Scott Stone

IS the black stuff thick and hard, or can it flake off? Are there little bumps all over it, or is it smooth? Is the water in your area exceptionally hard? I have seen stuff like this in carwashes, and it is Calcium buildup. It is most common in hard water areas. The Prosoco stuff Paul recommended will take it off, but you will need to work at it. Think a sitff brush, applied on straight, and scrub your little heart out. Maybe RFitz knows what to do?? Scott Stone

Grainger Supply. Pricey, but they always have everything. Scott

With those Spec's, you might be pushing it with the price. I think that Beth sells pressure washers, but am not sure. Delco has competitive pricing on their relabeled Aladdins. Higherpowersupplies.com has some good prices on Tuff's. Just remember that it might cost $300 or $400 in shipping. Scott Stone

So what kindof grease do you use. I am willing to try it. White lithium, or automotive? Scott

Hmm, I have never greased the plungers before. Does it help in reassembly, and does it increase packing life? Scott Stone

I wear Gore tex boots. The current preferred boot is made by Nike. Really comfortable, and my feet stay dry, unless water drips down from my pants into the top of them. The last bunch I bought, (I buy four pairs at a time, on sale) cost me $54 a piece at Penneys. You do have to look for them, and buy them when you see them. I can't wear rubber boots, because I can't get them up around my calves. I got popeye calves. This is even inside of my pants, or on the rare occasion when I wear shorts. Scott

I have never used a nextel because coverage is spotty, at best, in the Phoenix area. My cell, that anyone is welcome to call any time, is 602-509-9741. If you have free incoming, call me and I will call you back. I have free long since I have free long distance. Scott Stone

You will probably want to scrape as much as you can off, before you even attempt using any chemical. The chemical is probably Muriatic or HCl acid based, You will need to be careful with it on the fresh concrete, because it is not a very smart (meaning it doesn't know how to differentiate between surfaces) chemical, it can't differentiate between the Mortar that you want off, and the Concrete in the driveway. So it will attack the driveway when you are using it. So Scrape away. Home Depot has scrapers in the tile laying section for those of us that have had to scrape out thin set when their wife decided she did not like the tile after it was half laid. Scott

Aaladin's are good machines. They use quality parts, and seem to hold up. There are much worse machines out there that you could get a hold of... Scott Stone In french it is Merci beaucoup. :nerd:

SOrry, I could not resist.

If you have a pressure unloader, you don't need to worry about the check valves. Scott Stone

There are no instructions to replace the seals. I also would not replace the unloader without testing it first. The first thing to do, since you are not getting any prime out of the pump, is to hook it up to a hose for a pressure feed. Leave the hose off or disconnected for now. Turn the hose on as full as you can get it. Leave the machine off for now. After the garden hose is turned on all of the way, is there water coming out of the outlet? If there is, you know that you are getting a feed. If there is not, clean out the inlet filter. There are multiple varieties of these filters. They can be a simple screen that is where you attach the hose to the machine, or sometimes they can be a little upstream of the hose, and actually have a filter housing that you need to remove. It will be a little round thing that is on the inlet side of the pump that a pipe is running through. The top will screw off and there is a screen filter inside. If you are getting water out of the machine, turn it on, with the hose still off. Does it look like the water is pulsating? If it is, the seals should be able to pump at least a little water. If it is not, then the seals are really shot. They are not hard to replace. If you have some common sense, and can put things together the way they came apart, you will be okay. If it appears that it is pumping water, turn off the machine, and Attach the gun. See if it is working now. If it is not, check the unloader. Hopefully you have a rubber line between the unloader, and the inlet of the pump. If you do, you can try to turn on the machine, with water to it. Hold the gun open, and pinch off the line as tightly as you can. If the pressure goes up, the unloader is probably bad. It is time to replace it. If you sensed a vibration in the gun, it could be one of the valves has gone bad, or an o-ring in the pump has gone bad. You will need to take all of the valves out and check them. After the valves are out, suck on the big end of them, and see if there is an easy draw of air. If there is, there is something wrong with the valve. Chcck that the housing on the valve is not cracked, or that the little plate in the valve is not broken. While they are out, you can also check to make sure the orings that the valves sit on are in good shape. For me, the first thing I usually check on a low/no pressure situation is the valves. They are easy to get at, and are fast to check. Then I would worry about seals. I can check the unloader with my machine on simply by seeing if water is flowing back into the tank. There are other thigns to check, but these are the biggies, Scott Stone

I want a discussion on trucks. I don't necessarily want to discuss the particular merits on one brand over another, because we all know tha Ford's were best, until last weekend. I want to know what you use as guidelines in purchasing a truck. 1. New, lightly used, or very used? 2. Why do you buy trucks that way? 3. How much do you think that it costs you to run the truck for expenses such as repairs and maintenance, and cost of the truck? 4. When you buy, do you prefer 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton, 1 ton, or a medium duty truck? 5. Gas or Diesel? Why? 6. When you buy a truck, is it all bells and whistles, or a stripper? Maybe bells and whistles for you, and a stripper for the crew? So what do you think? My philosophy. I bought my truck used, with 10,000 miles on it, because it was a good deal, and Scott is about making money. :) I recently bought a truck new for an employee, it is a stripper, but is also a Super Duty. Previously, I bought an optioned truck, but found employees don't appreciate it, and just abuse the truck. SO I saved some money this time. When I buy a truck, especially if it is dedicated to towing a trailer, or is anticipated to towing a pressure washing trailer, I want a 3/4 ton. Sometimes, it is a dual use truck, and it still ends up being a 3/4 ton. My truck is Diesel. I drive enough miles in it that I can justify the expense. I actualy do a spread sheet with anticipated costs before I make the final decision. My employee truck does not see nearly as many miles, so I bought a gas motor. More than enough guts to get it and a trailer moving. He also only drives it about 400 miles a week. So no justification for a diesel motor. My other employee truck also sees about 300 miles a week, but it never tows a pressure washing trailer, so I bought a Toyota for a specific service. It is excellent for what it does, although everyone prefers driving the larger trucks. Since I know what kind of abuse some of my trucks go through, beyond driving from point to point, I buy an extended warranty from the manufacturer, to cover any potential problems. So enough of my ramblings. What do you do about trucks? Scott Stone

