Looking for a way to inject detergent into a pressure washer that will spray from the wand at high pressure.

[corneileous]

Hey guys, I bought this soap inductor from Amazon and other than just not being able to get it to work at all with the included soap nozzle, I’d really like one that does like what the car wash does that injects and sprays soap out the nozzle end at high pressure if it’s possible but I don’t really know what to look for as all the ones I could find work like the one I bought. Where would I find what I’m looking for?

As far as my pressure washer specs, it’s just a cheaper electric SunJoe that puts out around 1500 psi at like 1.3GPM. It could be a little better but it works pretty good for my foam cannon. I just have to use a little more soap than I should to get good foam out of it but I’d like to also be able to inject just a basic detergent/chemical solution for other jobs including spraying high pressure soap/water from my undercarriage washer I also got from Amazon for washing the salt from under my truck in the winter to combat rust. Thanks.

 

[Spsully]

What foam cannon are you running?

 

[Atcer2018]

If I’m understanding your need correctly you want a way to have the soap come out in a high pressure spray? Unfortunately without expensive commercial equipment you can’t get that with a consumer grade pressure washer. Car washes have injection equipment, a common pressure washer has a pump and to draw soap into the pump would cause cavitation, ruining the pump. Frothy soap and pressure pumps don’t play well together. Consumer pressure washers put the siphon draw after the pump like the device you have. Those siphons won’t produce a draw with high pressure spray due to back pressure in the hose.

 

[Docwagon1776]

Like this?

https://www.amazon.com/Greenworks-Applicator-Universal-Attachment-51362/dp/B014RE2VEW/

I use it and it works pretty well, but you need to learn the sweet spot on the adjustment nozzle or it will use a *LOT* of soap very quickly.

 

[corneileous]

What foam cannon are you running?

This one. Didn’t pay that much, though.

MTM Hydro PF22.2 Foam Cannon, Pressure Washer Car Wash Sprayer Gun, High Pressure Foam Power Washer Attachment for Boat, Roof, Car Washing, Adjustable Nozzle https://a.co/d/9pRYoy8

 

[Spsully]

I've been looking for one... I know nothing about them. Would you recommend that or do you wish you went a different way?

 

[corneileous]

Like this?

https://www.amazon.com/Greenworks-Applicator-Universal-Attachment-51362/dp/B014RE2VEW/

I use it and it works pretty well, but you need to learn the sweet spot on the adjustment nozzle or it will use a *LOT* of soap very quickly.

That’s kind of what I’m looking for but I’d kinda like to find something that will pull in a soap solution into the pressure washer hose before it gets to the wand end, if it’s possible.

 

[corneileous]

If I’m understanding your need correctly you want a way to have the soap come out in a high pressure spray? Unfortunately without expensive commercial equipment you can’t get that with a consumer grade pressure washer. Car washes have injection equipment, a common pressure washer has a pump and to draw soap into the pump would cause cavitation, ruining the pump. Frothy soap and pressure pumps don’t play well together. Consumer pressure washers put the siphon draw after the pump like the device you have. Those siphons won’t produce a draw with high pressure spray due to back pressure in the hose.

Yeah, that’s what I’m wanting to do.

But if that’s not possible, what’s a good brand of low pressure soap inductor like the one I bought that’s linked at the first of my opening post that actually works? If push came to shove and I had to ditch my hopes of being able to get high pressure soap/water from the wand nozzle, another one of those that I bought would be fine, I’d just have to put another quick-connect on the one and only outlet on my undercarriage washer- what I mean by that is, that undercarriage washer I bought came with four spray nozzles on it and because my pressure washer only puts out 1.3 GPM, I had to take all but one sprayer nozzle out to get any decent pressure so as I was saying, I could get an adapter and then put a quick connect on that one and only outlet so that I could use the soap nozzle to spray soap up under there and then change over to the high pressure one to rinse it off but I’d have to find one of those soap inductors that actually work.

The one I bought that I ended up returning to Amazon would only inconsistently blow soap out the nozzle end was if I barely turned on the garden hose valve on the side of the house.

EDITED TO ADD:
Just looked at the listing and it says it has a flow rate of 2 to 5 GPM so it kinda sounds like my pressure washer just wasn’t putting out enough water volume.

 

[corneileous]

I've been looking for one... I know nothing about them. Would you recommend that or do you wish you went a different way?

I’m sure there might be some foam cannons that work better than others but I think for the most part, they work pretty much the same as long as you have a decent amount of gallonage from your pressure washer.

That one I bought works pretty good for my cheap little weak pressure washer, I just have to use a little more foam soap than I probably should if I had a much better pressure washer that flowed more volume of water.

I tried the Adams Polishes foam cannon and ended up returning it because it needed more volume of water that my washer could put out to run properly and the other one that I linked in my first reply to you actually comes with two different internal orifices for washers that put out more water and for those that don’t. All in all, it works pretty good.

 

[Spsully]

Thanks for the info

 

[BWL]

All my pressure washers have had a hose to draw in soap from a bucket apart from the last one I had, which had a soap tank. They all only work with the soap nozzle on. Once I put on a high pressure nozzle on it doesn't draw the soap in. You can soap it down and then change the nozzle to rinse it off. I see it came with a soap nozzle that you've tried so have you checked to see if your pump has enough flow to draw out of that particular unit? If it's not strong enough sometimes you can dilute the soap a bit to make it easier to pull out of the tank.

