CCPC

The question still has not been answered, do you soak the ground or just wet the plants down. I have worried about this myself. If a plant is looking thirsty and you just wet the exterior of the plant that does nothing to protect the plant from sucking the contaminated water up from its roots. Lance P.

I'm sorry to here about the lung and throat thing Travis. Its funny how no matter how carful you think you're being it only takes one time to do serious damage. I hope you feel better.

Reed, I think the "Green Stuff" you are reffering to is carried by The Pressure Washing Store here in Jacksonville, FL. there web address is: http://pressurewasherstore.com/chem/stuff.html

Mike or Dale, What kind of tip are you all using to rinse the plants with?

My birthday was yesterday. Went out last night to celebrate. Now I am paying dearly.

I probably really need to try to incorporate the x-jet into an everyday thing. I'm thinking one of the reasons the xjet seems so ineffecient to me is because I have never allowed myself time to develop speed due to routine usage, so the few times I do use it, it seems somewhat akward.

If they call me out for service, who am I to argue with what their defintion of clean is. Now if the ask my opinion on weather or not somthing needs to be done or not I will always give them my honest opinion. As professionals, I believe its our job to be truthful in our assesments of what services are needed or not needed, but on the other hand, if they are insistant that something needs to be cleaned, I believe its my job to give them what they want.

The build up I was refering to is mold, mildew, algea etc. Everyone keeps saying how much faster the x-jet is vs. downstreaming I just don't see it. When I pull up to do the average house The only thing I need to remove from my trailer is my wand a few tips, maybee an extra 6' lance and my hose. If there is a spot that needs a stronger dose of chem I grab my pump up sprayer. If I need to reach a high spot I use my 0 degree chem nozzle ( shoots chem up to 30 or 40 feet) Now of course thats not the only things I ever need to do the job, depending on what it is that I'm cleaning, but the point is that its kept simple without sacrificing quality work. When using the X-Jet I have to remove more stuff from trailer, waste more time moving buckets around as I clean, and waste more time rinsing foliage, which I rarely have to do when using my downstreamer. Like I stated earlier, the only time I can see the x-=jet as a real time saver, when doing house washes, is when I am cleaning a brick, stucco or other type of masonry home with an extreme amount of biological growth ot it. As far as vinyle siding goes, I don't think I have ever needed any thing but my downstream injector. Most of the time the higher dose of chem seems to do nothing more than kill the mildew faster, which, in turn, does save some time, but the extra time wasted rinsing plants, setting up, filling and moving buckets, and packing up seems to counter act that savings of time. Honestly, I think a lot of guys are using way more chem strength on house washings than they really need to achieve good results.

I like my downstream injector as well. I would say that 7 out of 10 times I get enough chem strength from just the downstreamer and the other 3 out of 10 times I am able to spot clean the build up areas with just a pump up sprayer. I purchased the M5 about a month ago and have not explored its uses thoroughly as of yet, but I plan to. Maybe if I did a stucco house where the whole thing was covered with thick build up I would break it out, but usually, around here, spot cleaning is all that is needed for a few limited areas of build up.

I developed a really bad habit when I first started my business by using the wand, without a tip, and with the pressure washer running, to rinse my fingers off (really, really bad idea). Well, one time while in a hurry and obviously not thinking to clearly I put my thumb and my for finger right over a 40° tip and tore my thumb wide open (hurt like a son-of-a-b***h!). The funny thing is the pain did'nt bother me as much as how stupid I felt for letthing it happen. Bad habits like that will always get you in the end. It may take long time, but all it takes is that one instant when your mind is somewhere else. Needless to say, it took about 3 weeks for my thumb wound to close up, and I now have a faint scare across the surface of my thumb, which serves as a reminder of how easily things can go wrong. By the way, that bad habit stopped immediately.

