Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What does reclaim compatible chemicals mean?
A: Many car washes are required to reuse their wash water. When this takes place, shampoo, presoak, tire cleaner, rinse aid and waxes are all collected and combined in a large reclaim reservoir, rather than being discharged to the sewer.
Often while combining all of the wash chemicals together in the reclaim reservoir, a chemical reaction takes place among the various products because of chemical incompatibilities.
Special reclaim compatible products must be used in order to prevent chemical incompatibilities in the reused water.
If you have a water reclaim system in place, or are thinking about installing one, be sure to alert your Stone Soap distributor or one of our specialists.
Q: What does Conditioner mean?
A: Conditioner is a term used in the car wash industry that refers to the preparing of an automobile painted surface for more effective cleaning or waxing.
This term is generally used when referring to multi-colored shampoo or wax product systems.
Stone Soap offers two multi-color product systems:
One is Rainbow® Multi-Foam (A five-color shampoo/detergent system).
The other is Rainbow® Triple Foam (A four color foaming wax system).
Q: What are the advantages of using powdered detergent instead of liquid? Is the extra effort worth it?
A: Powdered detergents offer two major advantages over their liquid counterparts:
1) They offer a savings ( up to 60% ) when compared to comparable liquid detergents;
2) and they generally clean better than comparable liquids. Many operators who use large amounts of detergents have chosen to take the extra step required in dissolving powders in order to achieve better results at
Many operators who use large amounts of detergents have chosen to take the extra step required in dissolving powders in order to achieve better results at significant cost savings.
Q: The rinse water on my car breaks very slowly. I turned up the rinse aid and now cars will not break at all. Why?
A: Rinse aids work well at recommended dilutions.
When the proper amount of rinse aid is used, water breaks and runs off the car quickly.
When too little rinse aid is used, water breaks slowly.
When too much rinse aid is used, water may not break at all.
You may be using too much rinse aid.
Slowly begin to reduce the amount of rinse aid applied to the vehicle until the water breaks quickly.
Q: The product directions say to use 1 part detergent to 90 parts water. I am using it as directed, why am I having trouble cleaning?
A: Many factors affect cleaning, including water temperature and water hardness.
If your water heater is not delivering the recommended water temperature, the recommended detergent concentration level may not make up for this lack of temperature. Increasing the water temperature to the recommended level may result in significantly improved cleaning results.
Water hardness is the measurement of calcium and magnesium, which dramatically decreases detergent effectiveness. A properly operating water softener will produce water free of both of these performance-inhibiting minerals.
As water hardness increases, the detergent concentration must be increased in order to compensate for the performance inhibiting actions of these minerals.
If your water softener is not delivering zero hardness water, recommended levels of detergent may not be sufficient to clean.
Q: I have heard the term ||titration|| used. What does titration mean and how difficult is it to perform?
A: Titration is the industry standard method for determining the concentration of the ready to use presoak.
This is done by adding drops of solution to a measured amount of dilute presoak until a color change is seen.
Stone Soap offers two tested and proven titration kits that are quick and very easy to use.
Our titration test kits helps the operator to accurately determine the dilution ratio of presoak in less than 30 seconds.
These kits are a must for all touchless wash operators and other car wash operators who rely heavily on presoak detergents in order to clean their customers vehicles.
Q: Do Stone Soap powdered presoaks and pressure wash detergents stay in solution after they are mixed, or do I keep the mixer running?
A: Stone Soap Company powdered presoaks and pressure wash detergents are formulated to stay in solution indefinitely after they are thoroughly dissolved.
No additional mixing is ever necessary after the products are mixed.
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