PLD

I will. After the collections agents hassle her for awhile. I got cursed out after I sent her an updated statement with charges for collections and lien filing fees.

Many on this board do not like Neptune hose. But, I have 300ft from Northern that has been the best hose I own. No marking, no leaks, no exposed wires, etc. I have never run hot water through it (a supposed problem), but I will try that when I replace my existing hose. And for cold water only applications, I would tell anyone to buy it without reservation. One more thing. All my non-neptune hoses that burst did so at the crimp. Probably from reeling to tightly and overstressing.

I agree with Chris. For optimum results, surface cleaners should be matched to the pump. That said, I'll share my experiences and solicit others input about my setup/situation. Hopefully Anthony and I can learn from my experience. I started with a cold 4gpm machine and 27" hydrotec. MUCH better than wanding. Striping was prevalent, and 2-3 passes was normal. Pre-bleaching was a must. Next I got my 5.5/hot water/big guy. Boy was I the man. One pass, no bleach results. Perhaps it was the newness of hot water and the vast improvement over previous results, but as time passed speed dropped and 2 passed became the norm again. Today, when I compare my sq.ft./hr (1-1.5k) to someit isn't all that great. Just based on speed, I began suspecting pump issues, replaced nozzles, etc. but have not been able to identify specific issues. This week, I needed/wanted a floater for a 2nd floor hotel walkway that was only 4ft wide. I supported my local vendor (i.e. overpaid) and got a whirl-a-way/BE 16" floater. After outfitting it with 2.0's I hooked it up to the 4gpm machine and started a test. My helper and I each did 2500ft with the big guy (5.5, cold) and with the floater (4, cold). We both did some work upstairs (railing, hence more condusive to floater) and downstairs (8ft, advantage big guy). I did NOT tell my helper it was a test. Afterwards, I inquired as to which was faster. He indicated that the floater was definitely faster. Much to my suprise, I had thought the same thing but believed it to be prejudices in favor of the new eqpt.

It is not only practical, it is a much better way of working. 5.5 is so much easier that I hate it when I get the 4.0 and my helper gets the 5.5. As for flow, we do 3-400 houses a year and I have never had a 4.0 or a 5.5 starve on a residence. I typically find that a residence will over supply a 5.5 on one spigot and oversupply my 4.0 & 5.5 when I connect to two spigots. Keep in mind that spigot will flow faster when connected to a sucking pump than it will to open air because the pump presents a negative pressure sink for the flow. More often than not, we give the tank a 75-100 gallon head start and run two guns (9.5gpm) without water worries. If it is a problem, bypassing the hose reel and running two lines to seperate spigots fixes it.

Since we're PO'd today... I got cussed out today by a deadbeat customer for turning them over to collections. She "threatened" to pray for me in church about 3 seconds before telling me that she would sick her G**D**N lawyer on me (her words, not mine). I always find it interesting that only deadbeats offer to pray for me, those offers typically insinuate the prayer will be for my downfall, the requesting party has no issue cussing me like a dog and using GD at least once in the coversation. How does this fit in the thread? She had been gameplaying about payment since well BEFORE the job began. Should have walked...

Thank you for demonstrating to the deckster/decker people that you can actually put the battery *above* the battery destroying chemical drips and still be stable. And if the deck(er/ster) guys are curious how it works, simply straighten the handle and get the CG on the same side of the axle as the lifting plate.

Pete has taught you well :) $12.00/gallon still sucks... Gas is $3/gal, Milk $3.29, bleach $2.00, stripper $3.45, AllBrite $2.80/gal and somehow gutterzap is worth $12.00? Nope. I've had this same discussion with everyone here at SunBrite in Atlanta. As a businessman I realize that you guys have to make a buck. But, you do need to re-evaluate your impact on the contractor. Just because a product saves $20 worth of labor/expenses, does not mean that I'm happy to pay $15 for it. I realize that everyone has to make a buck here, but were are not talking about major manufacturing expenses. Anytime $1-2 worth of chems is being compounded and resold for $7-12 you cannot help but look for alternatives. Personally, I think the commerical products are generally better, and hence your experience/IP has value to me. Just not the 10% of gross revs that most chem suppliers seem to think is appropriate.

