Christopher

I have talked to several guys about a bigger vacuum surface cleaner (wondering if anyone makes one bigger than 24") and it comes down to things like patents, huge vacuum system needed, bigger gpm machines to drive it, etc.... Just wonder if the Manufacturers have ever looked into something bigger like 30" or 36" for those guys that do the huge areas of concrete? If you think about it, if this picks up the dirty water as you are working, this will more or less remove the rinsing of the job which sometimes takes me longer than the cleaning on the bigger areas of concrete. If I had a bigger vacuum machine, I could actually save time by not having to rinse since it is picking up the dirty water. That would be worth it to me. I guess if the manufacturers don't have the engineering capability or can't design a bigger vacuum surface cleaner then I guess you would have to just buy the 24" machines and a bigger vacuum system so you could run 2 or more at a time and have more guys on the job to get the job done. I don't really have a need for something like this but maybe soon.

I am sure that Russ sells them, also Bob at PressureTek can get them for you.

I use those also, One part threads over the outside of the hose then the other part threads into the "nut" on the outer part and threads into the inner part of the hose causing the hose to be squeezed in-between these 2 parts. I was told that this is actually stronger than the factory crimp on ends. Just check the rubber like Russ says, if it is dry, cracking or falling apart, cut more off or get rid of it. I use a chop saw to cut the hose flush, you need the end of the hose to be flush and square for the ends to work. $5.00 each and 5-10 minutes of your time and you are ready to go. I have not had one go bad yet after over 2 years now on 3 different hoses.

Down here it is $2.59 per gallon plus the $50.00 Drum Deposit but you only get back $40.00 on credit because they keep $10.00 for a fee to wash the drum. I called a place in Houston and they have it for $1.79 per gallon and only sell it in 55 gallon drums, It is too bad that they will not deliver to where I live or I would buy some.

OK, scratch that. I just re-read your post. I have had a few ounces of pump oil in my pump before and had no problem at all, just blows out a little at a time throught the breather cap. You could have trash in the line that is clogging up the spray nozzles, try without a nozzle to see if you have good flow. Did you hear your pump cavitate (starving for water)?

I had the same thing happen with my Whisper Wash Classic......The Bearings went out, nothing wrong with the machine. You could turn the spray bar by hand and it was a little tight but too tight for the water pressure to turn it. Try your pressure washer with the wand, if things are good, you just need to rebuild the swivel. What brand of surface cleaner is it?

That is a great price for replacement motors, can you share the source? PM me if you can. Thanks.

How many times can you change out the brushes typically, just once with the set that usually comes with it or more?

How do you know when to replace the brushes, when they are very thin?

My website builder just notified me of a company that has copied most of the contend from my website and we are sending this company a letter to remove the content or possibly have very serious action taken against them. Here is the site: Hawaii Pressure cleaning. com They have copied a lot of information word for word and just changed a couple of things like the location. I was notified that if you catch someone stealing your information or content you can notify them to remove the information or they can have their url turned off and permanently banned from major search engines like Google and Yahoo and MSN. A letter is being sent to notify they have been caught stealing content and I was told that they have done the same thing with other sites but then move on to other sites and steal their stuff until caught. You just go to Copyscape .com and type in your website and it will show who out there has copied your stuff, even if it is just a few words. This is B.S.! Can't they just do their own thing or do like the rest of us and pay?????? If the content is not removed, I will ask that everything that can be done will be done to them for this. You all should use this site and see who out there is copying your stuff, you never know. and this cool little website will show you who copied what and how much.

I believe he has upgraded servers a few times in the last month or so. Something about the increased traffic, new members and posts there that caused problems with the site. He has people working on it. He finally had to move the site to a dedicated server and that should fix it. Some software problems still need to be worked out. It should be all fixed before the weekend is over. I guess growing pains are hard to deal with, especially when you have to go up several size servers in such a short time. It must be a headache with all the extra stuff, traffic, posts and new members. I know it would give me a headache dealing with all that stuff. I guess that is why Bob Is The Man!.

That would be cool if you could rig the surface cleaner to the front or bottom of a 4-wheeler or a riding lawnmower to save a lot of walking. Anyone have pics of your setups?

I just use the cheap shaving foam in the can maybe Colgate? But, I have one of those can heater things that you put the can onto. You can get them cheap on ebay, my friend gave it to me as he prefers the gel. I really like it. I wish I had the hot towel treatment as I heard it is nice. I use the Mach 3 razors. I get months and months out of each one. When done shaving, I just fling them so the water flies off it. I shave with hot running water and always rinse the blade. Maybe that is why they have lasted so long. I bought a pack of blades maybe 20 or so at Sam's club like 3 or 4 years ago and still not used them all yet. The best razor I have used yet. I heard the Mach 3 Turbo and the Fusion are better. I just need to use up all what I have first.

Just a question for you guys that have done this and or still doing this with 2 machines. Is it faster using 2 machines connected together and a larger surface cleaner or have 2 guys out there each with a surface cleaner? Just wondering if anyone has compared it. On paper it would look like you would get about the same amount of work done in the same amount of time either way but in the real world things are usually different. Any comments?

Larry, Did the owner have any pictures of it? That would help in case it came this way before it was stripped down.

Thanks for the info Russ.

Down here I cannot find sand but they have soda or Black Beauty (copper slag) and it is about $6.00 per 50 pound bag. I am wondering if you had a bigger air compressor if it would be more cost effective to just sand blast it or is it still less expensive to water sand blast it?

