Check out the ortho dial n spray


It has an anti siphon dip tube which draws up soap vs. just water shooting into the cup and mixing it that way

The directions clearly state not to use soap in it, because that can clog to sprayer forever. Haven't had that issue however.

Walmart for $10.00 other versions out there.
time saver for sure.

 

Good idea, I've got one of those. I think I'll try it out..

 

I got 2 or 3 laying around....
Worth a try and better than $59 for a cheap foamer.

 

Let us know how well it foams, please. I can justify that but not a real foam gun. Also let us know what soap you use.

 

after posting i searched other forums for similar threads and found a few that were working on making foamers out of something similar.

 

I was curious and had a few sprayers laying around so I tried the idea out today.
I used Meguiar's® Gold Class™ Car Wash Shampoo & Conditioner since it was the cheapest quality soap I have on hand.

I mixed it 1 part soap (8 oz) to 1 part water (8 oz) because I was worried about the soap being too thick to siphon thru the sprayer.
Normally the mix in a bucket is 1 oz per gallon so I set the sprayer to mix and spray 2 oz of soap to a gallon of water since I diluted the soap by half.

Results:
This set up can be accurately described as a soap dispenser. It will give you a proper mix of water to soap directly on the vehicle so you could eliminate 1 bucket from the 2 bucket method but a foamer it is not.
Along with being a cheap good wash assist tool it was a good soap soaker to presoak and/or a mild touchless quick wash.
If you are careful this could be more efficient than using a bucket. Being careless will send loads of soap down the driveway/drain.
IMO it's a keeper. if it doesn't waste too much soap.
Anybody have any ideas to get it to make real foam?
Phonephotos

 

The Gilmour foam gun can be had on Amazon for $38.

 

Dogg, try diluting it more. Reason I say this - you ever seen those Dawn direct foam things for washing dishes? Found out that you can save BIG money by refilling them with regular Dawn diluted about 10:1 instead of buying the direct foam refill soap.

 

Hmmmm...that looks suspiciously similar to the one AG sells. Rebadging, I'm assuming? Either way, better price

EDIT: NM, found the answer on the internetz.

 

Care to share the answer with us?

 

Didnt know that about Dawn. 10:1 is a big ratio but would be very economical.
I was trying to make it work out to 1 oz per gallon but im going to drop it down to half an ounce per gallon today and see what happens.
That would also be very economical.

Question for Foam gun users...
From the experiment it seems that a foamer would use a lot of soap or more than 1 oz per gallon?

 

What I'm thinking is dilute it way down in the jar, then play with the ratio at the gun and see what happens.

 

The ortho has no issue drawing up pure soap and it has the adjustable measurement for oz per gallon ratio, or no soap. Wasting soap hasn't been an issue.

 

I have used ortho sprayers for many years but never with liquids thick as carwash soap.
I was trying to figure out how to make the mixture foamier but your idea/suggestion is very sound as is.
Good free alternative.

Only drawback is that the sprayer is not easily to set down and keep upright and will leak quickly if not upright.

 

Ok. I'll try this again. I typed a reply earlier and then went to another page to check something and forgot to open a new window... post gone. So I just left.

I am currently using PBs Super Slick and Suds in the foam gun. For a normal wash, it calls for 1oz per every 2 gallons. Since the lowest setting on the foam gun is 1 oz per gallon (or 1/128) I cut the foam cun canister in half 1:1 wash soap to water and use the lowest setting. It's been working great. I've gotten about 4 washes out of it so far without refilling the canister and I can probably get another 2 out of it. I also use the 2 bucket method on top of that. Overkill? Maybe. Harmful? Not at all. I used to put just enough soap in the canister to cover the entire bottom of it which isn't very much at all. Then I would fill the rest with water and use the highest setting on the foam gun. The problem with this is that you really have no idea what the ratio is and you could be using too strong a solution and potentially stripping your LSP or you could be mixing it too weak and not be getting enough cleaning power and lubrication.