Foam lance dillution dilemma!

Z

ZoomBoy

New member
So I just got my foam lance with Karcher attachment in the mail a couple of days ago, but the weather has been really crappy in Toronto since monday but that hasn't stopped me with playing with the foam lance.



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I'm having issues though with the dilution ratio. So far I've put a maximum of 4 ounces of soap and filled the rest up with water, I'm getting great foam but it seems like it wouldn't even last half of the car (knob cranked up full). Should I be dumping more soap in, less water?



For info, the soap is Megs Gold Class on a Karcher 1500 PSI 1.3GPM pressure washer.
 
I have no problem getting full coverage on a full-size truck dually. I run the Karcher K 3.47 M. I also use between 2 to 3 ounces of soap solution and fill the rest with water.
 
Try filling the canister with water completely, then add the soap.



Adding soap first, THEN the water creates a bunch of foamy suds in your canister.
 
I'm wondering if either the soap isn't the greatest for foam, or the fact that it's only 7 degrees celcius the past few days has caused issues with the soap. It was very thick when I was pouring it.
 
FWIW, I've found many other soaps that work through the foam cannon better than Meg's Gold Class. DP Extreme Foam, and Zaino Z7 are both great foamers. Both have the same pros/cons: Pros: they produce great foam, and are completely LSP safe even if you use it straight on your paint. Cons: They don't do very much cleaning unless you use a wash media with them; they are not very good touchless soaps.



My favorite is still Chemical Guys Citrus Wash N Gloss at two ounces, and one ounce of Z7, then fill the rest of the bottle with water.



Greg Nichols showed me another trick that about *doubles* the thickness of the foam. If you're using a gas powered pressure washer, crank down the RPMs of the engine to just above idle, then use your foam cannon. It makes a *huge* difference in the amount of foam produced, and it makes one bottle of soap mixture last the entire car.
 
Thanks for the tip. I wish I had a gas PW though :soscared:



I'm going to see if adding water first, then adding soap helps. I think anything over 4 ounces of soap is starting to become too much, hoping the cooler temperatures is causing it to not mix properly.



I'd hate to have to buy a more powerful PW since I just got this one in October and have used it probably 5 times.
 
SuperBee364 said:
FWIW, I've found many other soaps that work through the foam cannon better than Meg's Gold Class. DP Extreme Foam, and Zaino Z7 are both great foamers. Both have the same pros/cons: Pros: they produce great foam, and are completely LSP safe even if you use it straight on your paint. Cons: They don't do very much cleaning unless you use a wash media with them; they are not very good touchless soaps.



My favorite is still Chemical Guys Citrus Wash N Gloss at two ounces, and one ounce of Z7, then fill the rest of the bottle with water.
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Supe,

Is the CG CWG mix above LSP safe in your opinion? I just ordered a gallon and would like to know what a LSP safe mix and a LSP stripping mix would be.

Also are you using the same model cannon as the OP? I have the CamSpray model from everypressurewasher.com. Do you think it has a different dilution ratio?
 
IC3DT3 said:
Supe,

Is the CG CWG mix above LSP safe in your opinion? I just ordered a gallon and would like to know what a LSP safe mix and a LSP stripping mix would be.

Also are you using the same model cannon as the OP? I have the CamSpray model from everypressurewasher.com. Do you think it has a different dilution ratio?
Click to expand...



The bottle on mine looks like it's almost double as big.
 
IC3DT3 said:
Supe,

Is the CG CWG mix above LSP safe in your opinion? I just ordered a gallon and would like to know what a LSP safe mix and a LSP stripping mix would be.

Also are you using the same model cannon as the OP? I have the CamSpray model from everypressurewasher.com. Do you think it has a different dilution ratio?
Click to expand...



That's about the max ratio I'd still consider LSP safe. Anything more than that and I'd be concerned about it stripping LSP.
 
I just did a quick experiment. I filled up my cannon w/ 32 oz water, set the pickup to max and sprayed into a 5 gal bucket. It filled up about 5 oz shy of 3 gallons. For reference my PW is gas powered and rated at 2.3 GPM and 2600 PSI.



