If your foam pump bottle gets clogged up, it could be due to small tiny particles that got caught on the small mesh screen within the foam pump head. Or, if you have not been using the pump frequently, liquid soap may gradually gel up and form a film on the mesh screen causing the clog as well.
Here is how you can unclog your foam pump bottle.
Click picture to enlarge.
You may find that when using soap nut liquid with foam pump bottle, the bottle tends to get clogged up quite easily. It is due most likely to the tiny residue in the soap nut liquid that gets stuck at the mesh screen. That is why it is important to filter soap nut liquid as fine as you can. I use a fine coffee filter paper to help me with that.
Secondly, the nature of soap nut liquid is not as smooth as liquid soap. Instead, it has more ‘friction’ in the water. This would cause the friction within the pump head over a period of time and it will not bounce back as smoothly as usual. This is based on my own observation. If you love to use soap nut foam, then perhaps you might need to unclog your foam pump bottle more frequently. A possible suggestion to help with this issue is to add in one or two tablespoon of liquid soap such as Dr Bronner’s liquid soap into soap nut liquid to lubricate the spring at the neck for it to work better.
If you are using diluted liquid soap with the bottle, you will find that foam pump bottle works very well to dispense smooth creamy foam.
I have tried your cleaning method which works beautifully. Now I need to figure why my homemade coconut, Dr Bronner Castille soap is clogging the pump so easily. I get 1 maybe 2 pumps and it’s clogged all over again. I have diluted to the point of almost water and still nothing. I tested with 1/5 dawn and the rest water and the pump works fine…:/ Is it the coconut milk with Dr Bronners Castille soap that’s clogging it? I got the hair shampoo/shaving cream recipe from wellnessmama and followed her instructions. Just trying to figure out the science of why the pumps won’t work.
Hello Pam, is this the recipe that you followed? http://wellnessmama.com/3701/natural-shampoo/
Yes, I believe it could be due to the coconut milk. Coconut milk is rather thick in texture. If you put a bowl of coconut milk inside a refrigerator, you will see that it will solidify into clumps. So if you are in the cold climate, this may be the cause.
Also, if you take out the foam pump head, you will find that the mesh is very fine. Coconut milk will be too thick for the mesh to handle. Try without the coconut milk and your foamer bottle should work fine.
I think you need to use a liquid pump dispenser bottle instead.
Thanks! very helpful. I just tried again adding a bit more water and didn’t shake it; only turned upside down a few times as it seems to foam on it’s own. It’s now working, but yes i’ll do this next time with distilled water.
Thanks again!
I have found that some microorganisms in the water are a able to pass through the holes in the aerator unit and then grow enough that they cannot pass outside, so a tangled mass forms inside the small unit. Eventually this clogs the screen enought that too much resistance builds up and the unit pops out of the sockt which holds it. An early symptom is it gets harder to pump the foam.
I have found some success with meat tenderizer, but once a mass forms inside, I’m not sure there is much hope for unclogging the unit because the mass tends to get plastered against the upper screen which is somewhat finer than the lower one. That is why the unit “foams”.
You might notice that air goes through the mesh more easily than water, and it goes more easily backward than forward. That is “air” tends to pass the soap which is held back, making it act like a bubble blower.
I think it would be nice if the manufacturer sold packs of 6 or 12 “filters”, so we wouldn’t bother to clean these units. I’m in the process of deciding if the “pumps” ar worth $10, or should I just be satisfied with the pumps thich come with other dispensors. The foam saves soap, is a much more efficient surfactant, but constantly replacing the pumps adds a huge load on the landfill.
Another solution would be to make the aerators so that the top pops off the lower half of the unit. Then you could just swab them out when they get clogged. Just a thought, & I won’t even challenge the patent improvement…
I followed the cleaning method and it unclogged the pump. That’s the good news. Bad news…the pump is now not pumping out anything. It looks and sounds like air is getting pumped back into the bottle and not out through the nozzle. Any ideas? Thanks!
Sorry Mae, I have no idea…
The ball bearing at the bottom of pump mechanism is no longer there to create a one way valve, so when you depress the pump, air goes back into the bottle.
Ball bearing is between the column with spring and the tube at the bottom.
Try putting complete dispenser upside down in a basin of water and pumping. Mine finally worked.
Using a Water Pik to jet at the mesh to unclog it works well. Sometimes just rinsing it with water is not enough.
Thanks for this! I’ve replaced so many of these and always assumed the problem was in the pump, not the nozzle.
I had a few of these pumps that stopped working. I broke the first when i took it completely apart and lost the ball bearing inside. (I recommend against doing this.)
The nozzle of the second was very clogged. I put it in a jar of very hot water, let it soak a bit and shook it like crazy to loosen the dried soap. I then rinsed and used canned air to try to clear the screen. Repeated these steps until I no longer saw any white foam residue when I used the canned air and it now works like new!
Thanks for this huge tip! I’m going to try this today! I’ve been searching online for a long time and I finally found this blog with SO MANY GREAT ideas!!!
Wow, thanks. That actually worked. I think the thing with these foam soap pumps is to stick with clear soap (it can have a color, but you have to be able to see through it.) I never had a problem when I used those soaps; I changed to a moisturizing soap that is opaque, and the second time after I used it, I had problems. So far, after cleaning out the dispenser as described in the pix above, success!
Hello I am trying to create a facial cleanser for my foaming bottle but it keeps clogging. Do you think it could be one of my ingredients?
seaweed extract
red clover blossom extract
aloe concentrate
benzoin
poly glucose
xanthan gum to help bind the ingredients
Hi Bonnie, foaming bottle only works well for mixture that has water-like consistency. I would think that your recipe comes out to be a thick one because of aloe vera concentrate (which is usually gel-like). Benzoin in powder form could also contribute to clogging the mesh in the foam pump head. Xanthan gum which is used to thicken mixture would definitely clog up the foam pump bottle. I think you should be looking at using a normal liquid pump dispenser.
I took the mets filter out, problem solved! I can use coconut milk, dr. Bronners, essential oil, etc.
Kim, if you took the mets filter out, does foam still come out, or it works like a liquid pump now?
Worked like a charm. I use Castile soap and a ltttle glycerin. Add some Essential oil (Thieves) and 1:6 dilution ratio.
you guys should sharing how to fix the pump that refuse to go back up after we pressing the pump down
can u send me the photo how does the spring is that out of tube or inserted in tube. because I followed it method but it stuck down it doesn’t return to original position kindly send me how the string should be placed
I did this to two different models that I have and now they both squirt “backwards” into the bottle and not out. There’s no way to reassemble them backwards so I’m confused as to how I broke them. Any clues?
I followed your advice and dissembled and cleaned the dispenser head. The foam dispenser is now working nicely. Thanks a lot for your post.