That is always prudent. Mine is an open element filter, so that is what I was mostly talking about. Scott

No, I have a good friend that is a certified Powerstroke mechanic, and is also one of the best mechanics in the state, if not nation, as stated by multiple other mechanics. He told me what Fords guidelines were when I got the filter, and then I researched it a little by calling the filter manufacturers. (why yes, I can be a pain in the rear, Surprised? didn't think so...) I guess that states that have emissions inspections have had a real problem with cars that have a K&N, and some other filters not passing emissions due to loose tolerances. They attribute it to sand and dust that got past the filter. Scott Stone

It flows more air, but the information that I found when I researched is that the particulates it lets in, especially when it has been freshly cleaned are too large. That is bad Karma for the Turbo, that diesels have, and for all the other moving parts. K&N says it meets OEM specs, but you need to find out what the particulate size it lets pass through is, that is the difference Scott Stone

The windows are alreasy tinted. :D I second the filter, but I use an airaid. I traded some work for it. The K&N doesn't filter the air well enough for me. The Airaid has a smaller particulate that it allows through that is within OEM specs. Scott

I just got some in my last parts order. I plan on putting them to use this week. Wait a couple of days and I will let you know what I think of them. Scott Stone

72 was the last year for the 454, I think. My parents had a 72 impala, with a factory LS7 in it. It was a COPO for a dealers father. I think that they bought it 6 months old. It was FAST!!! Unfotunately, it was sold before I was ever able to drive it legally. My older brothers al had a really good time with it, though. I think that was the only Chevy my family ever owned, but it was a good one. Scott Stone

I like my boring stock flat running boards. On the 99 I had, I had different boards,(Non-stock) and I liked them, too. I do think that the tube nerf guards would be slipperier. My wife likes them though, but guess what? It is my truck. She has her own!!! (Actually an Excursion, but good enough) Scott Stone

You've got to get the wheels and tires. They are what sets off a truck. Since yours is paid off, and you probably aren't planning on getting a new one, you deserve it. ;) I have wheels on mine, with 285's. It doesn't improve the fuel mileage any, in fac t it dropped when I put them on, but it sure does look nice when it is cleaned up. 114,000 miles and I still get compliments on it nearly daily. Scott Stone

And can you imagine that thing on a deck?? I hope the guy has some sandpaper handy. Scott Stone

There are some peopel that swear by van's, especially for fleetwashing. If you always have access to water, I could see alot of advantages to having a van to work out of. Unfortunately, I seldom have that kind of access, so I have to have my tanks to haul water with. And you can put a LOT of stuff inside a van. I don't know what kind of trucks Mike is talking about. I would like to see a picture. Scott Stone

Jon, You are correct. I taught you well, Padawan Learner. I don't think that the Closed System is somethign that they would need to specify, although it would definitely be to the contractors advantage to employ it. David, that is also true. He did not specify if it was sealed or not. If they spent their money the most wisely, they should probably seal it, although there could be disadvantages to that as well. I am thinking that somethign like V-Seal would be best. Scott

Alan, You need to look at who is doing the post. I don't think that this poster is a pressure washing contractor, judging from his login ID. Alan is right, to a certain extent, and a lot of the specifications will depend on if the garage has been used yet, and if there are oil stains inside of it. I will give you the specifications that I am familiar with from Government contracts that I have bid. They usually specify 3000 PSI and 200 degrees. Some also specify a minimum gallons per minute. In this instance the standard is 5 GPM, however, the more the better, and usually the larger and more experienced contractors have a higher GPM available to them. You want to specify a surface cleaner, and not a wand. There is less likely a chance for damage if you do this. Usually on the surface cleaners they have 15 degree nozzles, although some may be different. If there are oils that you are worried about being removed, you can specify a residual oil test to see that it is 95% clean. If you specify a higher percetnage than that it will be nearly impossible to get it clean enough. I have seen it specified that way, and that is why I pointed it out. You also might want to specify what type of cleaners. The choices are citrus based, Sodium Hydroxide based, and acid based. All of them will work to a certain extent. It is just a matter of you determining what will work best on the substrate, and making sure that the contractor follows the specifications. Recovery is a strong point of debate. There are the immediate recovery systems, such as a Fury system. They are not commonly available, but they are out there. You can also specify a Vacuum berm type system. These are commonly called Vacu-Booms, and tehy work well, but the water is not recovered as quickly. It actually has to flow down to the boom, and get vacuumed up and pumped back to a holding tank. They can also use a suction pump system, where the water is sandbagged and using a roofers pump, pumped back to a holding tank. As for disposal of the wast water, you should have it specified in the contract that a waste water disposal proposal should be included in the contract. It really depends onyour area, what is needed to dispose of the waste water. If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call, and I will help all that I can. Scott Stone cell 602-509-9741