rick77

Well, the motor blew up today on my 4 gpm 3,000 psi direct drive power washer. It was bound to happen as this machine was a very low end so called commercial power washer. I'll be ordering a belt drive machine tomorrow. I've been under the impression that CAT pumps are the best but what do I know. The machine I'm looking at costs apx $60 bucks more outfitted with a CAT pump instead of a General pump. Is the CAT pump really better and worth the extra $$?

If you were going to spend about $1600.00 on a PW'ing machine 4 GPM belt drive, 3 to 4 K psi with a Honda 13 horsepower with a General pump where would you buy it from. I need one really quick and prefer to get one shipped out tomorrow morning if possible. I ordered one from my favorite dealer this morning but got the bad news late today that it can't ship out until a week from tomorrow. That would have me stuck renting a PW'er for the next 2 weeks. I'd rather avoid that if possible. I'm a window cleaner but have several PW'ing gigs tomorrow, next week and also thereafter. My PW'er motor blew up a couple of days ago and I'm already stuck renting one. I need a new 'chine badly! I'm in South Carolina so I guess the closer the store is the better shipping price and maybe quicker delivery too. You can email me if you'd rather discuss this one on one instead of on the forum. My e-address is richard@nctv.com Thanks!

There's nothing local. Unless Greenville, or Columbia, SC or maybe Augusta, GA. Atlanta's 2.5 hours away but I'm booked heavily right now and can't make the drive. I'll call Sun Brite tomorrow and see what they have and what they can do. I can spend a little more but the Honda 13 hpwr 4 GPM belt drive is plenty for what I do. I'm still open for any ideas & info. Thanks!

Thanks Henry, I'll drive up Saturday and pick it up. You can email me your address if you'd like. I look forward to it and really appreciate it. :)

That's my favorite store that can't have one shipped out until a week from tomorrow. Unfortunately Bob's out on a trip and unavailable to talk to. I talked to his wife and ordered a very nice machine this morning but it can't be shipped out until a week from tomorrow. I normally wouldn't mind waiting too badly but if the new machine ships out a week from tomorrow I'll be renting and using a rented machine for the next two weeks. I was hoping there would be another store fairly close to this area that could have one shipped out right away. Outside of the expense and inconvenience of renting a machine, I hate showing up at high end customer's homes with a rented machine.

I use the X-Jet and have gotten a small hand truck to carry my enclosed X-Jet pail. I also just got a 50' soap hose for the X-Jet so I need to find a good reel to mount on my soap cart. Does anybody know of a good small hose reel that will be right for 50' of soap hose? I'd love to have one that has a water inlet & outlet so I can just reel off the amount of soap hose needed at any given moment. Thanks!

That's good to know! I'm definitely going to order one of those reels. It's the best thing I've seen out there for my needs and if it holds up well to chemicals I couldn't go wrong at that price. Thanks LSPW!

Now that's a nice lookin' reel and really sweet price. That's the one I want! Thanks for the link!

A name is just a name. Endorsements from pro power washers speaks for itself. I'm gonna save a bit and get the machine with the General pump.

You'd think that the CAT should be better just going by price alone but higher price doesn't always guarantee a better product. Maybe I'll go with the General pump. I don't know......I'll be ordering from Bob at Pressure Tek so I'll talk with him about the Cat vs. General pump.

I took the pump and drive shaft housing off of the motor and found out that the motor is locked down, not the pump. I don't know if the pump is damaged or not because I can't test it without a motor to drive it. I do know that the pump is not locked down though.

Any particular reason?

Thanks for the link! They have several nice reels that will work well for the soap hose. Nice prices too.

Thanks Paul but I'm looking for a small reel that will be perfect for 50 feet of the clear poly tubing for the X-Jet soap pail. The 200' stainless reel would be overkill and too bulky to mount on my small hand truck. I've already got 3 large (Cox) hose reels but need something small to mount on my little hand truck that I use to haul the soap pail on. I'm not sure if anybody makes a small hose reel with an inlet & outlet. Still lookin' though.