I find that when that's a problem I continue on a leave that spot for a few minutes then come back and give it a light rinse just enough to remove the last bit of dirt that had leaked out before and it should not come out again. Also, the same principle works great on the vents underneath the eaves ( of course you always want to avoid the vents as much as possible anyways).

sounds like maybe your high pressure hose is rated for less pressure than your pressure washer or it could be a defective hose. Did the hose in question come with your washer or did you purchase it seperately? Maybe a problem with the unloader?

That's pretty cool. reminds you how simple minded we really are.

Just got my insurance renewal as well, and as I understand it, they are offering terrorism risk protection insurance under the Federal Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002. They are offering me the right to purchase insurance coverage for losses arising out of acts of terrorism defined in Section 102(1) of the Act. The coverage on mine is optional and is included on my policy for a premium of $5. I guess they figure for $5 most people would get the insurance and the likelyhood of ever having to pay out is very minimal (especially when insurance companies try to find a reason not to pay any claim as it is).

You would think that with something as potentially destructive as pressure washing, if not done correctly, that there would be some kind of State licensing. I have seen a few fly by nights in action just blasting away at houses with full pressure and no chemicals. I almost have to turn my head because it hurts to watch.

Jon, The only license available in my area is an occupational license (which anyone can get). I have called the State, County, and City and there is nothing available. I have had the same dillema. There are other companies in my area that claim to be licensed and insured, but I do not know what licensing their talking about. I have even thought about getting a contractor license for painting just so I can use that. I think painters in this area are county licensed. As a matter of fact, I talked to the Florida Divsion of professional regulations for a long time and asked every question under the sun regarding this issue.

You need to also check with your local EPA and find out what enviromental concerns you need to adhere to like wash water recovery.

Once you have a name in mind you need to register it as a fictious name with your states division of corporations. Your state problably has a website that you can use to apply for your name online. Here in Florida the fee is $50 every 5 years, but your state could be different. I don't know when you plan to start this business but it will take 3 weeks to a month before you receive your information from them so you better do that soon. As far licensing you will need to check with your County and State to find out what they require. It differs from State to State, for example, here in Florida there is no Contractor licensing but your State could require it.

I agree with Jon, Ryan reminds me of my brother. He can bang out a story or report or just plan out express his thoughts effortlessly on paper. I, on the other hand, am not so lucky. I have never been that good at writing and problably never will be. Just so you all know, I would leave more posts, but its such a pain for me to convey my ideas in writing. I bet Ryan reads alot.

I was wondering, when running your pressure washer inside an enclosed trailer what do you do about the carbon dioxide fumes. I was looking at John T. picture of his rig and it looks like he has some sort of venting system. I have an open trailer now, but I would like to get an enclosed trailer soon.

By the way, has anyone ever tried Korkers Roof shoes/sandels?

I wear rubber boots as well. actually, I wear tennis shoes to the job and while I'm setting up, and then change into my boots when its time to get to it. The Redwing leather boots sound like a good idea, but my concern would be that the lower part of my pant leg would be black with mud after some jobs where as my current rubber boots cover most of my lower leg.

John is write, Screens are no problem as long as you use low pressure. I use a tip with a 95% fan 95/10 and, as John stated, just make sure you point the wand away when first pressing the trigger. Also, It is a good idea before washing screens that you carfully check their state of condition. Somtimes when I screen is exposed to direct sunlight for long periods of the day the vinyl coating becomes dry and powdery and will come off very easily even with low pressure or even when you run your finger over it.

If the mixing ratio is accurate it is not expensize at all. 100 to 1 and only 24.95 a gallon. thats 100 gallons of chemical for $25. Or maybee they are talking about application strength, who cares anyway. As far as I'm concerned you can't beat good old chlorine for mold and mildew removal.

I read all of the replies about the X-Jet in the other thread, but I still do not understand exactly what the advantages are. I use a downstreamer almost all of the time from a tank located on my trailer. What does the X-Jet do that makes it so useful? Is it the chemical application distance? Is it the ratio variablilty? The reason I ask is that I am interested in this product but it kinda seems like more hassel than it is worth. Can someone please explain in detail all of the defining features of this product. Thanks