, most drying agents, you have to put a super small amount, and more isn't always better and can cause the issue you are seeing
 
On a different brand machine I'm using a "ceramic" drying agent on the next to the last pass at about 1:1000 followed by a SFR final pass. The particular product I'm using contains no oils. The spotting is very minimal and the cars are tunnel dry if the customer drives through properly. I miss the nice smell of the product I was using previously but the cars are looking so good I'm not likely going back. I tried to use it at a stronger dilution and it didn't work any better but spots were more noticeable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top