Hello Everyone, I wanted to start a thread about pictures anyone has that could share so we all could have them as part of a sales tool. Anyone have any good pictures they would not mind sharing? I will be getting some this weekend of some concrete carving when they paid for gum cleaning. Please post any pictures you have of damage, poor quality work, etc.... Thanks.

Hello Everyone, I have a post that is difficult to type as it stirs a lot emotion and feelings and probably will with others also. This post is not intened to upset anyone but make you think about your future in your business. I will also post this to other boards that I visit. I was about to do a job the other day and the customer started asking a lot of questions about chemicals, where I get them, prices, and started naming names that sounded very familiar. She asked me to answer something but asked me to go inside her living room where she had a laptop opened to The Grime Scene. She started asking questions about my cleaning chemicals, roof cleaning chemicals and wood restoration chemicals and why am I charging here the prices I am charging. I just did not know what to say. I just stood there for a moment quiet and she mentioned that "Thanks to this bbs, I could go buy the machine, chemicals and do it all myself and save a lot of money and show my friends who visit all the time my new skills." This was very upsetting and I still did not know what to say. I mentioned that I do travel all over getting experience and training from professionals from around the country and you could buy a machine but you might not know exactly how to do it. I was trying very hard not to argue with her. She said " It is telling me right here how to do everything I need to know so why do I need you?" I mentioned that she could purchase or rent the machine but if you have no experience with chemicals, there could be a very serious reaction if you mix the wrong things or spill something. She said she read about the MSDS and in a lot of the letters people wrote there were a lot of answers on how to do it all. She said she just did a search on pressure washing and found things from this bbs and started reading and telling her friends. I said that I need to start work because I have another job to do after this one and I do not want to be late to that one. She said she needs to reconsider about the price. I told her we had a deal and she said it was a fair price. She said now she knows how to do it thanks to the site and will do her next projects herself. I asked her if she wanted me to do the job because if not, there is no reason for me to be there and I can be early to my next job. She said I could do it if I take off $100 dollars off the whole job. Since I am saving up for Disney World, I said ok but only this time. I really wanted to just walk away but the thought of seeing my son sad about the trip just broke my heart. I was not happy. How could this happen? I thought all the things we talk about here are private from regular people? Can anyone just start reading here? What about the other forums on other boards? I have discussed a lot of things here that I thought were private and not for my friends and neighbors to read. I am wondering how could this happen? I thought you had to register to read this stuff. Well The Grime Scene was right there on her laptop. I am wondering if this has happened to anyone else? If this is a trend, this will cost us a lot of money in the long run. I price my jobs very fair and reasonable. I am not out to rip anyone off or do anything unethical. I just do not understand how this can happen. Can someone explain how my neighbors and customers can read my posts without registering? OR can they register and read the posts? I really thought everything here was confidential and out of the public eye. I just do not know what to say. I was speechless when I saw her computer. Can someone explain to me about how this could happen? When I got home, I picked up a magazine to read and what do you know? There is an article on Wood Restoration in The Family Handyman on page 48 titled "Deck Rescue, Make your old, shabby deck look like new." They mention in the 3rd paragraph that the cost of rejuvenating an average sized deck is about $250.00. I read the article and they have good information and know what chemicals to use and some tips I thought only the pro's knew. I do not know where they got their info from but it sounded like they knew a pro and asked a lot of questions. I hope the Deck people do not lose any business. I am not trying to blame anyone on what happened to me but I am wondering how someone with very little knowledge on computers can access the board and forums when I thought you had to register to view them. I am hurt over losing the money and probably a customer but if more people start doing this, we all might start losing money and customers and I know a lot of you out there have a lot more invested in your companies than I do. I hate to ramble on and on but What do you do when a customer does that to you? I hope more people do not access the forums and learn how to do things that it took some of you many years and tens of thousands of dollars to learn along with blood, sweat and tears. This is people's jobs and careers we are talking about here and not just a fluke. This coud be a start of a trend most of us do not want to see. This was just a housewash, what if it were a Deck, Log Cabin, Concrete Restoration, Roof Cleaning or Arbor job? Just something to think about thats all.

Any pictures of your handiwork?

Hello People, I need to get a couple of ladder standoffs for a 24' fiberglass and a 32' aluminum ladder. I have not used these standoffs before. Is there one better than the others? Certain things to look for? Certain brands better than others? This will be for a job this weekend on a 3 story stucco house that I do not want the ladder damaging. I think that the standoff will give good protection.Thanks.

I do feel beat down, I am hurt, I just need a big hug.....Just kidding. Seriously though, I am pissed about it all. The last thing I would want my customers to see is me talking about things I am new at or do not know that much about. I thought that there was some privacy here.

Wow! 37 lines and my fingers are tired after all that. I hope nobody gets the wrong impression of me but I am wondering if this had happened to anyone else.

I had cleaned them with some pressure and heat. The customer was looking into having them sealed when I finished the job a while back. I have not heard anything since.

Hello Everyone, On my way to the St. Louis Roundtable Friday I was at DFW Airport and saw this kiosk showing a scanner. I checked it out. I had just eaten at McDonald's and wanted to try this thing out. It feeds the paper in one side and out the other after you push the scan button. The receipt pops up on the monitor and opens a spreadsheet showing what you purchased, the amount, tax, total, etc.... It looks real good. I asked how accurate it is and the guy told me that it is about 95% accurate but you should always double check anyway. I was scanning my receipts on my scanner and saving them into files my month and year. This will do that plus add them up and put them into deductible/non-deductible columns but you can change them as needed. Here is the link: NeatReceipts Scanalizer Home I am thinking about purchasing it but wanted to see if anyone has it already and what they think. If it works good I can get rid of the shoebox/ filebox of receipts and get tax time done faster each year.