How to make “Touch Free” washing clean better. RYKO Manufacturing Company

Using soft water for presoak Soft water improves wash quality in all cases when compared to the same water supply not softened. All costs associated with softening the presoak water will be less than the presoak cost savings when using soft water for presoak.

High Impact vs. High Pressure Comparative test results show High Impact rinse produces a 7.5% greater wash quality than High Pressure. High Impact water actually hits the vehicle with greater impact than that of High Pressure water. Valves, pumps, pipe fittings, etc.last longer due less vibration and abuse.

Effect of dwell time. On tests using different presoak dwell time intervals, followed by a high impact rinse, results proved that wash quality improved as dwell time increased up to 30 – 40 seconds. Above 40 seconds, results were minimal.

Double pass vs. single pass Washing with a presoak pass, then high impact rinse, then a presoak pass and another high impact rinse, produced wash quality that was 15% better than a single pass wash. The improvement from a double pass wash in quality is not going to double. Therefore it is not worth doing.

Injecting air to create a foaming presoak Test results show that the wash quality achieved when the presoak is applied with a relatively small amount of air injected to create foam is better than the wash quality with a large amount of air injected or no air injected at all.

Double pass high impact rinse vs. a single pass high impact rinse Test results indicate that a double pass high impact rinse provides a 8.3% better quality wash than a single high impact rinse. Areas that have heavily soiled vehicles from dirt, ice, snow, etc. would benefit more from a double pass high impact rinse.

Measuring presoak with pH vs. titration Both pH and titration can be used as tools to set the presoak application on touch free washes. RYKO uses pH as it is more user friendly for our service technicians to set presoak and the range is consistent for a given presoak at all locations.

Applying presoak to a dry vs. wet vehicle Test results show wash quality 6.7% greater when applying presoak to a dry vehicle surface vs. a pre-wetted vehicle surface. The only exception to this is if the rocker panel area is heavily coated with dirt, ice, snow etc. and could not reach the painted surface until removed.

Repeated washing Test results show that most of the attainable wash quality is reached by doing one wash. The second wash attains an additional 7% improvement and the third wash attains an additional 3.6% improvement. Fourth and fifth washes attain essentially no additional improvement. Therefore it is not worth doing.

Does the pH of the presoak water affect the amount of presoak required? The pH of the water supply greatly effects the the amount of presoak needed to obtain a quality wash. A water supply with a low pH generally require more presoak than a location that has a water supply with a higher pH.

Does Total Dissolved Solids in presoak affect quality? High levels of TDS can significantly effect the amount of presoak needed to obtain a quality wash. Reducing TDS can have a greater impact on presoak usage than softening the water supply.

Insure no brine Check that the softener brine drain line does not drain into the reclaim pits. This will prevent excessive white spotting from the softener salt.

Check your equipment Check spray arch pressure and flow. Examine the presoak application to insure total coverage of the vehicle. Insure that water is not back-flowing into the presoak injection point and diluting or contaminating the presoak.

Adequate rinse Especially on reclaim machines, consider adding a second low pressure. rinse pass or increasing the rinse nozzle size to insure all the reclaim water is washed off. If excessive spotting is a problem, consider adding an R/O system.

Improving wash quality overview Check hardness Check pH Increase presoak dwell time Consider a second pass of presoak Insure total vehicle coverage Type of presoak used Eliminate presoak contamination Consider second high impact pass Stop brine from entering reclaim pits Insure pumps are operating full out Consider a second rinse pass Add R/O