Lawn sprayer as a presoak/washer?

C

citizen arcane

New member
Did a google on this site and could not turn anything up but I've been playing around w/ a hose end garden sprayer as a presoak/washer and like the results. I'm using a 4:1 dilution (water to car shampoo) to presoak the car as I'm doing the wheels and tires, reapplying to keep wet. Then rinsing off w/ the spray head (one cool thing is by removing the siphon cup I can rinse and not need to change out to a nozzle.) I then lay down more soap on each panel ahead of washing w/ the mitt. Rinse,lather,repeat.



What I really like is being able to lay soap on the panels that would otherwise have beaded water and believe the contact time w/ the soapy solution aids in my efforts to keep my three black vehicles from swirls during washing. While not as serious a weapon, I think of it as a po' boys foam gun :grinno:



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I love it!

There’s a new kid working at the shop ... I’m not at the shop most days, last Saturday morning I pull in to see him using the same thing (almost, I think his was a Scotts Lawn Weed & Feed unit) to soak the car. After finding he’s been doing this all week and the guys have all qualified it’s sterility, I was able to relax and watch this thing in action. It’s awesome. Cheap, easy, and effective.

I asked why he’s doing it this way over the foam gun and his answer made sense ... he hates the prep to get the foam gun going, and this saves him time.

Either way he’s going back to the foam gun as I want high-powered pre-rinsing before the foaming ... but if that’s not as important to some as it is for me, than use it! It does the job, it’s economical, and sure is easy to use.

Laughed when I saw the picture. I’m going to show the new kid your post. Very clever use of an unconventional tool.
 
I actually saw this foam gun at home depot. Was only $15 too.

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I've been using the Poor mans foam gun for some time (Ortho Weed n' Feed)..nit as effective as a foam gun but better than nothing.



If anyone checks out the HD gun above please update us.



I would try it myself for $15 and not wait for anyone but we have snow and that's just not possible... all spikets have been turned off
 
jesselyons2002 said:
I actually saw this foam gun at home depot. Was only $15 too.

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sweet, im going to go check that out today, in a few minutes as a matter of fact - it'd really help if i could get a part number!





give me a part number, then ill buy it and do a write up for us :chuckle:
 
edonthenet said:
I've used this one for a few years and it works well. Best part is that it has an adjustable flow.

Ortho Dial N Spray Hose End Sprayer

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OH YEAH ... this is the one the new kid was using at the shop, not 'Scotts'.

Thanks for the visual.



Kind of like that metal one "JesseLyons2002" showed us. None of these plastic fittings last a week the way we use stuff. Going to go check it out.



Thanks.
 
8Banger said:
sweet, im going to go check that out today, in a few minutes as a matter of fact - it'd really help if i could get a part number!





give me a part number, then ill buy it and do a write up for us :chuckle:
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I go today to see if I can find it again. Hope it's not like the Grout sponge lol
 
MotorCity said:
If anyone checks out the HD gun above please update us...
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The pictured "foamgun" is the regular Gilmour one only *without* the foam-producing aerating nozzle, it has the little output deflector instead (the black thing on the outlet pipe).



Never worked well for me (my foamguns came with the output deflector and I've played around with it), but it oughta be about the same as the ortho-type sprayers and some people obviously do like those. You could always get one of the Gilmour/HD ones and upgrade it later by buying the aerating/foaming nozzle from Gilmour.

Saintlysins said:
..There’s a new kid working at the shop ... he hates the prep to get the foam gun going, and this [other sprayer] saves him time.
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Eh, what "prep"? Unless the foamgun in question hooks onto a pressure washer (or perhaps I'm otherwise missing something :think: ) I don't see any more prep with a (regular) foamgun than with any other sprayer. The only prep I go through is making sure it has some wash solution in it...and hooking it up to the foamgun-dedicated hose if I've disconnected it for some reason since the last wash.



If the foamgun *is* connected to a pressure washer (I could sorta infer that from your mention of "high pressure"), perhaps he could play around with the hoses/etc. and make it less of a hassle to get going. Having dedicated hoses for stuff like this has been very handy IME; I've even gone to twin/redundant systems for my foamguns and the rinse hoses- one pair of each on each side of the wash bay. When I'm feeling extravagant I even use a pair of wash/rinse buckets on each side of the bay! VERY convenient when doing large vehicles but I'm a little hard pressed to use that second dose of Griot's Car Wash unless I'm gonna be doing two vehicles in quick succession.
 
Well I spent $10.00 on the Ortho Dial N Spray, I felt like, not one, but all three stooges. The hose was all twisted, there wasn't a lot of soap. The Foam Gun would have to work 100% better for me. I wasn't wild about using a sponge either, I could have gotten the job done better and faster with my 2 bucket, fireman's nozzle and Meguiars sheepskin mitt.



Just from my experience and 2 cents.



Good side is, now I have something to spread fertilizer/weed killer:) with.
 
Your assumption is correct "Accumulator" - it's an accessory to the power washer and I agree it's a pain to change the accessory on and off and the quick disconnects don’t hold up for the small connectors. I agree with you though, it's more of the kid acclimating to it over his familiarity with the Ortho, (I can’t believe I’ve never seen that in action before – still makes me laugh out loud.) The kid had it dialed in right – after reading some other posts, I’ll have to see how much shampoo he used?! I'm not too concerned that this will become a regular tool, by end of day, the plastic connections were shot and spray/leaking - he was getting wetter than the car. We get between 105 and 110 psi right off the faucet handle - tends to blow apart any plastic connectors within a week.

I put a freeze on buying a real foam gun, because they've carelessly totaled both in one month. I guess it's time to order another. Think I'll start a thread asking for opinions ... don't want to hijack this one.

Your shop sounds well laid out and ergonomic. I’ve got one of the four bays re-done for efficiency, but I asked the town if I can put an addition on. I’ve got a concept for complete exterior care, but it would need a new staging area. Waiting to see what the town says before I invest into the other bays.
 
I'm not completely sold on the idea that foam(in and of itself) reduces micromarring. What about low foam car washes such as QEW which some claim produce absolutely no micromarring? IMO the lubricity of the soap reduces MM not the actual foam. I use a lawn sprayer and feel it works pretty well.
 
Saintlysins- OK, we're on the same page. And yeah, small quick disconnects can be a real PIA and yeah#2 plastic fittings don't last. And, heh heh, I know what you mean about your at-the-spigot pressure, I have a booster pump and some things live longer than others when you get above normal household water pressure.





wannafbody- I think it's a combination of things- lubricity, encapsulation, etc. Noting that I'm one of the most vehement proponents of using foamguns, I don't really go for *foam* but rather a frothy sort of suds. Too foamy and it won't do the sort of flushing that I'm after.
 
dave40co said:
What setting do you use and how much soap? Do you dilute the soap?



Thanks!
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You don't need to unless the soap is too thick to get sucked through. The setting is adjustable from 1 teaspoon to 8 oz. per gallon and you can shut the soap off.
 
'Been doing this for some time now before heading down to the coin-op self wash. Due to water restrictions it\'s illegal here to use a garden hose so I use this pre-soak method to avoid using their \"broom\" and stick to just using my own MF towels. It\'s helped keep my daily driver MX-5 almost completely free of any swirls/marring for over a year now.'
 
Give us a part number Thanks!!!



8Banger said:
sweet, im going to go check that out today, in a few minutes as a matter of fact - it'd really help if i could get a part number!





give me a part number, then ill buy it and do a write up for us :chuckle:
Click to expand...
 
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