A little advice to help even the most knowledgable detailers.

[BlkToy14]

I thought you people might appreciate this. I`ll cut to the chase first. Then explain.
Salt... Warm water is the only thing that works. Even salt you don`t know is there. Feels and looks clean. But isn`t. Still has salt on it.
This is partly in response to reading on here about high PH for salt...etc.

I am actually semi retired. I used to test electrical apparatus for a living. In doing Doble testing at the beach on insulators. We found the only thing that got the insulators clean was warm water. Yes, usually start with hot. It cools off. Don`t let it get less than warm. The warm water was the only thing that worked because it would dissolve the salt. We could use the most aggressive solvents. Acetone, etc. and they wouldn`t work. We still couldn`t get that Doble test down where we wanted it. Showed either the insulator was dirty, or bad. It would show electricity tracking on the outside surface of the insulator. It would feel clean. It would look clean. But it wouldn`t be. The Doble test just wouldn`t come down to the Power Factor we required for that insulator. I`m talking power factors, typically of .1% or .05% or .01%. Some lower.

I thought people would appreciate knowing this. Wondering why even touching a car results in swirling. I myself, use warm water with my rinseless wash. To make sure I get all the salt off. Even during summer. Might have some left over from winter on the roads. Then in rain, it can splash on the car and sticks. I`m sure I have less of a problem of creating more swirling because of this. I didn`t use my DA Polisher on my car until i went over it with rinseless wash in warm water.

[ShawnF350]

Do they test insulators in all locations or mainly near beaches?
Where I work they test all the substation relays but there`s no insulator testing performed in the yards. I`m waiting for something to fail one day.

[BlkToy14]

I`m sure they test everything everywhere.
I only tested apparatus. You`d have to talk to a Substation Tech to find out about relays and stand off insulators.
The insulators I spoke of at the beach, were on transformers, at generating stations. I did transformers at substations, as well as more. I had to make sure the feed through insulators were good to not throw off my transformer test.
The only strictly stand off insulator testing I did was High Pot (over voltage). That in shop. Some for research using Doble, also. I remember one was because the engineer thought a possibility of a problem with a certain type of insulator.

[WaxAddict]

I`ve never heard of a "Doble" so I looked it up - it appears that Doble is a brand name of equipment. By the looks of it, a "Doble Test" is a Power Factor test, so it makes sense now, thanks!

[Accumulator]

BlkToy14- Hey, I found that Doble test info interesting!

I too use warm water when I wash/rinse, and I`ve never had any problems with it degrading my LSP even when it`s closer to "almost hot" than to "barely warm".

[Calendyr]

I thought you people might appreciate this. I`ll cut to the chase first. Then explain.
Salt... Warm water is the only thing that works. Even salt you don`t know is there. Feels and looks clean. But isn`t. Still has salt on it.
This is partly in response to reading on here about high PH for salt...etc.

I am actually semi retired. I used to test electrical apparatus for a living. In doing Doble testing at the beach on insulators. We found the only thing that got the insulators clean was warm water. Yes, usually start with hot. It cools off. Don`t let it get less than warm. The warm water was the only thing that worked because it would dissolve the salt. We could use the most aggressive solvents. Acetone, etc. and they wouldn`t work. We still couldn`t get that Doble test down where we wanted it. Showed either the insulator was dirty, or bad. It would show electricity tracking on the outside surface of the insulator. It would feel clean. It would look clean. But it wouldn`t be. The Doble test just wouldn`t come down to the Power Factor we required for that insulator. I`m talking power factors, typically of .1% or .05% or .01%. Some lower.

I thought people would appreciate knowing this. Wondering why even touching a car results in swirling. I myself, use warm water with my rinseless wash. To make sure I get all the salt off. Even during summer. Might have some left over from winter on the roads. Then in rain, it can splash on the car and sticks. I`m sure I have less of a problem of creating more swirling because of this. I didn`t use my DA Polisher on my car until i went over it with rinseless wash in warm water.

Thank you for the advice. Here in Canada, salt is a nightmare. I had a car 3 weeks ago where salt would just not go away. I tried my typical way of removing it: 50% vinegar, let soak for 5 mins then scrub and extract: NOTHING all the salt still there. So I bust out my dedicated salt removal product. Again, nothing. I told the customer I would do some research and try again the next day for free. Could not find anything even after asking other detailers on Autogeek. When I went back I just used muscle power by scrubbing and extracting like crazy. Must have taken me 10 times the normal time to do it but I got about 95% of it out. Wish I had read your post then