Yep, proportioner or open is very personal. I dislike the heavy bucket(s) and time adding water over the hassles of a proportioner. For me, if I could get 100% chems and the proper proportioner, I'd carry a 1qt x-jet "pail" :)

I have seen many screwed on at the outer edge. I also neer put them under the shingles as directed, but just under the first layer. It seems to get a better bite with asphault/granules underneath the cover.

What's the shelf life on mixed hd-80? This seems to be quite a drawback for hd-80 as the main reason I purchase it is the ability to carry a non-liquid product on the truck. That and the ability to mix it hotter or weaker as I need. Pre-mixed, I can never get any hotter than 8/gal. On a side note, does EFC-38 suffer this same problem? Obviously, for thesame reasons HD-80 seperates, it should also. That presents a HUGE problem as you can't premix percarbonates... Suggestions?

Ditto on the chlorine. That was BIG part of your problem. As for the proportioners, that's a personal thing. I used them at first and hated them. After two years of carting around a 15gal bucket, I tried them again and now I will not work without them. Whether you use proportioners or not, you need to know your to-the-wall (ttw) ratios for your setup. 0.8-1.5% bleach is a good start. As for the house, I could do a good job on that sized house in under an hour with nothing more than kroger bleach and no-name laundry soap. For a total newbie, 2 hours max. Any longer and you need to re-evaluate your chems and your process. Barry has given you some good advice regarding the mix. Since I'm a proportioner user, I would put 3 gals of 12%, 1.5 gals of citraclean, 1/2 gallon of water in a 5 gallon bucket and use a black (6.5:1 @5.5gpm) proportioner. With proportioners: For a 4 gpm machine with a, the xjet black proportioner mixes at 5:1. That means that 6% bleach becomes 1% bleach at the wall. So, whatever is in your bucket needs to be at least half 12% bleach. Without proportioners: For a 4 gpm machine the xjet with no proportioner mixes at 2.6:1. That means that 3.6% bleach becomes 1% bleach at the wall. So, if you want 1% TTW, whatever is in your bucket needs to be at least 30% bleach (12%). For a 5 gallon bucket, that's 6qts of bleach. The mix Barry provided yields 0.67% which is a little weak for my tastes but certainly a workable mixture. One last comment: Based on the description of the chemical you used, I am going to guess that it was a yellow butyl caustic called "PowerHouse" from SunBrite. Without bleach, you would get results like you experienced. I personally don't use it for general washing because of the drawbacks Ken mentioned, but PowerHouse is a good product suitable for housewashing.

IIRC, the TS1511 is a 3500psi 4 gallon pump.

No, but having switched to a deckster I like bypass pumps much better than demand pumps. They products a much stronger, more even spray pattern.

Most likely the pumps are owned by the oil co. They set the prices as often as they wish based on prevailing rates on the crude market. My local station is that way and the owner and I hvae discussed it at length. He owns the store, but chevron calls as often as they wish and instruct him to alter the computer prices. If his set were a little more high tech, he would likely only get the call so he could change the sign.

EnviroClean, One of the great benefits of being a US territory is that you get treated as domestic by the USPS. Ask Pete about USPS shipping. I just checked and a pack of EFC-38 would be $23 parcel post.

That's what I have always been told as well, but I have a real hard time believing it as I have NEVER seen detergent engine oil foam no matter how many gallons of water mixed in the crankcase. As we are all aware, detergents and emulsifiers do not neccessarily foam by themselves. Despite our best attempts to "foam it up", it is often neccessary to add a foaming agent to get the desired level of foam.

