What is a foam gun?

OI812

New member
What is a foam gun, and what does it do (I understand that it makes foam). What is it's primary use.
 
I first got interested in getting a foam gun after corresponding with Accumulator ( extreme washing technique) from Autopia.

It is a hose nozzle attached to a siphon with mixing bottle. You can adjust the ratio of the chemical you want to make foam with ( car wash in this case) by sliding an adjuster bar into the appropriate slot. You can toggle the adjuster bar switch to go back and forth between foam and rinse and the gun's quick disconnect allows the nozzle to be used like any ordinary hose nozzle, to just shoot water.


The purpose of this tool in washing a car is to to pre treat the car with soap, wash using lots of lubrication from the continuous stream of foam and I've found can also make claying very easy as well with a continous flow of soap solution over the paint.

Accumulator's extreme washing technique works great with this foam gun. I just use the foam gun in one hand and a mitt in the other rather than the mitt *over* the gun itself. less cumbersome for me. It is involved and you really can only wash a small area at a time. It's for those overly obsessed about marring the finish during washing.

I've found I can rinse and wash and car that is only slightly dirty but too dirty for a QDing without touching the car at all: Wet the car, shoot the foam, rinse, repeat maybe once if necessary, then dry.

The exact same foam gun Accumulator and I have can only been seen at

http://www.automagic.com. It seems to me this the only true professional foam gun best suited for this purpose. It's a lot more than what I paid for mine. I got mine locally at a detailing store in Piscataway, NJ.

It's made by Gilmour but AFAIK, they have no website so perhaps you would need to call them.

Handy tool for the extreme enthusist :D
 
Bill D -
Not trying to Hijack, just a few more questions about the nozzle you linked too... How often do you have to refill the bottle? Can you foam a whole vehicle with one filling? Does it work well on a house pressured hose? Can you use regular soap...

Thanks for the time
 
Is it me or does that thing look like what you spray fertilizer or bug spray (less the pistol grip) that you find at homedepot or lowes
 
I searched high and low for one in HD, Lowes, everywhere I could think of, none sell it. Perhaps a real good janitorial supply store would have.

You can wash quite a few cars before refilling. I believe the bottle is 32 oz but do not fill it too high , I think not enough air in the bottle may cause it to not foam. Do not tilt the bottle, must stay upright otherwise it will stop foaming as well.

Not sure about a pressurized hose but I don't see why not. You can use a wide range of chemicals with it. I understand its more mainstream purpose is for janitorial sanitation and hosing places like meat lockers down.
 
Oh thank you for answering Bill D. This may sound kind of stupid, but does it produce foam or soapy water? Also the Gilmore unit you have, where did you get it? Do they have a web site or phone # you could post. Do you have a digital camera that you could take a picture of yours and post it here. I have a Gilmore unit that I use for spraying chemicals on my lawn. It has a dial with tablespoon and teaspoon metering thing e ma jig. That is a highly technical and descriptive term :D Thanks for all your help. I have seen the gun I have on a website and if I can find it I will post it. Then you can let everyone know if that is it.
 
Thanks Eric, I have the model 362. Bill is yours on that page, and if so what model #? Again thanks for the help.

Hey what about this one?
Foam gun
 
Last edited:
edschwab1 said:
Thanks for the info BillD.

Gilmour Garden

Eric

Nope, these are not it. Go to the automagic website under accessories. I got mine locally from a AM dealer fro cheaper

I just changed my avatar with a pic I screen saved then chopped, its the same as the avatar I have on Autopia, screen saved from the AM site.
 
OI812 said:
Thanks Eric, I have the model 362. Bill is yours on that page, and if so what model #? Again thanks for the help.

Hey what about this one?
Foam gun


Yep, thats looks like it but different color. I hope they don't charge $72 like AM does! :eek:
 
There are no attachable nozzles for this foam gun. The better the water pressure thev better the foam.
 
I got one of those as well. I like it, but it does require a wee bit of
upkeep, as in you should clean out the tubing holes in order to allow
for optimum water/ product mixture. If you don't then some of the
the product will dry up and block the holes (which can be very small
to see).

Still though, it is a great little piece of equipment that allows you to
do an initial plain water rinse, apply the solution (like Bill D said, the
better the pressure, the better the foaming action), and then you can
do another rinse, Or just remove the asembly and do the high volume
low pressure water rinse to help speed up the drying process.

If anyone is interested, let me know and I will see if I can pull up the
place I got it from.
 
Hey has anyone seen the foam gun from Hydro Foamer? It's model 481 I believe, they have a picture on their site. do the auto magic ones work like that?
 
OK

Never mind one of these days I plan on reading the whole thread before asking the question....LOL

It looks like the Miracle Grow dispenser that I have. With a high pressure nozzle on it I can see how it would do a good job.

Do you think that it would be possible that you could use it to spray on the soap then wipe and rinse? That could save some time if you where doing a lot of cars.
 
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