Mike Williamson

See my avatar? 'Nuff said!!! We also got a cool Onkyo 1000 watt entertainment system...man that thing rocks! a Sony Handycam, for filming the baby. LOTS of toys for the baby for the next year, as he grows into them. Lots of other smaller things...Oh, and I got an 8gpm 3500psi hot water skid! Haven't had a chance to plumb it yet...was going to do that Saturday, but had to take a last minute unexpected 2650 mile 43 hour non-stop drive to Wisconsin. Left Friday 4:00pm and got home 11:30am Christmas day.

I always enjoy dealing with Bob at Pressure Tek...He's accomodating, he doesn't act as if you owe him the business, and he's just a dang nice guy! Everything I've ordered from him has come quickly, been correct, and his prices are very competitive.

That's because there is always some manager who is under pressure from his manager, or from the owners, to keep expenses to a minimum. Great info, Jeff! Thanks for the letters!

You can buy it in 5 gallon jugs, and I THINK one gallon jugs...or a 55 gallon drum kit, which saves a huge amount on shipping. The drawback is that you have to mix it 55 gallons at a time, but if you're doing a lot of houses, it will go pretty quick. It would be nice if it would come in a concentrated liquid form, but it doesn't.

Lol, that THAT'S funny!!! Beth, don't forget the time involved...that's an expense too.

Citracleen can be purchased in smaller quantities (though it is even pricier). Depends on how much you're using as to whether it is worth it. I know Delco sells a housewash powder that some rave about that you add to each batch of wash mix. There are others who sell soaps in powdered form that you can do the same with, but I can't attest to whether they work as well.

Rob, I see you're back, but that nothing has changed..you still have the "I know everthing about pressurewashing, and my way is the ONLY way" attitude that you had before. I think you'll find the response about the same you did last time.

Rob: Seems nothing has changed. I'm confused by your statement...In light of another statement you made a few months back... And how do you clean a house in "under 45 minutes or less"?

Simple maybe, but not good for the roof! Done properly, one man can clean a roof with low pressure AND not kill the plants! Yes, it'll give you 5.5gpm, as long as you don't try to go above the psi rating for that motor (for example, if a 13hp engine is sufficient to give you 2500psi at 5.5gpm). If you try to go beying that limit, you'll lower the gpm. Hey, Rob...good to see you back after so long. I have to disagree on the 10% draw statement...That works in many cases, but I have run into situations where it wasn't enough, and the Xjet was required. And as for roofs, you can try downstreaming them, but as Don pointed out, it's like peeing into a fan... You're either using a crappy downstreamer, or doing something else wrong. I used to think like you do, until someone convinced me to try a different downstreamer...now I downstream almost exclusively, get things as clean as you can with the Xjet, and I'll do it faster. No filling buckets, dragging that cursed thing around a house, etc etc. It has its place, but that place is not everywhere.

Speaking of Michael, here's my Avatar a bit larger.

Well, I can understand that...everyone says how much Michael looks like me, and also how cute he is, which seems to be a total contradiction....

Personally, I was wondering where he got Pete's picture. :eek:

Agreed, but since the thread began with a video of a deck being cleaned, my assumption was that we were talking about decks. I'm certainly not an expert, and I asked that question myself, is it appropriate to heat the water at all, since what you said makes sense to me. Everything I've read from those who do deck restoration leads me to believe that the less pressure, the better, and that chemicals work better in place of pressure.

Agreed, but when we see, or someone suggests, a method that we know will be detrimental to the property being cleaned, shouldn't we say something? Granted, things can be said nicely, or sarcastically, and I'm certainly guilty of the latter on numerous occasions.

Why the assumption that we're damaging the wood with the chemicals? It would seem that using high pressure on decks, especially softer woods, would be much more damaging than using chemicals designed to do what we need them to do without damaging the wood.

I know that in my experience, hot water really isn't all that important for residential driveways. Most of the residential I do is in upper-end neighborhoods, and I very very rarely ever run into oil staining. With a good pre-treatment of chlorine, I get them clean and bright, without hot water. As Don pointed out, though, hot water will get the job done quicker even when you're only cleaning dirt and algae. The reason I went with hot water on the new machine was to allow me to pursue commercial concrete accounts.

That's the kind of situation I'm referring to...where you're just trying to get the water slightly above freezing! So the colder the water, the less it'll fur up (aside from any chemical effects)?

Where'd you find this video? Here's a question for all you wood care experts...Would any type of heated water be appropriate for deck cleaning, even if you turn the burner way down?

Where are you in relation to Orlando? Shoot me an email.

That's why I LOVE the Big Guy...I can run that thing ALL day and never get tired. Just walk along behind it and try not to get tangled in the hose...that's about it.

Holidays? What holidays? All I can think about is Tuesday!

It may have been, or it may just be crappy equipment, or more likely, a combination of the two.

You know, Scott, you've really lost your sense of humor...you used to be fun to joke around with. Sorry for thinking you still were.

http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5242 This thread is about affordable surface cleaners! :lgsideway

As Pete pointed out, you need two 4.5s for an 8gpm machine, and that'll still give you over 3000psi. two 4's will give you 4000 psi, more than his system is setup for, and more than you need for concete.