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rick77

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Posts posted by rick77

  2. Posted · Report reply

    Rick,

    Sounds like what you are talking about could work for you if you are pulling your pressure washer around with you even though it seems like it would add a lot of weight to move around with a full pail. Most of our rigs are mounted on trailers and have our hoses on hose reels. I have 200' of hose on my reel and another 100' in the trailer.

    The x-jet pulls easily through 50' of hose.

    You're correct, I am pulling my pressure washer around the house with me and it's a royal pain. I need to get the reel and hose so I can leave the machine on the truck.

    I've already got 2 cox reels on my truck for my window cleaning with water fed pole. One has 150 feet of garden hose and the other 300 feet of water/air hose for my pure water system. If I had the right quick connect adapters I might could double up the use of the 300' air/water hose for both water fed pole and power washing.

    But it's probably best that I get a seperate hose for the power washer. It sure would be nice to leave that thing on the truck! I'm just about 30-40 miles down the road from you. Do you know of a place around here that has good prices on the long high pressure hose? Or did you order yours?

    Thanks for the info!

  3. Posted · Report reply

    I've been reading that some of you don't use proportioners with your Xjet. I've tried that before and a five gallon bucket will empty out on one side of a house in the blink of an eye.

    I've been using the red proportioners for house washing and my solution goes a long way. That's with 3 gallons of 6% bleach, 10 ounces of Simple Cherry, 4 ounces of F-13, a shot of Dawn, and the rest water in the 5 gallon X-jet pail. This mix does a great job even on dirty houses.

    So what color proportioners do you guys use? Those of you who don't use them in your X-jet, doesn't your bucket empty out really quickly and you have to refill more? If not, what's the trick to using the X-jet without proportioners?

  5. Posted · Report reply

    I've been using the Xjet and Xjet pail for about a year now. I'm wanting to get a longer hose for the Xjet soap pail but need some advice.

    Is 50 feet too long for the soap hose? Will my chems still draw at this length?

    Another question......have any of you fastened the power washer hose and the Xjet soap hose together along it's length to make it more like one single hose? It seems that this would work but I've yet to try it.

    I'm thinking of maybe having a small bracket welded to my power washer to hold the 5 gallon Xjet pail so I don't have to carry it around. The pressure hose and soap hose would be braided together as one single hose and there would hopefully be no tangles to deal with.

    I'm thinking why have a second hand truck for the bucket when you can just mount the bucket to the power washer frame which is pretty much a dolly. The pressure hose and soap hose would be 50 feet and braided together as one. I would have 50 feet of working distance from the power washer itself with just one double hose to deal with.

    Any feedback and/or advice on this matter greatly appreciated.

    Thanks!

    Richard Crocker

    Ultra Clear Window Cleaning

    Greenwood, SC

  6. Posted · Report reply

    they have the same set up here they never use it. All the stores look like crap, but the food is great

    FWIW

    I have a friend who has a teenaged daughter that used to work at the local Sonic. She quit working there because she felt guilty serving food that was prepared in such filthy conditions.

    I took her word for it.......I no longer eat a Sonic. Before I heard this inside info I thought that their food was just "so so" at best anyway.

  8. Posted · Report reply

    Replace all your brass QC's with stainless - get rid of your headaches. ;)

    Beth

    I got the stainless QC's the other day. Zero sign of corrosion after 7 hours of use yesterday. No need to rinse with acid, just a quick rinse with straight water.

    These stainless QC's are so much better than the brass QC's!

    Thanks for the tip!!!!!!

  12. Posted · Report reply

    I might add that I'm at a stage of being very very cautious with the strength of chemicals in my house wash mix and my gutter mix. Being fairly new to this game I would rather have to go back over the surface a second time instead of doing irreversible damage on the first try with a mix that is too strong.

    I'm having great success at not burning plants yet getting the house/gutters clean. On down the road when my technique is much more improved I may be able to clean safely with a stronger house wash mix that may even clean some or most gutters as I power wash the house.

    I feel more comfortable cleaning them seperately with seperate chemicals at this point.

  13. Posted · Edited by rick77 · Report reply

    Hey Rick, concerning doing the gutters seporatly I just screwed the pooch yesturday over a deck. Somewhere here there was just a thread about it. I mixed a batch pretty hot because the gutters were not budging. While scrubbing them the drippings over the deck stained the newly redone deck. Yea...not too good....Turns out I was VERY LUCKY because he had just had his roof painted (tin roof shingles) three weeks ago and one of the painters launched a 5er of paint off the house onto the deck and they covered it with another darker enamal...Long story short it was paintable so an easy fix...Had it been stain I would be doing a free deck job. I don't know if it was just the new fresh paint or me mixing it hotter but from now on I will cover all decks or at least the drip lines before scrubbing F-13 over them. I had pre wet it and rinsed a lot and it still stained it. It turned floresent green lol...on a brown deck...Just be carful with it...

