Equipment suggestions.

[Henry Bockman]

I'm getting ready to buy my first trailer rig and I was hoping that you all may have some suggestions or advice.

Currently, I use 4 cold water machines and I have heard that hot water cleans wood much faster. I thought about getting a hot water system that would work two guns but a couple of the manufactures I have spoken with suggest I use just one gun.
They said If I really wanted two hot guns to buy to machines becouse I would continually have equipment problems.

One manufacture suggested I get one hot maching a 300 gallon tank running 5gpm of hot water (ready to roll on a dual wheel trailer for the bargain price of 9,500.) then mount a second cold water machine running 4gpm on the back.
That way I would have two guns, less problems and save alot of money. I currently clean decks, sidewalks and brickwork but I would like to expand my power washing services more.
Were also a very busy exterior maintenance company but I'd like to start doing some bigger contracts.

I've also been told by alot of people that hot water cleans about twice as fast. Speed would definetly be a plus since I have about 9,000 clients.

What are your suggestions and experiances with hot water trailer units?

Henry
www.HenrysHousework.com

 

[Mark]

Henry,

[GLOW=royalblue]Welcome to www.PowerWashNetwork.com[/GLOW]


I do not think hot high pressure is the way to go on wood decks etc. I recomend just cold water.

However in surface cleaning and other areas hot high pressure is the way to go. I think you will find that one of our 8 GPM @ 3000 PSI Hot HP Washers would out perform -2- 4 GPM units at 3500 PSI!


Feel free to give me a call and we can discuss your options.

 

[Dan S]

Mark .. do ya got a answer for me !!

Mark ,
how do i reduce the pressure to run a surface cleaner on a wood deck/roof.?

5.2@3200psi is what I have now .. how can i make that to go to 1000psi........ huh?

 

[oguard]

First, in most cases one 8 GPM machine is usually the same price as TWO 4 GPM units.

Second, the cost of operation is higher because you need to guarantee at least 20% more supply than required to prevent potential pump cavitation. Your fuel burn rate is higher so this cost rises as well. Add in the higher cost of pump parts and your net overall costs are higher with one 8 GPM unit than two 4 GPM units.

Why? Because you will not be using two guns all the time so water will bypass through the unloader. this will cause premature wear to it as well as shorten the life of the seals due to he higher water tempeerature. Higher water temperature will also cause your unit to run into the high limit switch reducing your heat. Common practice is 100,000 Btu to raise 1 GPM to 140 degrees so to get good hot water you would require an 800,000 Btu burner. If you lose the services of one 8 GPM machine you lose both guns.

Unless there is grease/oil/fat present on the surface you are cleaning you may not need hot water. Work with a local professional pressure washer dealer to determine what your cleaning targets require. If you need further assistance spend some time with a professional contract cleaner in a nearby city and learn on the job. Take notes of the surface cleaned, soap used, atmospheric temperature, sunlight, results and so on. this will become your cleaning guide and will save you time therefore make you money in the future. Confucious said, "The palest ink is keener than the most retnetive mind".

Cold water will make most surfaces look clean, hot water and soap will make most surfaces feel clean. But remember that deck guys rely on their chemicals and low pressure (<1000 PSI) to do their job without harming the surface.

By the way a 300 gallon tank will only have 270 useful or only 54 minutes of washing with 5 GPM.

Hope this helps? Cheers.

 

[Mark]

Dan S.

Use larger nozzles on your surface cleaner to reduce pressure. Two 1505 nozzles should drop your pressure ( on a 2 nozzle unit) to about 1000 PSI.

 

[Mark]

I was suggesting an 8 GPM unit running one gun at the full 8 GPM

My point was that ONE 8 GPM 3000 PSI rig operating with ONE gun will clean better than 2 4 GPM units when doing flat work.

We have learned that the way to speed up flat surface cleaning is to increase GPM.

I also would recomend 2 four or five GPM machines before I would suggest one 8 or 10 gpm unit running two guns.

My customers who have added an 8 GPM @ 3000 PSI Hot HP Washer to their fleet of equipment tell me it does better than 2, 5 GPM @ 3000 PSI units when it comes to doing flat work and or building wash down.

Give me a call if you are ever in my neck of the woods, I would love to demo our Terminator or Big Dawg for you!

 

[Dan S]

Yeah I do the nozzle thing ....... speaking of which send me a couple of those 1505 screw ends ... and a couple for the wand i forget the numbers i need to reduce to 1000psi or less ( Quick couple type .).

I was wondering if I can do any thing on my machine to regulate the pressure ... I did it before when you have a steam valve .. you can turn the set screw and then regulate the pressure with that steam valve ... but this machine dont have a steam valve .. all it as is a chem valve and I have it unhooked.
any ideas?

send me those nozzels .... I will send ya out a check ..