rick77

Thanks guys!!! The 35 gallon tank I got at Tractor supply wasn't exactly cheap ($89.99) but it's perfect for my situation and it's already plumbed for a 3/4 male garden hose connection on the bottom that will be handy for running the garden hose to the pump on the machine. So all I need now is the float valve and a proper hose/fitting to run from the unloader back to the top of the tank. I've already ordered the unloader, a Cox Reel, whip line, Stainless Steel Hansen couplers, and a water filter from Pressure Tek. I've got two 100' hoses and a 50' hose so hopefully soon I can leave the rig on the truck while I work. That'll be so much easier and faster!

I found a 35 gallon tank at Tractor supply. It's a horizontal barrel shaped tank with molded in legs. Perfect size for the space available in the bed of my pick-up. I'll order a float valve from Bob at Pressure Tek and whatever other fittings I need. I'll do a search for plumbing the tank but if anyone has info they'd like to share I'm all ears. Thanks!

That is my understanding of it too. In my last post I stated that the 8 minutes plus was not the actual case. I knew that the water would be recycling from the float tank and pump on the machine continuously when the float valve does not allow fresh water to come in. But I am still learning about this by-pass/float tank stuff. I appreciate your valuable input. Now I need to find a tank. Does Tractor Supply sell them?

So with a 35 gallon tank and a 4 GPM machine it's like this: 35 gallons divided by 4 GPM = 8.75 minutes that the tank could supply water to the machine. So I could have over 8 minutes to not have to worry about the trigger not being pulled. Of course this is not the actual case because the tank will get a feed from the main water supply as the float valve allows so the tank never really becomes empty. Where can I learn how to plumb the float tank properly? Any links to good info?

I use F-13 on gutters too and love it. But I was curious about Brad's house wash solution that gets the gutters clean the majority of the time. My house wash mix is not strong enough to get the black streaks on gutters clean. My house wash mix is a little on the safe side I guess.

What is your mix or solution?

Do most of you guys wash the gutters seperate (by hand w/brush & pole) from your house power wash? I do it seperately 99% of the time because most of the gutters around here are really dirty with black streaks. I'm also hesitant to make my house wash mix much stronger. This way I don't kill the vegitation around houses. Better safe than sorry. I'm just a cautious person.

My machine is 4gpm. I mix (in the 5 gallon Xjet pail) 2.5 to 3 gallons of regular 6% bleach, 10 oz. of Simple Cherry, 4 oz of F-13, and a shot of Dawn. Most homes I do are 2 story and some are 3 story. I apply the above solution via Xjet M5. I can do a 2,000 up to 3,000 sq foot home (1 or 2 story) with 10 gallons of mix. Over 3,000 sq. feet will usually take a third mix in the fiver but I usually have some of the 3rd batch left over. In these situations the red proportioner has worked well to help my solution cover the whole job. The solution I use does a good job of cleaning the houses around here. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to forget about the proportioners altogether but this method has been working well for me so I've been sticking with it.

A lot of houses I do have screened in porches on the back side. I have been power washing the interior of them but got to wondering if this is common practice. Do you guys include the interior of screened in porches with your house wash or do you charge an extra fee for them? I do interiors but I always request that the owner remove any plants, furniture cushions, or fragile items that may be easily damaged by soft wash power washing. Some screened in porches are decorated much like an interior room of the house so I don't clean the inside of them. If you don't wash the interiors of screened in porches how do you deal with rinsing soap solution that may have gone through the screen while washing the trim on the outside of the porch. If you clean both inside and outside of screened porches, is it best to clean the outside then the inside so you can get a complete rinse of the interior? Thanks!

Thanks guys! I had been thinking it was best to clean the outside first. I use the sharp angle method on screens too. I try to avoid hitting them straight on (perpindicular angle).

When I got my machine the directions said to not let it run more than 30 seconds without releasing the water pressure from the gun. What's the longest amount of time you typically let the water pressure remain without pulling the trigger on the gun. Is this really that bad for the pump and motor on the power washer?

Most houses I do are very large with many situations where I have to pause the gun for a bit. Since I only have one power washing machine I'm wanting to change the unloader to an external bypass to be on the safe side and not damage the pump. Being a primarily a window cleaner I don't use the machine everyday like most of you guys but on the days when I am using the power washer the extra feature of external bypass would probably pay for itself by eleminating that one time that the pump would have burnt up due to too much time in internal bypass mode.

Thanks for the valuable info and for your time Paul! I really do appreciate it!

How easy is Simple Green to use on gutters? Can you apply with a brush on an extension pole and get the streaks off with ease or is there more elbow grease involved since it's not as aggressive as Gutter Zap?

So my machine being 3000psi and 4gpm, I would match the unloader to these numbers? Thanks!

So unless I replace the unloader on my unit I'm stuck holding my gun so I can pull the trigger at least every 30-40 seconds, or run back to the truck and cut the machine off if I need more time-out than that. What's a ballpark price on a regular unloader for a Cat pump?

Paul, the unloader on my machine is like in the second pic. I'm not sure whether it can be replaced or not. Hopefully it can. Thanks for the info!

My machine is a very low end so-called "commercial" power washer. It's a Husqvarna 3000 psi 4 gpm. It's working great being that I'm primarily a window cleaner and only power wash for some of my window cleaning customers. But the machine does have a Cat pump. I'm not sure if it has a built in unloader or not. I'll have to check the owner's manual and find out more about it.

Is this external by-pass line something that you can add to your machine or is it more of a special design on high end pumps or power washers. I'd like to add this feature to my machine if it can be done. Thanks!

I'm ready to spring for a nice long length of high pressure hose so I can leave the machine on the truck while I power wash houses. Ideally I'd like to have 300' so I'll have enough for any situation. I have 300' of hose for my window cleaning water fed pole and sometimes it takes just about all of it to reach around some of the larger homes I do. What length of high pressure hose do you guys use? Where's a good place to buy high pessure hose? I don't see the really long lengths offered at Sun Brite or Pressure Tek. I'm in Greenwood, SC so if anybody knows of a place close by or even an online store with good prices please let me know. I'm also going to buy a reel. I've got 2 Cox reels (the 1125 models) and really like them for my water fed pole window cleaning system. Are they good for power washing equipment too? Thanks!

I don't have a surface cleaner as of yet and use the X-jet exclusively so for now I guess there's no need for the ball valve. I did order a hose swivel to help stop the twisting of my hose. That along with an extra 200' of high pressure hose is going to make my pressure washing days a lot easier. I ordered from Bob @ Pressure Tek. A really nice guy! Thanks guys for all of your helpful advice and info!

Thanks for the info about Dultmeier Sales! I'll check them out. Also thanks for the heads up on the Reelcraft Reels. I ordered two 100 foot hoses from Pressure Tek last night. I got the Goodyear Grey Neptune 1 wire 4000 PSI hose. My machine is 3000 PSI so I guess I will be getting 2800 PSI with the full 200' length of hose. I hope that will be enough to push my X-jet.

Is the ball valve for shutting off the water so you can change nozzles when downstreaming? If so, I'm using the X-jet. Would there still be a need for the ball valve?

Yeah Chris, After reading about hoses and reels on the power washing forums I see that many prefer a sequence of shorter hoses as opposed to one very long single hose. I think I'll buy two or three shorter hoses as opposed to a 250' or 300' hose. Thanks for the input!