    Hey MudDuck, I'm on the same page with you concerning this matter. I won't brush the F-13 on gutters without protecting any painted/stained surfaces below. I use an 8:1 ratio of water/F-13 in a spray bottle and spray it directly on the brush. I use this method in hopes of avoiding excess dripping of chemical off of the brush.

    I'm actually thinking of omitting F-13 from my house wash mix because I'm finding that I have to do most all of the gutters seperate anyway. The bleach, Simple Cherry, and shot of dawn are probably all I need for the main house wash mix.

    Bottom line, that F-13 is some strong stuff and can do some damage in a blink to painted surfaces. I'm realizing the importance of starting out weak and going stronger only if needed. Got to be careful with that stuff huh!

    Thanks for all the great advice and input!

  14. Posted · Report reply

    The house I'm power washing tomorrow has two decks that were stained about 3 days ago. The wood stain is a darker red color sort of like cherry wood.

    Will a typical house wash of bleach and Simple Cherry do damage to stained decks? Will the deck spot up from the house mix that splashes onto the wood stain?

    I'll check with the owner to make sure the deck has been sealed before power washing the house. It appears to have been sealed but I'm not absolutely sure.

    What are some precautions that I can take in order to prevent damaging the deck stain? Water it down really good? Anything else?

    Thanks!

  15. Posted · Report reply

    MudDuck, Please let us know how the results of using the red proportioner compares to not using a proportioner at all.

    So you don't usually do the gutters seperate with F-13? The house wash mix (via X-Jet with proportioner) doesn't remove the black streaks well enough for me.

    I don't mind brushing the F-13 on the gutters even though it does take a good bit of time and effort. When the customer sees the results its worth the extra time and effort.

    Still though, I may tinker around with the mix (more F-13) to see if the gutters can be cleaned without brushing. I have concerns about too much F-13 in house wash mix damaging the house surfaces.

    Thanks!

  16. Posted · Report reply

    Thanks a bunch Mud Duck and Beth and Richard. I just ordered some Simple Cherry & some F-13. I'm gonna try your mix for awhile Mud duck to see how things workout that way. Over the course of this summer and into fall I plan on tossing together a variety of mixes to see what works for me.

    I appreciate the input and welcome anyone else to comment.

    Dwight R

    Jencor Services, LLC

    Severn, MD 21144

    (443) 883-1709

    Jencor Cleaning Services

    Hey Dwight,

    I'm new here too just steadily learning the how to's, do's, and don'ts. I've learned so much in such a short time from the wonderful folks on this forum. I enjoy your input on the AUWC forum. Good to see you here.

  17. Posted · Report reply

    MudDuck, I've been using your recipe with both regular 6% and also with K-Mart 10% (pool "SHOCK" )sodium hypochlorite. I agree, the 6% works just fine for house washing and is not overly harsh on the plants.

    Like you, I use the X-Jet (M5 version). I tried it without the proportioners when I first used it but the 5 gallon enclosed X-Jet pail emptys so quickly. I then started using the red proportioner and the soap lasted much longer for me (and does a great job cleaning the house).

    I can do a large two story home with two 5 gallon batches as long as I have the red proportioner in the X-Jet. I see that you suggest leaving the proportioner out. Without the proportioner in the X-Jet I feel that I would be going through tons of chemicals on just one house.

    So far I have had successful house cleans with 3 gallons of 6% bleach, 10 oz of Simple Cherry, 4 oz F-13, one squirt of Dawn, and two gallons of water.

    On one house I cleaned I used two gallons of 10% bleach and three gallons of water with the same amounts of Simple Cherry, F-13 and Dawn.

    The three gallons of 6% did just as good of a job as the two gallons of 10%.

    I'm assuming that my mix is getting dilluted more so than your mix is because I'm using the red proportioner.

    The houses are getting clean and the plants are staying healthy and I don't have to mix multiple 5 gallon batches. This is probably a good mix and method (with red proportioner included in X-Jet) for newbies if my recent success is any indication.

    Maybe as I gain more experience I will be able to make a 5 gallon batch of chems cover more area on a house without using the proportioner. I'm guessing the mix would be stronger (without the proportioner) when it hits the house, allowing me to use less chemical and time when applying the soap.

    What are your thoughts about using the red (suggested for house washing) proportioners in the X-Jet with the above mixes?

    Just for the record, I clean the exterior of the gutters by brushing on (with extension pole) F-13 at an 8:1 ratio with water mixed in a 32 oz spray bottle. I spray the mix directly onto the brush then apply to the gutters from ground level. This is time consuming but the results are stunning to the homeowners.

    Please give me some feedback about using the proportioner vs. not using the proportioner.

    Thanks!

  18. Posted · Report reply

    I left my X-Jet connected to the gun after the first two uses. I disconnected it prior to the third use and noticed there was quite a bit of corrosion between the connections.

    It's obvious to me now that I need to take the X-Jet off of the gun after each use and dry it. Should I also put something like WD-40 on it to prevent corrosion?