30w non-detergent from your local auto parts place is fine. The only difference from lawn mower oil is the "detergent" part. Detergent oils are used where combustion by-products are present (like a lawn mower engine). Since there are no combustion by products, no detergent is neccessary. That said, could you use regular (detergent) oil? Probably, but since they specify non-detergent I can only assume there is a reason for doing so. Also, since there are no combustion by-products in a pump, the oil change interval for the pump is many times that of the engine. My pump mechanic says that once a year is fine. I tend to do it about once a quarter. Here in the US, "gear oil" is typically 90w as well.

Sweet idea. It's really good to look at the surrounding states and see who I've been chatting with in relationship to myself.

I speak with many local contractors who employ various mexicans. When asked about the last boycott, the general consensus was that only the legals boycotted. The illegals were at work, working.

Me either. But I have found that laying out the operational costs per job is very effective in this situation. Once they see that just showing up with proper chems/ins/etc costs more than $50, it is painfully obvious that since the lowballer is not doing this for free they MUST be cutting corners on the product.

I assume you're upstreaming because of your downstreamers mix ratios? I can't think of any other reason to do so. If so, get a better downstreamer (ask Mike W for info) or get an xjet. In a truck bay, I can see where a downstreamer might have advantages. But for a house (height, plants), I'm a xjet man all the way. FWIW, a xjet is just a high ratio downstreamer that goes at the end of the hose AND functions as a shooter tip I don't upstream or downstream ANYTHING since I got an xjet. I can deliver any chem I want at ratios up to 2:1. And I can switch chems or stop them entirely in seconds. As for durability, there are two issues. Longevity and performance. I would assume that the micropitting effects of chems on pump bores would drop their performance even after a rebuild. The effect would be slow, so you may not even notice the performance loss. And for longevity, I am on year 4 of fulltiming (40+/wk). Both pumps are running strong w/o a rebuild. I do not upstream, I bypass to supply tank 100% of the time. If it is working for you, keep on making money. I just wanted to mention the bypass so you don't inadvertently blow up your machine. Keep the pump cool and happy. Either recycle the water into the big tank, or dump it to the ground. As for xjetting, I find that keeping all equipment except for the shooter tip "water only" makes it last much longer.

Didn't we just get a 600 rebate a few years back? ;)

That is certainly an interesting post, particulary as it would appear to fly in the face of basic chemistry. This link: http://www.chemistryquestion.com/English/Questions/ChemistryInDailyLife/3c_bleach_cleaner.html Reinforces the statements concerning the effectiveness of low pH bleach, but also lists the recombinant equation for bleach and vinegar and HClO is NOT a resultant product. This is definitely worth of further research. I personally don't think it'll pan out, but the ramifications are such that it's worth a try. One last note, when we use bleach on a house, you're not consuming the mildew. You're just removing all color from it so it "disappears". Hence, a highly anti-microbial solution like that mentioned may very well just make dead, black, mildew.

Ditto. Are you using a big guy as well?

Organic vapor & acid gas. If you're at home depot they are the round ones about 2 inches thick. Be very careful of bid droppings, they carry all manner of bacteria that can cause serious health problems. When they restored/destroyed the "big chicken" here in Atlanta, it was a big issue in the project. "The most legitimate concern about these birds involves the transmission of diseases. Diseases associated with pigeons that are a threat to humans are directly linked to their droppings. "Pigeons can pose a health hazard, but in many instances, that is blown out of proportion. Most of the risk of disease is from the accumulation of droppings in soil that provides a good media for the bacteria to grow in," said Armstrong. Two diseases in particular may manifest in pigeon droppings. They include histoplasmosis, which occurs in droppings on the soil under roost sites, and cryptococcosis, which is found in droppings at elevated roost sites. In both cases, the amount of droppings plays a role. For instance, histoplasmosis usually doesn't flourish until droppings have accumulated for three or more years. There must also be a large flock of birds in one roosting site. "If there are 75 birds roosting in a vacant building then you have a problem," said Cockrum. "