Foam Cannon Poor Performance

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soloz2

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I've been watching everyone's foam cannon videos for some time and finally bit the bullet for a pressure washer and foam cannon. I have not been able to get thick foam like I see in the videos though.

I originally purchased a Ryobi 1700PSI 1.2GPM electric unit from Home Depot. I filled it up with Megs Gold Class soap about 2oz and I was only able to get runny foam that would not dwel on my vehicles for more than a couple minutes. I tried 5oz soap but that wasn't much better. This is with hot water from the sink. I tried putting the soap in the cannon first and water last and vice versa to no avail.

I thought maybe my PW wasn't quite powerful enough so I found a deal on a gas powered Craftsman with 2000PSI and 1.8GPM for only $20 more than the Ryobi so I picked it up and the foam was only slightly better even though the PW is noticeably more powerful.

I tried using CarPro Reset soap and the foam was a bit better but still very runny.

At this point I'm wondering if I've wasted my money... Do I need to try a different soap? I have the CarPro version of the foam cannon. I thought they were all the same, but does this one need more power? Any help is much appreciated.
 
Some soaps are better than others. Really the "foam show" is just that - a show. I'm only using a very low output electric pressure washer and the foam clings well for 5 minutes - IMHO that's all you need. CGs Honeydew Snow Foam seems to work the best for me. 3 - 4 ozs in the bottle should give you good enough foam to accomplish the task. Keep in mind, some of the runniest "no touch" snow foams, like Avalanche, are some of the most effective.

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Thanks. I'll have to try honeydew soap. The thing is that I'm not getting the foam to cling for 5 minutes. By the time I get around the car and set down my foam cannon it's already mostly run off the side of the car. I've seen videos with thick foam and medium foam, but I'm getting significantly runnier foam than I'm seeing in the videos.
 
I am going to be getting some Meguiars Hyper Wash. Don't have a foam cannon though Just a foam gun.

Meguiars Gold Class foamed very little to almost nothing at all with my foam gun.
 
It may be your foam cannon. I have an electric PW that puts out about 1500psi & 2gpm of water and I've used various different soaps and I've gotten thick foam for almost everyone.

I don't think the problem is with your pressure washer. It may be that the filter in the foam cannon is partially clogged. It also depends on the size of the orifice or nozzle that's on your foam cannon. Usually the MTM cannon's nozzle comes in 1.1mm or 1.25mm. The 1.1mm nozzle is used for PWs with lower outputs and the 1.25mm is used for PWs with higher outputs. I have the MTM Hydro Cannon with a 1.25mm nozzle/orifice and it works great with my PW.

You may want to contact Carpo and see if they can give you some advice.
 
+1 on Honeydew for foaminess. I've used Meg's Gold Class in my cannon (pw: 1.5gpm/ 1900psi) and didn't notice it being especially runny. Have you tried adjusting the spray nozzle or air intake setting while in use?
 
Here's a couple videos. The foam looks pretty good coming out of the cannon, but as you can start to see in the 1st video and really see in the 2nd video is that it's too runny to dwel at all. Both videos were taken within a minute of each other. I foamed the car set the cannon down and immediately started taping again. Really what I was hoping for was to be able to have the foam dwel on the vehicle for 5 minutes to be able to lift the dirt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9KrwRmRK1M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9KrwRmRK1M
 
4oz. of Honeydew must make some serious suds!! I use 2oz of Honeydew and get nice thick suds with my electric 1800psi 1.5 gpm PW.

I've tried Meg's Gold Class. It worked nicely, but you have to add a ton of soap, like 4oz.
 
I just use a foam gun without a compressor and with the honeydew get a good 4-5 minutes of dwell.
 
What about a Tornador and an air hose for your foam?

I do think you'll bet better foam with Honeydew Snow foam or DP's Extreme Foam Formula if you want to stick with your foam cannon.
 
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