What am I doing wrong?

S

stormchaser

New member
I've read just about every post under fleet washing and I still can't figure out why I am having a hard time cleaning/2-steping trailers. Here is what I am doing:

Applying HF at a mixture of 50/50 into an upstream injector. I spray HF on one side of trailer. Then I come back with DNB-1430
not diluted into the upstream injector and apply it over the HF. This works the dirt washes off the trailer, then I apply hot water at 5.5gpm @ 3000psi with a 25 degree tip about 6 inces away. Rinse, rinse, rinse. The problem is the film that is left over. I swipe my finger across it and there is the film. I can also see places where the pressure will not remove anymore of the dirt/soot where the smoke runs along the top of the trailer from the stack. I gave up after one trailer today after 2-stepping one side twice so I finally wound up brushing the entire trailer. The brushing of course always works. The trailers are all white.

I have only done fleet washing for this company. I was told that he has never had the trailers cleaned, but I do not know.


Thanks
Chris
 
Most usually a new trailer has to be brushed to get the film off,this usually takes two or three brushing.I have trailers that havn't been brushed in hmmm 3 or 4 years but I try to brush all of them once or twice a year.

Your DNB-1430 should take the smoke off,in most cases it works better if upstreamed under psi.Try weaking your mix down and washing with upstream hot soap,then come back with your rinse.

Also try a 40 degree 8 gpm tip to wash with,I'm using a 40.10,running 5.5 3500 rig,with the 40 degree you can rinse faster and it doesn't take alot of psi to clean trucks.When I started washing trucks I was using 15 degree,did for several years,then went with a 25 degree for several years.If your looking for a little more speed try a 40 degree,when washing dirty trucks you may have to get a little closer with your tip as in moving your wand closer or far away,depends but it doesn't take alot of psi to wash trucks.
 
ron p

Stormchaser, I hope you wrote a mistake on UPSTREAMING HF ACID. You should not be running acid in you upsteamer, there is very little reason to apply acid under high pressure[if any].
Useing dbn1430 and HF acid must cost you a ton of money.
Also you said that you upstream both the dbn and the acid. Do you have some kind of switching system or pulling the chem. line out of the acid and dropping it into the dbn? If you are this can be a problem.
Do you have/know about a duel lance?
You want to downstream acids and upstream your soap unless you want to use your soap as a pre-soak. In some cases dbn can take the place of HF as a pre-soak then just high pressure it off.
You should try it, it could save you some big bucks and tons of time.
If/when you change to downstreaming your acid and/or soap you will need to adj. your mix.
You also say 50/50 in a upstreamer. What is the draw rate of your upstreamer when you use it?
What % of HF acid is in your acid when you buy it? [they are not all the same %]
 
yes I did mean downstream

Yeap I saw my mistake on the post. I downstream all my chemicals. Looks like now I will upstream the soap. And you are right the chemicals are costing me a fortune. HF is getting harder and harder to find these days. I do know about duel lance. But my first concern is getting the trucks clean in a more reasonable amout of time. Seven trailers in 10 hours just ain't right. Right now I run two seperate supply lines to the downstream injector. I manually switch the lines. My upstreamer does not seem to draw as good as my downstreamer. My downstreamer is about a 20 percent draw. I'm not sure about the upstreamer. It's a Delco rig. (K-31). As far as the HF goes right now I'm trying to buy some more but the company I buying from in Dallas is strange. It's called aluma-brite. I don't know the HF precentage. I need to find a different supplier.

I 2 steped my van yesterday while I was washing trailers. The van turn out excellent. The trailers are of the problem.

Here is a picture of the trailers I am cleaning.

Trailer

Thanks,
Chris
 
ron p

here are some tricks you can try
#1 get some limonlene house wash from e-spec
[costs you $85 with shipping for 55 gal-mix kit]
get a flo-jet pump or start out with a pump up and
pre-spray the black smoke just before you apply your soap and after the acid.[use it at full strangth].
#2 use your duel lance downstream your acid and high pressure soap to clean.
#3 now for your soap use the R109 with 1/3 R202
its much cheaper then the dbn1430 and in my opinion ,with two stepping, your wasteing the dbn1430. DBN1430 is more of a pre-soak.
#4 learn to shut off the soap before you finnish so that by the time you use up the soap in the line your ready to rinse.
#5 use hot water with the acid and soap. Then shut off heat to rinse.
What is the hardness of the water your useing?
Do you have a supply tank? if so get some of the wax to add to the tank. Makes it easyer to clean next time.
 
Last edited:
You guys are great

Ok I think yall have pointed out an important step I was missing. I was applying hf downstream, applying soap downstream, then a high pressure rinse. I was just letting the chemical reaction do the work, then relying on the high pressure rinse to do the rest. I am leaving out the washing step right? New method: Apply hf downstream, wash with high pressure soap upstream, then rinse, rinse, rince. Am I on track now guys?