Is it OK to connect hoses on your reel with 3/8" Hex Couplers? I know they wouldn't come apart as easily but the hex coupler would eliminate the bulk that quick connects would create on a hose reel. As long as one of the hose ends has swivel action it seems like this would work well. Does it?

Yeah man......I got me one of those swivel connectors from Bob @ Pressure Tek with a recent order. The swivel connector will be at the end of my hose at the gun. It makes good sense to have one there to eliminate twists in the hose. It's got to be better for your hands and arms. I likes it already!!! As a side note I'd like to give props to Bob & Andy at Pressure Tek. They've been very helpful to me lately as I've been uprading and rigging equipment. Also props to you guys here @ TGS for all the great advice you given me all along the way.

I think you're talking about the Flow type of unloader. That's not the kind I have. I guess mine is trapped pressure too. I still want to go with the threaded Hex coupler so the hose won't bulk up on the reel. And it's a great connection I guess. I have two 100' hoses on a 250' capacity reel so there's only going to be one connection between hoses. I also have an extra 50' of hose that could be added if needed. That will be QC I guess because the end of the 200' is already set up with QC for the gun. Thanks for you input!

Thanks Jeff. I would worry about the female quick connect catching on something and coming apart. That's what happens to the QC connection on my garden hose for my pure water system when I'm reeling it back onto the reel and it catches on the side rail of my truck bed. I'll be reeling away and suddenly the hose just comes apart when the QC catches on the side of the truck. I'd hate to imagine the damage that could result if a high pressure hose came apart while in use. I'm sure I'm gonna go with the threaded Hex coupler for safety over convenience. In the long run I think the threaded coupler will result in more convenience as opposed to having to work extra to pay for the damage that could've happened if QC connections came apart while in use.

I have good luck with 2.5 to 3 gallons of regular 6% bleach (household), 10 oz. of Simple Cherry, 4 oz. of F-13, a shot of Dawn, and water mixed in a 5 gallon container. For someone new this is a good mix that won't burn up vegitation if you're careful. I've used it for the past year with great results. Get an X-Jet pail and add a longer hose to it and you'll be glad you did. I started with the beige proportioner but found the red to be more effective for me. But you can play around with the different colors and see what works best for you. I know you from WCR too and with all the work and $$$ you're making over the next two months you could buy a jam up system.......pay cash, and not blink an eye. Then you can turn right back around and make all of that money back several times over before the year is up. It's best to try out the new equipment on your own house in order to get used to it. Good luck with it Jug!

I've got a 4GPM 3,000 PSI cold water machine that I do strictly residential with. I'm changing the internal by-pass to an external by-pass so I'll need some kind of tank to accept the by-pass water. I don't think I'll be relying on this tank for a buffer tank but I may want to recycle the water to the machine, so I guess it will be like a float tank, is that correct? What is the smallest tank that I should use for this application. My pick-up truck is loaded with lots of equipment already so I want to go with as small a tank as I can. Thanks for any advice/info!

The Dickies stain resistant shirts & pants work well for me too. I wish I could find a matching hat that is stain resistant. I've ruined several of my company hats when I forgot to take them off and put on an old no good hat while power washing. Anybody know where I can find a nice kahki stain resistant hat?

But don't you need a larger tank in order to avoid turbulance from the by-pass hose causing air bubbles going in the tank outlet to the pump? I guess you're talking theoretically though.

That looks just like the 35 gallon tank I got at Tractor Supply yesterday. I wonder what kind of rack or mount that is that elevates it. Is it made of wood or metal?

I'm feeding by-pass water back to the tank so it will cool down. If it just goes in a short looping tube and right back into the pump then it (the water) doesn't get much of a chance to cool down.

So the outlet hose just connects to the outlet on the bottom of the tank. The main water supply hose with the float valve goes into the 5" cap on top of the tank. Where do most guys put the return hose from the unloader back to the tank? Is it OK to put it in the tank cap on top of the tank along with the main supply or should I find a different place away from the main supply as well as away from the outlet on bottom of the tank? I'm thinking that it should go into the top cap of the tank along with the main supply hose, but not sure.