    The corrosion makes the quick connect hard to disconnect.

  19. Posted · Report reply

    Richard,

    Hope you don't mind us borrowing your thread..... How did your Dickie shorts do?

    No problem at all! The more info the better off we all are.

    My sweet wife washed my Dickie shorts yesterday evening and they look good as new. They were really dirty from cleaning inside & out of gutters, two awnings, power washing and cleaning the windows in & out.

    The worst dirt was oil and grease from my gas powered blower. I don't see any oil or grease stains so these Dickies must be the wasy to go.

  20. Posted · Report reply

    Well, I'm off to work in a little while. I'll see how these Dickie short pants hold up to the bleach today. After reading you guys input here I feel confident that they will be just fine.

    I'll still have to change my company t-shirt & hat 'cause they will get ruined. That's no problem though if I do it discreetly. But I could get arrested if I had to change pants out by my truck LOL.

    Thanks for the info guys!

  21. Posted · Edited by rick77 · Report reply

    I think I read on one of the power washing forums that Dickie makes work pants (maybe shirts too) that will not get bleached out while power washing.

    I bought a pair of Dickies shorts that have "Stain Release Finish"". I'm hoping that this is the Dickies shorts that will not get bleached out. I'm stuck using regular 6% bleach for my gig tomorrow so the mix won't be too terribly strong anyway.

    I'll probably mix 4 gallons of 6% SHC with one gallon of water, 4 oz F-13, and 10 oz Simple Cherry in a 5 gallon enclosed X-Jet pail. I'm using the X-Jet M5 so the mix ends up being pretty darn diluted huh?

    I've got these nice royal blue hats and t-shirts with my company name on them. I've been wearing them to the gigs and while doing the interior window cleaning and non power washing stuff. Before I start power washing I put on an old white t-shirt and an old hat so my nice ones don't get messed up.

    I'm hoping that these new Dickie shorts will not bleach out like regular clothing. So.......anybody know if these "Stain Release Finish" Dickie pants will be effected by the bleach in my house wash mix?

  22. Posted · Report reply

    I use 12.5% - pretty good, fresh stuff. I get it directly from the chemical manufacturer (luckily for me, they are only 12 minutes away).

    I downstream now, but previously have used the X-jet. When I was using the X-jet, I used the mix off PressureTek with good results (2 Gallons 12.5% chlorine, 3 gallons water & 10oz of Simple Cherry).

    What is the GPM on your pressure washer & are you using the X-jet open or with a proportioner? If you have a unit at or over 4 GPM, you almost need to be putting just straight 6% + Simple Cherry in the bucket in order to hit the house with a high enough concentration of SHC. The mix off PressureTek ends up being about 5% in the bucket.

    Gutter Squad, my machine is 4 gallons per minute. I'm using the X-Jet M5. When I did my house last week I started out without the proportioners and shot out almost 5 gallons of mix on the first side. I then decided to put in the red proportioner. I could tell the mix was pretty weak but it did a pretty decent job anyway.

    I did a large 2 story house today with the 2 day old mix of Simple Cherry, 4 oz of F-13, 2 gallons of SHC 10%, and 3 gallons of water. I used the red proportioner this time as well. The house turned out great but I had to apply the soap mix several times on the 2nd story window sills that were covered with green mold looking stuff. The homeowner was blown away with the results so I was happy as well.

    This mix may have degraded a little but I feel that it may have been on the weak side to start with. I think you're right about the straight 6% and Simple Cherry mix. By the time it mixes with the water through the

    X-Jet it gets pretty diluted.

    I'm hoping I can find a nearby source for 12.5 % SHC. The closest I know of is 50 miles away. I'll keep looking.

    Thanks for your helpful input!

  23. Posted · Report reply

    I've asked Bob at PressureTek how long a Simple Cherry mix was good for - if I remember correctly, he stated that it will begin degrading after eight hours. However, I use a mix just like yours (in the stantard ratios, though - 3.5 gal SHC, 1.5 gal H2O, 4 oz F-13, and about 12 oz Simple Cherry) and have been able to use it two days later with no real problem.

    Aqua Force, is your SHC 6% or 12 % in that "standard ratio"?

    My present mix contains 2 gallons of 10% SHC but I think I'm going to just use 3 gallons of 6% in my next batch and see how that works for me.

  25. Posted · Report reply

    I mixed up a couple of 5 gallon containers of my house wash mix last night for the job I was going to do today. I got side-tracked and didn't get to power wash at all today.

    Will my mix still be good tomorrow? It will be two days old so I'm wondering if it will have lost it's strength. My mix is (2 gallons of 10 % sodium hypochlorite, 8 oz of Simple Cherry, 4 oz of F-13, and 3 gallons of water).

    Is it OK to mix your chems (a day) in advance or should I always mix them just prior to doing the job?

    I use the X-Jet in case that matters.

    Thanks!

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