Dirtbuster

If I knew all, I would not have asked for help. 20 years in the business, I have learned a lot, & help a lot of people. I have not wanted to focus on roofs, but reviewing my options. There seems to be a new market, & a new way. I have used SH for years, with great success. My mixtures of SH are very weak, but effective. You do not have to use more than that is needed to do a job, but what is required! There is danger in everything we do, but common sense should prevail. Once again I asked for help, not to be drilled! If you do not want to help, refrain from answering. SP might have its place, but I have not found it yet? This does not mean I will stop looking, but still looking for answers!

Thanks for the helps & suggestions. I can honestly say that I am not impressed with the SP, maybe I misunderstood some things that others were stating. The industry guidelines seem to have everyone backing away from SH. States are starting to get very aggressive from cleaning chemicals that are not green to our environment. I am just trying to get my head around why others are having success with SP. Thanks for the helpful comments & suggestions!

Has anyone had any success with Sodium Percarbonate for cleaning roofs? I have been getting a lot of calls concerning roof cleaning lately, & this seems to be the new chemical of choice. I have cleaned some roofs in the past with bleach, but I just don't like taking on the liabilities of damaging a roof. If sodium percabonate is the choice of chemical to use, what is a good mixture for shooting it with a xjet, or downstream? I have been experimenting some spots on a friends roof lately, but I am not seeing the results that I would expect. The roof is dark from fungus stains, & has gotten darker since applying the chemical. I can not really find any good threads to point be in the right direction. I see where a lot of people are pumping the SP directly with a high volume/low pressure pump, but am I missing something here? Thanks for any help!

I have to ask? Why can you not put the bypass back in the supply tank. Are you upstreaming or downstreaming. Either way I would not want product going through my pump. That shortens the life of the pump, in a hurry!

If you are buying a 8 to 10 GPM machine, you will most likely need to have a water supply tank. 8 to 10 is good for concrete, but over kill for house washing. If you are only running one gun at the time, make sure you have a unloader that can compensate for tip changes. I would also pipe the bypass back to a water tank, to keep the pump from overheating. Hope this might help!

I had the very same problem that drove me crazy. On warm days it would work fine. On cold days just as you described. I check fuel pressure, changed the filter, and replaced the electrodes. To make a long story short, I decided to remove the coil. It was so clogged, I am surprised it worked at all. Cleaned the coil, new insulation, and reinstalled. Fired right up with no problems since.

I would think that a 3/4" hose for a 8GPM pump might be undersized. Is this a suction hose to keep it from collapsing? I run a 1 1/4" wire hose on mine to supply the pump. Just something to check! Oil on the belt could cause alot of problems when the pump is loaded!

Thanks for the input on overlap. Looks like maybe I have been using way to much!

What kind of belt drive do you have? If it is a timing belt style, it sounds like its slipping. It will make the pump sound like it's ready to come apart. As said above, do you have enough water to supply the pump. Most houses cannot supply 8GPM through a direct hose connection. You will need a water tank to make up the difference! Hope this might help!

Not trying to jack this thread, but how much overlap is actually needed. I ususally do a 50% overlap, but maybe I am not correct. Please share your thoughts!

What kind of problem are you having with the burner? They are pretty generic!

I finally got my machine running, and it's upgrade to 8.25 GPM @ 3000 PSI. Thanks to Paul & Jerry for all of their help. My new setup is a new KKV 3087 Pump, & a new Vanguard 23 HP engine. I hit quite a few bumps in the road on the rebuild of my 9 year old HydroTek, but it's like a new machine now. I had a few mounting issues with getting the pump mounted & aligned, but all is well. I tried the pump on rails belt driven, and ran into several problems. The pump mounted on pump rails had to much vibration in a loaded condition. I did not fell good about this. The pump also on the rails got to close to the muffler on the new engine. I felt that this would cause possible overheating problems with the new pump. I removed the pump rails, & mouted the pump straight to the frame. It took a little work to make new slots for mounting the pump. The pump & motor have Browning timing gears, that offered me a smaller diameter pulley for clearance. I found out on this rebuild that the timing assembly, offers more HP transfer than standard V-Belts. This configuration reduced my pump deflection from the rails, & lowered the vibration to a acceptable level. The pump is also has 3 more inches of clearance from the muffler. One problem I was worried about on this rebuild, is how I would be able to divert my GPM from 1 gun to 2. Going with a VB10 unloader took care of all of this by itself. I did not know this would work until it was put to the test. Configuring my unloader bypass back to my 225 gallon water tank, will never allow the pump to overheat the packing. Anyway the VB10 unloader allows changing any tip size on a gun to work properly. The unloader will bypass the needed water, for any tip size.Bypass pressure back to the tank, is around 700 PSI on the pump when not pulling the trigger. Much better than 3000 PSI on the pump at idle. I was very pleased to see this feature. I have always run K7 unloaders in the past, and this would not allowed me the freedom to change tips size without causing the unloader to constantly spike. I called Paul at Envirospec to confirm that I would not damage the pump or unloader by running any tip size. My heater has plenty of capacity (BTU')s to provide hot water for the 8 GPM on the pump. Overall I am tickled to death with my new pump, motor, & unloader configuration. I hope that someone will find this helpfull, when trying to upgrade their machine.

My current HydroTek is a SS32005k. It has a Kohler 15 Hp engine, & a Cat 5CP3120 Pump, rated @ 4.5 GPM @ 3200 PSI. I think the burner is rated @ 450,000 BTU, with a Beckett 12 Volt system. My water tank is 225 gallons. I am not sure what you mean by saying the 23 Hp Vanguard is a loose engine? The Admiral ( Legacy ) XG 3087 was almost free. My projected cost of this update project will be held to 1500.00 at the most. That includes basically a complete overhaul of the existing unit. The whole unit has been completely disassembled from top to bottom. The burner will receive a cleaning, with new insulation. The transformer was just recently replaced. New motor, pump, unloader, hoses, belts, & pulleys are part of the overhaul. I hope to be able to design the system where I can bypass any amount of water, to give me any PSI or GPM as needed. Max pressure will probably be 3000 PSI, and 8.5 GPM should be attainable. I don't know how this will actually work until tested, but I hope it will go as planned. The machine will be plumbed for 2 guns if needed. Current cleaning does not typically involve gum, so that should not be a problem. Mostly houses, driveways, & fleet washing. I am open to any suggestions, & would be glad to give you a call if you like. Thanks

I am new to the website. It looks like there is alot of experience here to learn from! My current setup is a HydroTek 5 GPM hot water 12 volt machine. I want more GPM's without breaking the bank. I have ordered a 23 HP Vanguard machine that will arrive in the next few days. I have also found a new Legacy KKV 3087 pump for a very low price. Based on all of the HP calculation's, I should get around 8.25 GPM @ 3000 PSI. I don't really need that much GPM, but it's there if I need it. I am not sure if the burner will get as hot as the 5GPM, but I don't run it at full heat anyway. Are there any suggestions on designing the system, to allow me to dump excess flow, without damaging the pump. I plan on using a soft touch unloader ( probably a VB10 ), so I don't have the problems with the K7 surging. I am thinking of installing a by-pass circuit that can be manually adjusted based on my desired GPM. I plan on dumping the bypass from the unloader & this by-pass valve, back to my water tank. I know I will have to change tips as needed, but this will allow me to adjust my GPM without undo damage. I will be running an 1 1/4" 1 wire suction hose to feed the pump from my water tank. I hope this setup will work, does anyone have any suggestions that I need to consider? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

I have used Muratic Acid before with some success. You will have to play with the dwell time & strength to see what works the best. PS: Don't burn the brick!