 

[corneileous]

Thanks for the info

They are a wise investment in my book. I don’t even go to the car wash anymore. For just regular highway grime, they work fantastic because you don’t have to scrub with the traditional wash mitt or scrub brush and put all those swirl marks in your clear coat. I just use the pressure washer to blow off as much as I can and then I’ll throw the foam cannon on the end of my wand and cover the whole truck with thick white foam that literally looks like you just coated it with shaving cream…lol. As I’m letting that sit for about 4, 5 minutes, I’ll grab my long-handled scrub brush and brush the windshield, front end to get the bugs off and then scrub the wheels. After that I put the high-pressure nozzle back on the wand and rinse it off. When I’m done rinsing, I walk all the way around the truck while it’s still wet with my spray bottle of either Chemical Guys or Adams Polish wax as you dry and towel dry it with one of my many large microfiber drying towels. Makes it nice and shlick, and shiny when I’m done-

 

[corneileous]

All my pressure washers have had a hose to draw in soap from a bucket apart from the last one I had, which had a soap tank. They all only work with the soap nozzle on. Once I put on a high pressure nozzle on it doesn't draw the soap in. You can soap it down and then change the nozzle to rinse it off. I see it came with a soap nozzle that you've tried so have you checked to see if your pump has enough flow to draw out of that particular unit? If it's not strong enough sometimes you can dilute the soap a bit to make it easier to pull out of the tank.

If you look real close at one of the pictures in the listing, it has “2.0” written on one side of the injector that has the arrow on it showing the direction of flow so I don’t know if that means it works at a maximum 2 GPM or if it means it needs a minimum of 2 GPM.

Being that I never could get it to work, it kinda sounds like it means it needs a minimum of 2 gallon a minute and being that my pressure washer only puts out 1.3 gallon a minute, there probably just wasn’t enough water volume. The soap I was trying to draw in was a 5 gallon bucket of water with about 4 or 5 cup-fulls of Simple Green and then I even tried putting the clear tube straight into the large undiluted container of simple green which is almost like water anyways and I still couldn’t get it to pull any chemical in.

 

[BWL]

If you look real close at one of the pictures in the listing, it has “2.0” written on one side of the injector that has the arrow on it showing the direction of flow so I don’t know if that means it works at a maximum 2 GPM or if it means it needs a minimum of 2 GPM.

Being that I never could get it to work, it kinda sounds like it means it needs a minimum of 2 gallon a minute and being that my pressure washer only puts out 1.3 gallon a minute, there probably just wasn’t enough water volume. The soap I was trying to draw in was a 5 gallon bucket of water with about 4 or 5 cup-fulls of Simple Green and then I even tried putting the clear tube straight into the large undiluted container of simple green which is almost like water anyways and I still couldn’t get it to pull any chemical in.

I just looked at the link you provided and it specs operating between 2-5gpm with a max of 3200psi so that is likely the issue.

 

[corneileous]

I just looked at the link you provided and it specs operating between 2-5gpm with a max of 3200psi so that is likely the issue.

I wonder if they make a soap inductor that works with leas than that…

 

[BWL]

How do the foam cannons work with simple green. Maybe the solution is to grab another one. Little more cumbersome, but I couldn't find one that works with less than 2.0 gpm so it may be the only solution and the reason it doesn't work. Sometimes in the summer I use a chemical sprayer that just goes on the hose to soap up the slip and slide with baby shampoo when my nieces or nephews are out in the summer. Has a dial adjustment and meant for liquid lawn fertilizer/weed killer etc. Might also work for what you're doing.

 

[corneileous]

How do the foam cannons work with simple green. Maybe the solution is to grab another one. Little more cumbersome, but I couldn't find one that works with less than 2.0 gpm so it may be the only solution and the reason it doesn't work. Sometimes in the summer I use a chemical sprayer that just goes on the hose to soap up the slip and slide with baby shampoo when my nieces or nephews are out in the summer. Has a dial adjustment and meant for liquid lawn fertilizer/weed killer etc. Might also work for what you're doing.

I was trying to use simple green with the soap inductor. I use chemical guys or Adams polish foam soap with my foam cannon.

But yeah, I may just have to get me a chemical sprayer and modify the wand in kind of a V shape and just spray the solution up under there that way. That’s just gonna be a pain in the butt though to get the best coverage with the solution but it sounds like my only option.

I thought about just trying to make my own home made inductor out of a 1/4” pipe thread brass tee that had the 3/8’s male and female quick connects on each end with a small ball valve on the bull-head side(middle part) that had a brass hose barb for a small vinyl hose to dip in a bucket but I kinda fear that it would work too well and draw out way more solution that it would need too if it worked at all…lol.

 

[GTyankee]

BWL, mentioned the liquid lawn fertilizer sprayer
that was what i was thinking of also

 

[BWL]

BWL, mentioned the liquid lawn fertilizer sprayer
that was what i was thinking of also

Yeah, my thinking was soap everything up with just the hose and then hook up the pressure washer while the soap does it's magic.

 

[Travelin Ram]

There’s two completely different gadgets shown in this thread, I use both depending on situation. The injector from the first post runs chemical/soap through the high pressure line and out the conventional pressure washer wand. The soap goes on like water and mostly sheets off.

A foam cannon replaces the nozzle on the end and injects air along with soap to spray low pressure foam with lots of lather. It sticks to the surfaces for a lot longer.

Neither will work well generally with small 120v electric washers, because they don’t generate the pressure and flow rates required. When I use one, I break out the big gas powered washer.

I have seen reports of people making a cannon work with less flow by replacing the orifice inside with a smaller one. I haven’t tried it.