Washaway

Lawrence,,, give me a call and I'll give you some very helpful information. (I'm too lazy to type) Sorry!

Certainly give the Fire department a try but I've tried that before, although I needed them for to feed water instead of retaining water, and they refused us. From what I understand they send them out for repairs as long as they can.

Send some our way!!! My palms and my grass could use it.

I too was pondering the idea around Christmas time. The kids would have loved it. Unfortunately it doesn't get cold enough around here for it to work and not to mention the neighbours who'd be calling the association b/c of noise. I'm still worried about the fire department's second visit.

Go with the 19" WhisperWash Classic. Excellent piece of equipment!! Very durable and reliable.

I get nervous when I see pws park in customer's driveways. Cleaning up a potential spill of some kind is not fun when it can be avoided by parking on municipal property instead.

Be careful of calling him too soon. It may give him incentive to try and bring the price down.

Nail some advertising to it!

Post a pic.....I'm curious to see what it looks like.

What kind of pressure cleaning do you do?

I've got a SC30008K Hydrotek with a 7G fuel tank. Running only on cold water that tank of 87 will last me just under 6 hours. If I'm running 150F then I will have to refuel just after 4 hours of operation. I think it's important to note that every 50 hours we change spark plugs, diesel/gas/oil/air filters, engine oil and pump oil.

TRitcher, the rig looks nice! Please tell me that that picture was taken in front of your home and not in the driveway of a client.

I'd like to see a picture of these tanks and your rig! You get this job, call us. We'll haul butt up there and show you how it's done.

pldoolittle, we want to know the outcome of your dilemma!

It's not a difficult process just time consuming and messy. Get yourself a turbo nozzle if you do a lot of this:

Tropical Wave, It's sad but you're right. (not the fact that you're right but rather the truth you brought to light)

No it doesn't make me feel any better. Infact I'm still coughing as if I was about to die. Niagra Falls is beautiful. I lived 14 years just 40 minutes drive from it, on the Canadian side. Forget the man made structre....go for nature. If you do go then defiantely visit the Canadian side....there's nothing to the town on the American side. You've got a full blown Casino, all kinds of entertainment and a beautiful quaint little town called Niagra on the Lake. Also there are waterparks, botanical gardens and a bunch more...........all within walking distance of each other.

I like to confine my knowledge simply to avoid coming across as arrogant. ;)

PressurePros you're absolutely right. I don't think I said anything different except that I wrote too much. Either way it's worth a try and in the end it always comes down to how you handle the situation.

Shut the burner off and run cold water through the entire system (including hoses) for apprx 5 min to cool everything. In the meantime we're packing.

Which was what?

For the future......within your proposal for the job you should always include a 'terms and conditions' page. In ours it states the following: "..........Wash Away Pressure Cleaning, Inc. will not handle any private property and holds no liability for water or dirt damage to private belongings left in direct path of spray. All belongings must be removed by owners if existing condition of items wish to be preserved" and ".........In the event that tenants must be notified of upcoming project, such will not be the responsibility of Wash Away Pressure Cleaning, Inc. Upon project commencement Wash Away Pressure Cleaning, Inc. will assume that all necessary notifications have already been handled by management/ownership." Without the 'terms and conditions' page and 'prices' pages being returned to us, signed, absolutely no project will be scheduled or started. This will help with some responsibility issue. Having said that, the tenants in a lot of cases just don't give a ....! You need to keep an eye out for such things and yes, you may have to omit and come back again. It's just a part of the job and you should factor such situations into your price to begin with. Sometimes you'll come out ahead and sometimes you'll loose more than you factored in. In the end it evens out. If the window was open and no one was home then why didn't you look inside? You would have had an idea of the damage, if any, and you could weigh your options. I'm a strong believer of not making use of my insurance. For example, if you're deductable is $500 and you can purchase new drapes for $100 (they must be some very expansive drapes) and/or recarpet the room for apprx. $200-250 then why would you want to have a claim on your insurance record? Is this the first time you are working for this management company? Either way, it may be adventageous for you to handle it and handle it promptly. There are a lot of contractors out there that do not take responsibility and here's your chance to show them that you are different. It could lead to many more projects. No matter what, I think that you should certainly try your best to get in touch with the homeowner. Simply tell them that you had observed the window being open and you wish to see if any water had snuck in. If there's any damage it's best if the management company hears it from you first, rather then from the homeowner.

Yes, I did mean casters. I've had mine for almost two years now and just recently did I have to spray the casters with some chain lube. The machine is really a quality product and it's stored outside, exposed to the elements.

If, down the road, you get one with wheels then get one with four wheels. Hydrotek makes ONE really nice large surface cleaners (contractor hydro twister) http://www.hydroteksystems.com/twister.htm

There's only a couple of hundred dollar diff b/n a cheaper and a top of the line surface cleaner. The cheaper ones will break down quicker and if you can't fix them yourself then very soon you'll have paid just as much in parts and labor as if you'd have bought the other one. And let's not take into account the headache if it breaks on the jobsite (which it always does........things tend not to break when they're not being used) and the aggrevation it causes due to downtime and having to return to finish the job (unless you have a backup unit). If they're not broken then yes, don't replace them. However my thought process was based on the following........if he's never owned one before then how will he know whether the bearings are perfect or just a little/little+abit/completly worn? This way he'll start out with new inner parts and later when they wear he will notice the difference. There's nothing really wrong with the rental units (except for the inner parts!!). I wouldn't trust them to take as good care of it as most of us do with our equipment. Once again this is why I suggested changing the bearings and such. If the plastic cover is in one piece and the aluminium handles aren't bent out of shape then you are safe to go (you'll still end up with a good as new unit for half the price.....it just won't be as shiny) I think that it's only fair to mention that I have never bought any used equipment. Time is money!!!! They pay for themselves.........and your shoulders will thank you! Side note: if you are doing a lot of flat work then pay attention to the following.........when pushing the surface cleaner away from you, the brush at the end furthest from you will wear (let's call it 12 o'clock position on the brush). When you're pulling it towards you the part of the brush at your feet (6o'clock on the brush) is not eposed to the same down force. Therefore the brushes wear unevenly which in effect, over time, will give you uneven surface cleaning. The brush acts as a space b/n the tips and the surface and if this space is not consistent then neither will the cleaning be. Also....if you are using hot water then pay attention to the teflon tape you put around the threading on the spray tips. They tend to wear and you can have water escape where it shouldn't! !!!TEFLON TAPE IS OUR FRIEND!!!! :lgbow: