tsutherland

There is no such thing as a dumb question, just dumb answers. No one wakes up one day and has all the answers, it takes years of trial and error and advice from other professionals who have been there before. This is a great site for asking these questions and sharing experiences. ASK AWAY!!!

I have no idea when this first started but I started to see it myself around the mid eighties in Minneapolis. After I moved to NC in the 90's, I didn't see it at all while there. After moving to South Florida, Any and all service industires are HUGE here. There is plenty of disposable cash and people who don't do for themselves, if they can pay someone to do it for them. Can't say as I blame them, in the summer here it is so hot/humid outside, no one wants to be out in it. (Some of us actually don't mind the heat or at least can tolerate it).

Hi Ryan, In my case, I use a 5000 psi pressure gauge just before my dual lance gun. If I shoot my #40045 tip, I get 3200 psi reading at the gun. If I squeeze the lance trigger to use the other tip, (in this case my X-Jet), I get about 700 psi on the gauge. I just went outside and tried this before I posted so I had the numbers correct on my machine.

Hey FullBlast, I can shoot about 30 feet in the air with my M-5. The difference between the M-5 and the original is that the M-5 has an adjustable spray pattern. You can go from a point for long range shooting to a fan spray for close up work.(just twist the black nozzle to change pattern) If I crank my unit to 3200PSI, using the X-Jet at the fine point spray drops me to 1000psi. Still high pressure, but not "oh my god" pressure. I am experimenting on my Xjet to see if I can rig it to hook up directly off the unloader (downstream) so I won't have to drag the seperate polybraided hose. I'll keep ya'll posted. I had pics of my M-5 that I put on this post, but they didn't show up. Any help with adding photos would be appreciated.

Hi Mark, Try using a carbon remover (as charcoal is Carbon) such as Viper, Release or Bond Breaker from Espec. (I think they mostly market those product for truck washes). I had some charcoal mixed with grease that was ground in for what looked like years and the Bond breaker did a nice job removing the stain. You might want to shoot RyanH an email to ask as I think he's a chemical engineer, but that worked for me. Good luck.

Hello, I have been using cingular for just under 2 years now and since I am due for renewal next month, I was wondering your opinions on your business cell phones/plans? I live in South Florida and would appreciate any advise you can give. Since we're busy in south Florida, I don't have allot of time to check out plans. (not to mention, the number of plans available makes my brain numb). Any input would be appreciated.

Hi Ken, 4 ounces works fine. Any more and I get too much foam... I've used it in my chlorine for 6 months now and like it. It has good surfactant properties. I also use emulsifier plus from Espec. The only thing I prefer the emulsifier plus over the barlox is if there are carbon deposits or a greasy film on the surface. the barlox isn't any help there. Emulsifier Plus nets out at about $1.45 per gal of mix and barlox nets at $.85 per gal of mix. (barlox @ $27 for 32 gals of chlorine mix and emulsifier plus $80 for 55 gals mix). Hope this helps.

Hope everyone had a good mothers day today, and for those of you lucky guys and gals with their mother still with you. Call them quick if you haven't yet, and tell them how much they mean to you. Only one MOM....

Ya, I like the 16" broom. It does a nice sweep to rinse only. Doesn't have the punch to do a deep clean, but to do a final rinse, I use it quite often. I use it with a 48" lance and it is very comfortable for me.

The use of a water broom helps greatly when rising off. I have 12" brooms with 3 nozzles and 16" brooms with 4 nozzles. It really speeds the rinse up. I found a good price for brooms at http://www.Higherpowersupplies.com Their price was like $32 for the 16" broom but if you buy more than 1, it gets cheaper. I think I paid $28 each. I think I paid $24 for the 12" brooms. Good cleaning.....

I agree with Scott here. Try using a butyl based cleaner.(Test whatever chemical you choose on a small, inconspicious area). Not all vinyl homes have coloring all the way through. There is nothing worse that having a tan house with streaks of white showing through. You may need to use a soft brush and an extension pole to take it off. Good luck.

Should add that info came from my chloine supplier.

It has a good shelf life until you add detergent to it. Then you have just a matter of hours before it starts to degrade it. (or so I'm told). We have all done it, mixed detergent with chlorine and used it the following day or even days later. You still smell that lovely chlorine smell but how much potentcy is lost???? Think about it though, what is a detergents job? To break the bond of whatever we are shooting it onto, so it made sense to me. I've never taken the chlorine/detergent mix to a lab the day after mixing it, to have it analized but that would be interesting. I'll defer to some of the chemical engineers here at the site. I think RyanH in Georgia is one. Maybe he can shed more light on this since my info is second hand.

Pressure Pros, To answer your question, Barlox stabilizes the clorine meaning you can save it day to day if you have leftovers(which I usually do). It also coats much better than any detergent I've used. The good people at Xterior.com say that you can use the beige proportioner in the xjet for about a 10-1 mix but I use the black proportioner for a 5-1 mix. (in reality my trials show the black proportioner rally shoots closer to 3-1 ratio) Using the black proportioner works very well and in using the barlox/chlorine mix for over 6 months now, I've never needed it stronger. (I have to be honest here and say I've never tried to use it at 10-1 because I feel you should have at least 4% chlorine going on the surface to get a good clean). (I live in south Florida and we get alot of Algea/molds here). Sorry this took so long to post this reply, I've been swamped lately.

I'm new to this site but just wanted to pass this on. I've been using a product called Barlox (10s) for 6 months now and am very pleased with the results. 4 oz. Barlox per gal of Chlorine, shot through my M-5 Xjet and I am good to go!! Barlox is a chlorine stabilizer and surfactant so it coats better than just the chlorine, or other detergents I've used with chlorine for that matter. Sure Dawn dishwashing detergent is cheaper and works fine, but I like the way Barlox grabs ahold of the surface. I pay $27/gal for the Barlox through www.xterior.com but 1 gal makes 32 gal of chlorine mix. (maybe you can find it cheaper elsewhere) I know that isn't a cheap additive, but it works well. I work alone, so anything that saves me time and frustration is worth it to me.