Residential -hot vs.cold water cleaning

[Clean County]

My first Hot water pw will be installed in my trailer tomorrow. I cant wait to kick some butt with this machine. Up to this point we cleaned everything with my 3 cold water pw's. I don't know why I waited so long to buy a hot water pw knowing that they clean so much better on certain objects. Besides cleaning brick, concrete, industrial, commercial accounts etc. better and faster than a cold water pw I have a couple of questions concerning residential cleaning with this machine. Does anybody clean wood(decks,fences, cedar shakes etc.) vinyl or aluminum siding with their hot water pw? And do they think they make that much of a difference compared to cold water on the above mentioned. Thanks-John-

 

[Dan Flynn]

We don't, You can use it and it may aid in certain situations. Mainly concrete flat work and greasy jobs. You can definitely use it, just don't turn on your burner unless you want too.

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Dan Flynn
Flynn Service Pro
www.powerwash.net
708/715-4206

 

[Mike@Everclear]

John,

I have two hot water machines on my trailer, and I have had this rig since April of '99.....It replaced my cold units. In the last year, I have only fired the burners under ten times on residential jobs.....mostly if they had a large concrete patio, and one time when I had some stubborn stains on some vinyl siding. I would avoid using the hot water on aluminum, and never use it on wood.

Most times there is no need for the hot water when house washing, plus it is not all that friendly for flowerbeds, and the hoses make burn marks in the grass (potentially). Enjoy your new machine, you'll love it.

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Mike Hughes
Everclear
Souderton, PA

 

[CavalierPressureCleaning]

Hey John,

If you clean decks you may periodiclly find wax from citronella candles being spilled the hot water takes the wax off like a dream. other than that I rarely use it other than for concrete and grease removal.

Adrian

 

[Layman's P/W]

I use hot water on vinyl,gutters,trucks,
grease,cement( gum ),and brick, almost everything gets hot water with me.Hot
water cleans much better and its much
faster and you know what that means.

 

[Jim Bilyeu]

Hello Everybody,

The post above by Mike concerning the use of hot water on wood, I was going to let it go by, just couldn't let it stand. When you strip down a deck or a house, by all means use hot water if you have it. Hot water is not going to hurt wood. Steam, can do some damage to the structural pores of wood if not done properly. Hot water will make your stripper work better, hot water will clean better and most importantly, hot water will open the pores of the wood to allow better penatration of the finish. The better the penatration, the longer the finish will last. We also use hot water to mix our chemicals with.We only restore wood and we use hot water 90% of the time.

Jim Bilyeu
Exterior Woodcare

 

[hotwaterwisard]

What are you going to do with those cold water units? Why don't you just buy some water heaters? Most dealers don't tell you this but, you can add a diesel burner to add on to your existing pressure washer.They cost from $1700 to $3000 depending on your volume The only drawback is, you need to plug it in or buy one with a 12volt burner. FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

 

[Russ in Chicago]

If I have old finish to remove from wood i usually use heat as a second step, before I go to the stripper. It's less expensive, less time consuming and doesn't seem to wear and tear like stripper. On several jobs, the old finish (probably CWF) peeled up in sheets from the heat. I would argue that heat doesn't harm the wood. I use it only after cold water proves useless. When I do use it, I back off on the pressure as much as possible.

 

[Jim Bilyeu]

Hey Russ,
What makes you think that hot water will harm wood? Please let me know. I belong to a network of over 250 professional wood restorers, located across the US, thats all we do, restore wood, and we all use hot water, some more than others. If you know something we don't know, please share it with us. Knowledge in the field of wood restoration is not something you aquire over night. The biggest problem in wood restoration is probably the same problem you have in your industry, someone buys a pressure washer and all of a sudden they become experts in the field. They not only don't stay in business but they make it hard for people like us who are in this field of work for the long term. Although we do pressure wash, we stay away from the "pressure washing business" My knowledge in your field is limited. In my field of wood restoration, you'll find my name in the top 10 in the nation. Wood restoration is a 60 billion dollar a year industry, so you see, there is no reason for me to enter into your world of "pressure washing". I don't want to descourage you new people just starting out. If you go into this our any other business, do it for the right reasons and a full commitment. Don't be taken in with all the talk about the big bucks. I would love to see a P&L statement from these people. Well, it looks like I got a little of track again, but that's the way I am. I love the work I do and I love to talk about it. You guys have a great day.

Jim Bilyeu
Exterior Woodcare