Washing our cars is always a challenge, whether it’s your daily driver or show car. We are always looking for the most efficient car wash accessories and tools and learning how to make the washing process more effective.
If you live in an apartment complex, washing your car can be difficult, especially if you need to use a foam cannon with a pressure washer. Whereas if you live in a house and have the space, using a foam cannon with a pressure washer is easier.
However, knowing how to use a foam cannon is critical as to what to put in it. (Below) I have put together eight things you cannot and can use a foam cannon with and with a practical alternative. So, let’s get into it.
8 Things You Can and Can’t Use a Foam Cannon With
1. Can You Use a Foam Cannon With a Garden Hose?
Foam cannons are not suitable for use with a garden hose because foam cannons need an average of 800 to 1500 PSI to function correctly. As for a garden hose, the average water pressure in homes is between 30 and 80 PSI. Therefore, a garden hose will not work well.
Now, a handy and great alternative that I recommend if you don’t have a pressure washer or even foam cannon but still want to snow foam your car is to consider a portable pump foam sprayer like the one in the picture below, for better results use the recommended soap from the manufacture.
This portable pump foam sprayer works great because it will create and make the snow foam stick to the surface of your car.
In addition, this portable pump foam sprayer is ideal if you live in an apartment complex or do car detailing for a living because you have now eliminated the need for a pressure washer, garden hose, and foam cannon just to foam your vehicle.
2. Can You Use a Foam Cannon At a Self-Car Wash?
In general, most self-car washes do not offer or have a quick connection for extra accessories.
All accessories are permanently attached, and even the PSI of the equipment is all preset, including the settings. Therefore, you can’t use your foam cannon in a self-car wash.
3. Can You Use a Foam Cannon With an Electric Pressure Washer?
Most manufacturers build their foam cannons to be suitable for electric or gas pressure washers. Therefore, as long as the pressure washer can supply the PSI required for the foam cannon to function correctly, you can use a foam cannon with any pressure washer.
For example, suppose a foam cannon needs 1000 max PSI to work correctly. Your electric pressure washer can run at 1200 max PSI. In that case, your pressure washer will put out the PSI needed for the foam cannon, which is only 1000 max PSI required in this example.
4. Can You Use a Foam Cannon to Wash a House?
Foam cannons are typically used for car washing. Still, homeowners find that using a foam cannon to apply detergent when pressure washing their house works perfectly.
In addition, a foam cannon is ideal for applying detergent to hard-to-reach areas, for example, on overhead moldings or the fascia of gutters on second-level homes.
Not to mention, you can also apply detergent and wash all the outdoor patio or pool furniture and, in some cases, including barbeques.
So basically, a foam cannon is a great tool to have around when it comes to washing and cleaning the exterior of your house.
5. Can You Use a Foam Cannon on a Motorcycle?
Foam cannons are excellent for washing a motorcycle because they are completely airtight.
A quick suggestion to remember when using a foam cannon on a motorcycle is not to spray directly into the exhaust.
Other than that, you will easily wash your motorcycle with a foam cannon because the foam will reach all the hard-to-reach areas.
Therefore, foam cannons do a great job of washing any motorcycle.
6. Can You Use Dawn in a Foam Cannon?
You can use dawn in a foam cannon; however, if you want to wash your car with dawn dish soap, you should be aware of a few things as follows.
The question is whether dawn soap can damage your car’s paint or not.
Like many opinions that favor the use of dawn soap, you will also find many thoughts that are not in favor because they say that it damages the car’s paint.
Therefore, before using dawn dish soap to wash your car, let’s go over this critical question to have a better understanding as follows.
Will Dawn Damage a Car Paint?
Using dawn dish soap will not damage your car’s paint, but it will remove any wax protection or sealants. For this reason, some car detailers do not recommend using dawn to wash your car.
So, if you only use dawn soap to wash your vehicle all the time, what will happen is that your car’s paint will dry out overtime.
Again, dawn soap will not damage the paint; what will damage the car paint is not having the wax protections or sealants that your car’s paint needs.
Therefore, my suggestion is only to use dawn soap for heavy washing your car and don’t use it regularly.
And apply wax and sealants each time after using dawn soap so that your car’s paint does not dry out and get exposed to the weather and grease.
7. Can You Use Bleach in a Foam Cannon?
The use of bleach in a foam cannon is not advisable because it can damage the seals and materials used in foam cannons, causing leaks and other problems.
Foam cannons are typically designed to work with specific car cleaning soaps and detergents formulated to be safe and effective for use in vehicles.
These soaps are formulated to provide the right amount of foam and cleaning power without damaging paint or other surfaces.
If you need to clean a particularly stubborn stain or dirt on your car, it is best to use a specialized cleaning product designed for that purpose. Never wash a vehicle with bleach.
Now, suppose you still need to use a foam cannon with bleach to wash the exterior of your house. In that case, I suggest assigning a foam cannon for bleach only. However, as I mentioned above, it is not advisable to do so.
Here’s a tip in case you decide to use a foam cannon with bleach.
I suggest using about 3 ounces of dawn soap and fill the rest of the foam cannon with pure bleach.
You don’t need to dilute the bleach because the pressure washer or garden hose water will do the dilution process.
So, here’s why you should add dawn soap; let’s say if you are pressure washing a house, adding soap to the foam cannon will create a bit of a snow effect sticking the foam to the wall; this way, the bleach will have more time to clean the area.
On the other hand, if soap is not added, the bleach will rinse faster and not stick to the wall.
Also, when washing the outside of your home with bleach, I recommend that you rinse the plants and lawn with fresh water before you start cleaning.
8. Can You Use Degreaser in a Foam Cannon?
As a general rule, always assign one foam cannon for degreaser use and another for vehicle washing.
Remember that not all degreasers are the same. Having one foam cannon assigned for degreaser use only and a second foam cannon for soap can prevent any damage to your vehicle’s paint.
Related
- 24 Pressure Washes Made in USA (Electric and Gas)
- Electric Pressure Washers That Won’t Break The Bank (And a few helpful tips)
- Do Pressure Washer Surface Cleaners Work?
- 20 Garden Hoses Made in USA (With Diameter and Streanghs Guide)
