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Soap and Wax Plumbing

wrightwash

wrightwash

Member
My soap and wax lines feed into a tee right after the y-strainer exiting a gravity tank on my pump stand. I have a 1/2" line run from the tee to the inlet on each pump (Cat 310). I have to choke the line exiting the tank right now to get a good suction on the soap/wax. Would I get better suction if I moved the tee for the chemical lines to the inlet of the pump? Does anyone have a similar setup they could show?
 
It's not unusual to have to partially close the ball valve. Moving the tee to the pump may help, depending on the length of the hose. Adding this check valve puts just enough restriction on the water line without causing any issues. I've been using them for 20 years and haven't had any fail.

Kleen-Rite 944-430 | Brass Inline Check Valve | 1/2in. F x F

This resilient disc check valve is not lead free. It is not for use on potable applications.
www.kleen-ritecorp.com www.kleen-ritecorp.com
 
You might take another look at the way I plumb them...from Your Previous Thread

1/2" poly braid hose from the rinse water tank with a wide open ball valve for servicing.
1/4" LLDPE tubing from the soap and wax tanks to a "Y" fitting (PISCO, SMC, John Guest) on the other inlet port.

Now, I must add...my rinse tanks are at the same level as the pump mounting rails while the soap & wax tanks are elevated 3'-4' above the pump stand. I've never had issues with soap/wax suction and never have to throttle the water supply valves.

If your soap/wax tanks have additional capacity you might just try raising the Hydrominder floats and fill them up. Lowering the rinse water level might help, too...as long as you don't starve the pumps.

But, there's nothing wrong with throttling...or using MEP's check valve. Just don't cavitate the pumps. Close the ball valve until the pump starts "rattling" and then crack the valve open until the rattling stops. I've done it many times rather than replumbing the entire system.
 
MEP001 said:
It's not unusual to have to partially close the ball valve. Moving the tee to the pump may help, depending on the length of the hose. Adding this check valve puts just enough restriction on the water line without causing any issues. I've been using them for 20 years and haven't had any fail.

Kleen-Rite 944-430 | Brass Inline Check Valve | 1/2in. F x F

This resilient disc check valve is not lead free. It is not for use on potable applications.
www.kleen-ritecorp.com www.kleen-ritecorp.com
Click to expand...

Thank you!
 
On our gravity feed set up, the soap, wax and rinse tanks are all mounted over the pumps at the same height. All of our other washes are pressure fed which is a pain in the ass. It's been on my list for a while to convert them to gravity feed. My question is how important is it that the tanks are at the same height and if they are not, what are the issues I might encounter?
 
Etowah
GoBuckeyes said:
On our gravity feed set up, the soap, wax and rinse tanks are all mounted over the pumps at the same height. All of our other washes are pressure fed which is a pain in the ass. It's been on my list for a while to convert them to gravity feed. My question is how important is it that the tanks are at the same height and if they are not, what are the issues I might encounter?
Click to expand...
My tanks are the same height, but the liquid levels in them are not. The soap and wax are about 15" lower than the top of the water level because of the Hydrominder. I had to take the check valve for the water supply out on one pump when it failed closed, and I had to throttle the ball valve for it to draw the same soap as the others. How different of a height are you thinking about?
 
Its not an ideal situation as all of my pressure fed wash stands have the electrical over the motors which are over the pumps. No way I'm moving and rewiring the stands. The Rinse tank will need to be about 6' over the floor. I'd like to mount the soap and wax tanks around 3-4'. Figured I could have the soap/wax T's right at the pump inlets and plumb the soap/wax solenoids backwards so the head pressure from the Rinse tank doesn't backfeed into the tanks. If you don't think that would work I suppose I could mount all the tanks around 6'.
 
MEP001 said:
It's not unusual to have to partially close the ball valve. Moving the tee to the pump may help, depending on the length of the hose. Adding this check valve puts just enough restriction on the water line without causing any issues. I've been using them for 20 years and haven't had any fail.

Kleen-Rite 944-430 | Brass Inline Check Valve | 1/2in. F x F

This resilient disc check valve is not lead free. It is not for use on potable applications.
www.kleen-ritecorp.com www.kleen-ritecorp.com
Click to expand...

MEP where do you place the check valve on the inlet side flow? Do i need to put it after the soap/wax tee or at the pump inlet?
 
It goes on the line from the water tank, assuming that's how yours is set up. The soap and wax need to tee in after it.
 
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