Mike Williamson

Exactly! Even today most people could support their family on one paycheck if they plan well, and don't give in to what society tells us, that we need a new car, big house, vacations, big TV, $100.00 cable bills, $50.00 dsl bills, new furniture, the best of everything, gotta eat out at least once or twice/week, gotta have all the newest and cutting edge tech gear, etc etc etc. So gas has doubled in the past two years or so... I'm not crazy about the idea, but I can live with it. I use about 300 gallons of gas/month if I'm fairly busy...so gas went up $1.50/gallon, so now I'm paying $450.00/month more than I did two years ago...I can say my prices have gone up way more than $450.00/month from two years ago.

Most trailers that have aluminum siding are older, and thus, the aluminum is older and likely pretty oxidized. I don't believe I'd want to use anything harsh, or do any scrubbing at all. You'd want to use a mild cleaner and lower pressure. I haven't done a lot of aluminum, but I know the bit I've done it has been very easy to take the paint completely off, or leave wand marks where the oxidized paint has come off. Why target trailer homes? At least here, that's definitely not where the money's at. There are guys here who advertise mobile home cleaning starting at $30.00. I'm just not interested in competing for a few bucks.

Yeah, remember the gas lines of the 70s? Remember the energy crisis and double digit interest rates and all the crap we went throug with Iran? I'd have to say that President was much worse than GW, and he still wasn't the worst. Do you guys really think it is all as simple as a bunch of oil company execs sitting in board rooms deciding "Hey, lets jack up the price of gas this month" or "Let's give the folks a break and drop gas prices this month"??? If so, you're just a bit naieve and uninformed. Do you really believe GW (and our elected representatives) took us into Iraq so that oil companies could get rich? From what you're saying, they're already getting rich, they don't need Iraq! Stop spouting anti-Bush rhetoric and THINK!

We don't use any pressure to rinse, but yes, the pump put out enough flow to rinse with. Normally I'd rinse from the ground with a garden hose. Before I was shown this method, I'd rinse from the roof with a #25 tip on a 5.5gpm machine, so I was using very little pressure. The point to rinsing is to remove the chlorine, not to blast any algae off the roof, so you need volume, not pressure.

I used it to apply and to rinse. I'm getting about 4gpm and 150psi out of it, and that is almost too much flow. I applied from the roof on this one, since it was a rather large and complicated roof, so would have taken a lot longer trying to shoot from the ground or a ladder, and the pitch was pretty easy. This wouldn't give you any more flow for rinsing, and less psi, but there ARE roller pumps that put out quite a bit higher flow, but not sure how that'd work as far as water supply goes. There doesn't seem to be any difference in flow and pressure whether I run at idle speed or full speed, so I ran it at idle speed.

What are the specs on that pump, and what did it cost you? That's kind of where I'm at...After spending the money on a new machine and trailer, along with all the accessories that go along with it, I'm having a hard time justifying that kind of money at this point. The roller pump worked great today, did a 3500 sf roof in about 20 minutes..using the shurflo would have taken me closer to an hour given how heavy the algae was on parts of it. What a HUGE difference!

Have you had any luck finding it at agriculture supply places or cleaning supplies/chemical suppliers? There's a cleaning supply distributor here that sells 15%, but it's expensive ($2.00/gallon).

Thank you, Phillip, for making what I have been trying to say much more easy to understand!! :lgjump:

Agreed, though my problem was the metal keeper falling out and the entire outer plastic housing falling off and getting lost. Once that keeper comes out, it won't stay in. I've had success using a piece of 12 guage wire, but I really shouldn't have to jury-rig a nozzle I paid $160.00 for!

Gotcha! No, I don't use hydroxide except for the rare oil stain on concrete, so I had assumed it was strictly a degreaser. And of course, you know us FL guys don't use that junk on our roofs! We prefer to clean with NO pressure. :)

Unless there's oil/grease, why use a hydroxide cleaner? Isn't that a degreaser? Most of the driveways I clean, I'm removing either dirt, or some variation of mold/algae/mildew. Rarely do I run into any type of oil staining, so a degreaser would be a waste of chem.

