Why "Rotten Egg" Smelling Tri-Foam? (WW 1.0)

[Carl]

This is a weird one that has me scratching my head in wonderment? I have two WW 1.0 machines. The busier one so quickly turns its yellow trifoam into a "stinky, rotten egg-smelling, woman's hair perm chemical-smelling" odor!

The trifoam chemical isn't old. I'm actually drawing the yellow tri-foam from a 5 g bucket. I purged the yellow tri-foam from the mix tank and made new, pleasant-smelling yellow tri-foam last night and already now the next morning, the product that's in the mix tank of the yellow has gotten "stinky and rancid-smelling" again?

I have a leaking weld at the bottom of the yellow tri-foam's tank that cross seeps a little bit of the yellow into the blue tri-foam's tank so I did an experiment last night mixing the blue & yellow tri-foam products into a cup overnight and this resulted in non-stinky chemical so hmm...why do you think the yellow tri-foam in the mix tank turns "rotten-smelling" so quickly? Weird stuff that is so opposite the experience I want my customers to get whenever they "smell" the trifoam product upon application on their car. I actually had a customer come in to complain about that smell, it's that bad sometimes!

 

[rph9168]

Sounds like you have a problem with bacteria growth. The first thing you need to do is probably purge all your trifoam lines for the yellow including cleaning out the foamer. The best way is to use an all purpose cleaner followed by a thorough rinse. Be sure to scrub out the tank as well. If the lines are old you may want to consider replacing them.

It would also be a good idea to make sure the products you are using have a biocide in them which helps prevent bacteria growth. Most of the major brands have one in their products but some of the lesser known ones or private label products do not.

 

[borumrm]

I know it is not the same thing but I had a problem with my foam wax...don't remember it smelling bad but it would get slimy....I read some where that putting some copper in the tank would stop that .... had some copper pipe laying around so i cut a small piece off and voila....no more slime...if it is a bacteria growth maybe something like that will suppress it...clean it and then put some copper tubing in the tank and see if it stops...won't cost much to try.

 

[waright]

i had a customer call me a couple of weeks after i built and installed a self serve tri foam unit. He said the tri foam i was using smelled horrible. A few days later he called back and apologized. he finally looked inside the chemical solution tank and found a dead lizard.

 

[briteauto]

This is a weird one that has me scratching my head in wonderment? I have two WW 1.0 machines. The busier one so quickly turns its yellow trifoam into a "stinky, rotten egg-smelling, woman's hair perm chemical-smelling" odor!

The trifoam chemical isn't old. I'm actually drawing the yellow tri-foam from a 5 g bucket. I purged the yellow tri-foam from the mix tank and made new, pleasant-smelling yellow tri-foam last night and already now the next morning, the product that's in the mix tank of the yellow has gotten "stinky and rancid-smelling" again?

I have a leaking weld at the bottom of the yellow tri-foam's tank that cross seeps a little bit of the yellow into the blue tri-foam's tank so I did an experiment last night mixing the blue & yellow tri-foam products into a cup overnight and this resulted in non-stinky chemical so hmm...why do you think the yellow tri-foam in the mix tank turns "rotten-smelling" so quickly? Weird stuff that is so opposite the experience I want my customers to get whenever they "smell" the trifoam product upon application on their car. I actually had a customer come in to complain about that smell, it's that bad sometimes!

If the smell is not in the bucket you draw from, but only when it draws through the system, the contamination has to be somewhere between the mix tank and the machine

If you smell it the next morning in a fresh, cleaned out mix tank, is it possible the contamination occurs after the mix tank but some of the solution is seeping back into the tank from the lines to your machine?

Also, you said you have two machines, is it only the one that is having this problem?

 

[Carl]

Thanks!

Thanks so much for the great advice!

Yup...the "stinky trifoam" problem occurs only in one of my two Water Wizard 1.0 machines, the busier of the two machines. I believe you're right in that the bacteria is somewhere between the tank and the machine so I'll flush that out w/ bleach.

The copper idea to rid the slimy formations in the trifoam tanks is a GREAT IDEA!

I appreciate it! - Carl

 

[Gabriel]

It sounds an awful lot like the real problem may be in your pits. When the chemicals hit a dirty disfunctioning pit that egg smell can fill the bay.

 

[ToFarGone]

The problem I found was Ph, rather a neutral Ph that is. My trifoam comes with preservatives in the concentrate. As I water it down and send it to the bay the preservatives get watered down to. I have then created a very comfortable spot for bacteria to grow. Doesn't matter how fast I emtpy those premix tanks (set the floats low to clear as much as i can on every car). So...I empty the tanks scrub with a bleach solution...pump a little through the lines and out to the foam generators and start over. I am good for a while after this but it always comes back. I have tried several trifoams and it only does this on one brand. It won't shock you to know its the best foaming, smelling, brightest, and cheapest....so it has to have a drawback somehwere. I talked ot the chemist at the soap company and he said to try the copper pipe as a cheap shot in the dark.

Sooooo....I cleaned again and tossed in copper pipe. So far its been a couple weeks and no problems. In the past I would have had slime build up by now. We will see what happens...if I have problems again I will go with a product that isn't neutral Ph. See where that takes me.

 

[jimbeaux]

Doing business in SE TEX. (hot & humid) I have fought the slime issue forever. It seems any brand of chemicals gives me trouble. I have tried bleach, copper pipe, hot water and cold water, but nothing seems to make much difference. My next attempt will be to use a dual injection of chemical & some bleach. Good luck & please post if you find a solution.

 

[robtl]

Thanks so much for the great advice!

Yup...the "stinky trifoam" problem occurs only in one of my two Water Wizard 1.0 machines, the busier of the two machines. I believe you're right in that the bacteria is somewhere between the tank and the machine so I'll flush that out w/ bleach.

The copper idea to rid the slimy formations in the trifoam tanks is a GREAT IDEA!

I appreciate it! - Carl

On the ww 1.0 the tri-foam header pipes in the gantry needs to have the pvc cap at the bottom of each header cut off and a valve glued on or a screwed cap put on so the bottom of the header so it can be cleaned out.
From the last hole to the bottom, slime builds up and has no way out and cause a bad smell, flushing every month or so will help clean the header out.

 

[SSadmiral]

I have this problem as well

My ww2.0 has this issue as well. I realized the only difference between the chemicals is the physical proximity to the "hot" presoak tank. The yellow is closest which makes this tank hotter than the other two(red,blue). It appears to be anaerobic bacteria that thrives in warmer climate. I tried bleach at first but it neutralized the dye so I went to hydrogen peroxide which seemed to have better results.

 

[pgrzes]

I try to clean out my tri foam canisters every 2-3 monthes. I empty out the canister, put the suction line into a big jug of bleach and fill canister, allow to sit for an hour then run the pump for a while with the bleach still drawing, I usually run about a half gal bleach then just run with water to rinse. We also clean out the foamers also as they build up a lot of scum inside. Ive tried the copper tubing in the canisters also doesnt seem to work. Seems like it gets worse quicker when its slow.

 

[rph9168]

You don't mention anything you have done with cleaning out the lines and the hydrominder tank. They need to be flushed, cleaned with a strong alkaline cleaner to make sure any existing bacteria is removed. That is probably where the smell is originating. You also need to make sure the products you are using have a biocide in them. That inhibits bacteria growth which is probably producing the odor. Most major brands usually have that in the formula.