Little Dragon Want to Be
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I made this to be an off grid, 12 volt supply foam generator that I'm still in the process of perfecting.
It works pretty well, if I don't say so myself. I wasn't sure what psi pump to try to use, as this was all just an experiment.
I found a 22.5 L/min 12 volt Johnson pump on eBay pretty cheap and put it all together with 3 x five gallon buckets stacked together...
The Top bucket has a hole drilled at the bottom for the soap solution supply. I had a leak there that I hope this repair fixes:
Inside screen protected inlet:
The outlet of the top bucket goes to the pump. This is where the leak was. I'm trying JB weld, because Si glue and o-rings didn't work....
The middle bucket has a hole drilled at the bottom for the supply hose coming from the top bucket to pass through to the pump inlet. The pump is mounted with screws to the bottom of this middle bucket:
The bottom bucket has 2 holes drilled on the sides near the bottom for the hose and pump's wires to exit:
The hose goes to the whole house filter stuffed with ss wool. There is a piece of PVC pipe with small holes at the bottom to direct the foam to the filter housing outlet. The air and soap solution enter at the top, which is also where the outlet is located. The piece of pipe is necessary to get the lather output. I may try another piece of pipe with fewer or smaller holes to see if it makes a difference. :
I am hoping to solve some foam consistency issues with a welder's flow meter. The air pressure regulator on my air compressor wasn't accurate enough to get the foam dialed in exactly where I want it and keep it there. I was achieving 90-110 g/Liter, but it proved difficult to maintain that. I am hoping this flowmeter will make fine tuning the airflow much more accurate :
I am waiting for a couple of one way check valves to place in the soap solution line and the airline to prevent any reverse flows in either direction. I will test this next iteration as soon as those valves arrive. Keeping my fingers crossed.
I have no idea what psi this pump produces. It may be better to use a 110v ac pump. It could still be off grid using an inverter and battery pack I suppose. After all, you still need power for the air compressor. However, this does remove one piece of equipment off of the power circuit. -
I replaced the pipe on the left with the one on the right, smaller and fewer holes, made a HUGE difference. Actually I think I may have to add a few more holes to get it a little bit better . The flow meter didn't work....it was too restrictive.