EXACTLY! A #16 will create less pressure, given the same gpm, or if you raise the gpm, a #16 will allow you to keep the pressure lower than if you were using a smaller orifice. Alan: That may be "the way it is", but it is still wrong. :) Wouldn't be the first time a distributor or even a manufacturer didn't fully understand the product they were selling.

O...k? Not sure what all that means, but I stand by my position that there's no way the orifice size can be determined by psi rating of the machine. From what you're saying, the ONLY reason I'd need a #16 orifice is if I have a machine rated between 4k and 5k...even if I have a 20gpm machine rated at 2kpsi, I should still use a #9. Simply ludicrous. It makes NO SENSE. :)

I've not had a problem getting rid of those with just regular cleaning.

Yikes, no thanks! The chlorine would eat that up pretty fast, and I certainly don't want to lug that around at the end of a 4 or 6' wand.

That just doesn't make sense. As we all know, pressure is determined by the tip size. My machine isn't a 3000psi machine until I insert enough of a restriction in the line to create 3000 psi with the 8gpm my machine puts out. That's usually done with a nozzle, but in the case of the Xjet, it is done with the orifice inside the Xjet. We all make a big deal about how you regulate pressure with tips, but suddenly we seem to forget that bit of knowledge when it comes to the Xjet? I'm not sure why the Xjet has its orifice sizes based on psi, but it simply makes no sense. Think about this...What if I have a 10gpm machine that is rated to 3000 psi. What you're saying is that I'll be fine using a #9 orifice in the Xjet based strictly on the fact that my pump was built to handle 3000 psi. Now, if I actually used a #9 orifice in the Xjet on a 10gpm machine, I'd be creating 5000psi, which is way over what my pump, hose, and fittings are rated at. Like I said, it just makes no sense.

LOL! I was thinking a Lance Wand, but that seemed silly. I like yours better.

I always downstream my housewash mix (pool chlorine and citracleen 70/30) onto concrete prior to cleaning with the surface cleaner. It works great to loosen dirt up, make the algae easier to remove, remove tannin stains, and brighten up the concrete.

That was my understanding, that the orifice size was based on gpm, since the psi is regulated by the orifice, which essentially takes the place of the spray tip. Using a #9 on an 8gpm machine gives you about 3200psi, which I would imagine would hinder the draw ratio, and make it hard to control if you're not using a lance. Using a #13 would give you 1500 psi, and using a #16 will give you 1000psi. It just doesn't make sense to base the orifice requirement on psi, since machines aren't set at a particular psi...they're simply rated to handle a particular psi.

Looks good! Now it just needs a name! How about a "Powell Wand"? :eek:

I can't find anything but pressure hose on their website. I just ordered several hose reels and a few small items from them.

The orifice they're referring to is a part that goes inside the Xjet that regulates the pressure coming out of the Xjet. You're thinking of the proportioners, I think. :)

The orifice size is based on GPM. It needs to be the correct size, or you'll be creating too much pressure in the line and you won't draw chems. That, and with a #9, you're shooting at dang near 3000psi...not good, and as mentioned, hard to control if connnected straight to the gun. with a 13, you're probably at a happy medium between the 5 and 8gpm machines.

If you're looking to go as high as 4gpm, why not think about a roller or diaphragm pump? I'm in the process of putting together a roller pump setup that I'll be putting to use on Tuesday. I'll let you know how it works out, but I expect it will do very well. I needed it rather quickly, so I wound up getting a skid unit at Tractor supply, and have been working today tearing it down and re-mounting it (and modifying some of the connections) on a smaller skid plate. It came with a tank which I don't need, and the skid frame was way too large. I have to get a couple more fittings tomorrow and then I should be up and running at 6gpm at 300psi. Can't wait to see what it can do! I realize the runoff will be more than with a shurflo, but I think with experience I can learn to limit that.

That's funny, I had the same idea last week. Haven't tried it out, but likely will. My concern wasn't so much having to recoat, but just being able to get a larger area covered. With the roller pump setup, I will definitely try something different from what I'm doing now (a bootleg copy of a phelps wand)