Chemical Delivery

BlueBliss

BlueBliss

New member
Gentlemen of the Roof Cleaning World (or anyone pushing chemicals long distances up hill),
I'm a hood cleaner using an air powered pump to deliver caustics about 150ft from the truck. It's a diaphragm pump with max air of 100 psi, and flow of 3gpm. The chem inlet is 3/8 and the outlet is 1/4. At the end of 150ft hose, I don't feel like I'm getting the volume I need...
Should I increase the diameter of the hose, or is that limited to the outlet? Is 150ft too much to ask? Any other tips?
I'll test the flow at the end of 150ft early next week. I just found out we're having trouble and I don't have the time to deal with it until then. Any suggestions I can work through next week would be great!
Thanks!
 
What diameter is the hose?
The smaller hose like 1/4" is kind of small for more than a few gpm's and you can be losing flow and psi.

How many cfm's is your air compressor?
If your air compressor is not putting out enough cfm's for the pump then that might be the whole problem.

Let us know this info so we might be able to help more.
 
BlueBliss said:
Gentlemen of the Roof Cleaning World (or anyone pushing chemicals long distances up hill),
I'm a hood cleaner using an air powered pump to deliver caustics about 150ft from the truck. It's a diaphragm pump with max air of 100 psi, and flow of 3gpm. The chem inlet is 3/8 and the outlet is 1/4. At the end of 150ft hose, I don't feel like I'm getting the volume I need...
Should I increase the diameter of the hose, or is that limited to the outlet? Is 150ft too much to ask? Any other tips?
I'll test the flow at the end of 150ft early next week. I just found out we're having trouble and I don't have the time to deal with it until then. Any suggestions I can work through next week would be great!
Thanks!
Click to expand...

I've been where you are, and can tell you it's no fun.
I got to about 250' but what a pain notice I'm using 1/4" in this video.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mR2U3XRVBsc?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mR2U3XRVBsc?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

I've changed things around a bit and now got this with 400' of hose.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OZCsHRwBmMQ?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OZCsHRwBmMQ?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
 
I'm using 1/4 hose. Air compressor is rated for a little under 5cfm at 100psi w/ 8gal tank.

Lou, your first video looks like the foam I'm trying to get. We get it in the garage when I'm building and testing, but I was observing in a restaruant last night, and the foam looked for like your second now...
It's a little limp...I know when size matters, you might have to accept a little limp, but we like viscosity! We'd like the volume of the Foam-on 5, but not carry a bucket of chem!
 
BlueBliss said:
I'm using 1/4 hose. Air compressor is rated for a little under 5cfm at 100psi w/ 8gal tank.

Lou, your first video looks like the foam I'm trying to get. We get it in the garage when I'm building and testing, but I was observing in a restaruant last night, and the foam looked for like your second now...
It's a little limp...I know when size matters, you might have to accept a little limp, but we like viscosity! We'd like the volume of the Foam-on 5, but not carry a bucket of chem!
Click to expand...

The first video is foam with air second is airless foamer....I use both and DS.

FYI....the second video I had 4+lbs of caustic per gallon, it only looked limp cause it destroyed the grease on the first pass.
 
I believe we found the problem! It was a foam issue. I guess I should have posted in hoods after all...
We drain the hose after use with compressed air. That causes pockets of thick, dense foam to form in the hose. That, apparently clogs the line. Also, the guys were using a little too much foamer and the mix itself was a little two thick for the pump to adequately push. Both factors together led to a weak stream at the end of the hose... We are back in business now!
I tried to post a video, but I guess I'm just not sure what I'm doing.
 
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