So at the mix you recommended Supe, that would be:

2 oz. to 3 gallons or 0.67 oz per gallon.



The LSP safe mix posted elsewhere on Autopia is:

0.5 oz per 2 gallons or 0.25 oz per gallon



The paint cleanser mix (same post) is:

2 oz. per gallon of water



So it would seem that for MY specific PW and cannon your mix is over twice the recommended dilution to be LSP safe, yet far less than a paint cleanser mix.



So I come to the conclusion that my personal mix (LSP safe) should be 0.75 oz of CWG plus whatever other soap I would want (Z7, ONR, etc) with the rest filled w/ water.



Or for a paint cleanser mix, 6 oz. of CWG, plus other soap, plus water.



Thoughts, anyone?
 
Yes, that would definitely be too strong to be LSP safe. I have the CamSpray foam cannon, which is quite a bit different from the one you're using.



I'll have to check and see what the flow is on mine.. that's a great idea, btw.
 
I got just about four gallons from my Cam Spray cannon, so just about .50 per gallon. That's twice what CG recommends for LSP safe dilution. I've been using it at that strength for two years, though, and have yet to have it strip any LSP's I've used during that time. One thing to consider, though, is that most of the time I don't touch the paint; I just spray off the foam after letting it dwell. I'm sure that since I''m not using any wash media to rub the paint that I can get away with higher concentrations without removing the LSP than I could if I used a wash mitt. I'd be willing to bet that CG's is also erring on the safe side when it comes to their LSP safe dilution recommendation.



I guess it's just a matter of experimenting with what works best for you. Besides, it's fun!
 
SuperBee364 said:
That's the one I have, too. I put a different pick-up tube on it, and a 32 oz bottle.
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I did the same thing, the stock pick-up tube and bottle were waaay to small. Actually tried a 2-liter coke bottle, too, but it was too cumbersome. What PSI and GPM is your PW rated at. I think it would be interesting to see how different flows and PSIs affect the ratio of the foam cannon, seeing as there's no official reference available.
 
IC3DT3 said:
I did the same thing, the stock pick-up tube and bottle were waaay to small. Actually tried a 2-liter coke bottle, too, but it was too cumbersome. What PSI and GPM is your PW rated at. I think it would be interesting to see how different flows and PSIs affect the ratio of the foam cannon, seeing as there's no official reference available.
Click to expand...



Mine is 2.8 GPM and 3k psi. Yeah, that's a great idea... I think I'll also mess around with dilution rates to see how high we can get without stripping LSP's.



Greg Nichols showed me something this last weekend. If you drop your PW's engine RPM down to just above idle, your foam will end up being twice as thick. Have you ever seen that expanding foam type of insulation swell up? It's like that. I'll have to shoot a video of it, it's pretty cool to watch.



OCKlasse said:
The best bottle is the Trader Joe's 34 ounce. It has a wide, flat bottom that is not as easy to tip over ;)
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I'll have to get one of those, thanks for the tip!
 
SuperBee364 said:
That's the one I have, too. I put a different pick-up tube on it, and a 32 oz bottle.
Click to expand...



I did the same .As I have both units and they work the same. I find I like the Adam's and Z7 soaps. I just Fill with warm water then about 2oz of soap a shake well
 
I really cant wait until it warms up on Friday/Sat and I can try a real test of the lance. So far I've only used it to hose my engine down as a pre-degreaser and out in the rain the first day I got it which doesn't exactly show how well the foam sticks when its pouring :grinno:
 
Hey ZoomBoy,



I have the same Lance which I purchased last year and I to use Meg's Gold and live in Toronto. Trust me it's not the weather.



I use 25ml of soap w/luke warm water. My foam isn't the greatest either. I believe and someone other users mentioned it's the soap. Soap Meg's Gold isn't that great. Your better off getting DP or CG to create that cool thick foam.



I did use Z7 for a while but, turned out to be a little to expensive for me. Once all my Meg has been used up I will get CG.



Let me know what happens with you. Perhaps you may have better luck than me.



Cheers,
 
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