How many pounds of R-109 to how many gallons of water are you using? I am thing about 50 pounds per 55 gallons.

The water hardness is fairly hard.

Thanks
Chris
 
ron p

you are wasteing r109 at 1lb per gal.
its suggested by delco to mix at 8 oz. per gal.
i dont think r109 can hold 1 lb. in a gal of water. You really need to try that r202 booster.
Do you find a lot of powder at the bottom of the drum when you mix the r109 at 50 per 55 gal?
You must.
Your spending way too much on chem for it to take you 75 min per trailer, i can brush them faster then that.
You did not post if you had a supply tank.
The rinse part for trailers should not be that hard.
Do you have a 72 inc duel wand?
 
Thanks Ron Now I got a high dollar 2 step machine

Thanks Ron Now I got a high dollar 2 step machine!! Today I started washing with soap. Now I'm getting results. It's the step I was leaving out, that was the problem. Now I just need to work on some fine tuning. The first problem I ran into was the soap going into my 250 gallon tank when the unloader kicks in. I guess the only way to fix this is don't let the unloader dump or take the bypass out of the tank and put in back in a loop.

I was mixing soap about hallf of a pound to a gallon it's still to much. So I will drop one quarter a pound. HF I am mixing about 3 to 1. At 4 to 1 I have to reapply it from a pump sprayer on the bottom aluminum railing. 3 to one I don't. Which do you suggest?

I don't have a dual wand I just change the tips by hand.

Thanks
Chris
 
Sorry Stormchaser for not waRNING you on the unloader returning the soap back to the supply tank when trigger letoff.I've ran a open gun so long I didn't even think about it but know I've done it a few times when I ran a unloader,not funny when out on the job and haveta take the supply tank off to get all the soap out of it.

Try mixing the 109 with the 1430 for the smoke on the trailers or mix a little degreaser in with the 109 for the same,you'll have to find your own mix rate as in as you say fine tune.Look into the double lance as it adds a little more speed without stopping and starting as you do plus you can flash that bottom rail with acid if need be after you learn how..
 
ron p

stormchaser, when you do get your duel lance[1/4 inc stainless] treat the handle as if it were your grandmom. Nice and easy,dont horse it, it will leak in short order. For speed you need the duel lance.
You dont want to keep changing tips, are you getting that HF on your bare hand when you do this? Not me, that stuff is no joke and can hurt you real bad. Make sure you do a wind test before you spray that stuff. Stand up wind.
You should mix the r109 at 8 oz per gal.[have you ever weighed that stuff, or are you thinking 8 oz as in volume?] it goes by weight not volume.
Then deluite it from there.[per other container, not the whole 55 gal of mix]
is your upstreamer adj.?
Also when you use the duel lance you will have a lines worth of acid that will shoot out under pressure, you will find this to be very helpfull.
P.S. If it were not for bigboy, i would still be in the dark ages, where you were last week.
Get one of those "third hand" type trigger locks and give it a try for a day. This will help you to decide if a open gun would be good for you.
Also get yourself one of those high pressure swivels, i think they are well worth the $$.
install it between the high pressure line and the whip hose just before the trigger gun.
You do have a whip hose on the trigger gun,right?
The info your getting in this one post took me 2 months to learn and big $$$ in chem.
just wanted you to know how lucky you are.
 
Last edited:
Hahahaha liked the hard days work pic.


From the looks of the picture you may want to think about customizing you wand to fit comfortable and buy a pair of waterproof Rockys,You'll be glad you did.
 

Attachments

  • allergic2.gif
    allergic2.gif
    50.7 KB · Views: 186
ron p

the whip hose will reduce your O ring use on the fitting on the gun. Also if you have'nt allready i would suggest useing stainless steel fittings[i love them]
That lance you have. dose it have a side handle?
Is there a bend near the tip or is that a strait stick?
How long is that wand your useing to wash cement?
Do you own a flat surface washer?
You need to work on "work smart, not hard"
your on the right track.
How far are you from delco?
i just ordered $200 worth of soap and it cost me $80 to get it shipped[it's killing me].
A 12 ft wand and your about 6 ft tall,how tall are those trailers?
you can build a duel lance to any size but after 72" they get heavy.
 
big boy brushing?

Did I read you right Big Boy? I think you said you brush trailers at least once a year!!!!!!!!!!!! Dude I thought you never said the word brush, let alone use one.
Oh well, keep it clean.

Mike Fuhriman
Salt Lake Truck Brush, oops,I ment Salt Lake Truck Wash
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top