ron p

in the plumbing dept of home depot. Look for the red and white pvc valves that have threaded ends[female] then where the underground sprinkler parts are you will find the threaded hose barbs[male] They are gray. The Y's are really T'S[also in the spinkler fittings section.] Get a lot of hose clamp's and teflon tape. They also sell the hose but my home depot did away with the bulk box's:mad: I used the 3/4 hose and am pulling 10 gpm out ot it with no problems. 5 gpm to wash unit and helper is rineing trucks with the 5 gpm 12 volt. p.s. i have a very large 12volt ind truck battery just to power that 12 volt pump. I am buying a used 5 gpm wash unit to replace the 12 volt for rinseing. I charge the batter with a battery charger at the end of the day. Jon- your check is going out friday, i did'nt forget you. thanks again

couple of things to think about. install a water filter install a water softener install a Y and hook up a 12 volt shur-flo pump. [wash down pump]. This gives you a way to rinse,wash your face,fill bucket's,empty the tank. Install a gated Y before the tank with one side going to the tank and one to your wash unit. On some jobs where you effecient water supply . You can put a rinse aid in the tank and wash with reg ol tap water.[fleet washing,window's,ect...] Then switch to the tank water that could have a wax in it or rinse aid. If your wash unit has a small flot tank allready, dont hook the big tank to the small tank, it wont pull the water. Another gated Y is used to direct that water. Install a check valve in the supply line comeing off the tank. You dont want air in that line, it will catavite your pump[break the ceramic seat's] If you dont use UPSTREAM then take the line off the return side of the unloader and run it back to the supply tank.[you need a second hole in the tank with a hose barb] this way you can run your wash unit in bypass all day and never heat-up the pump. Your unloader will last a lot longer as will your pump. If you do use UPSTREAM you will need a Y in the return line with a valve. This way you can choose where the return water goes. Also i would install a HUDSON float valve in the tank so you dont worry about overfilling it. Lastly it is hard to find true 3/4 inc fittings. [they have 3/4 threads but the internals are reduced to a much smaller size] I used home depot fittings to make my own true 3/4 valves and Y's. I also have a filter before the first Y in my system to catch the grit from the garden hose. I wish i had a cam . so here it goes. 1-garden hose to filter 2-filter to Y 3-one side of y goes to large tank 4-other side goes to small float tank 5-skip 2,3,4 if you dont have a small float tank 6-connect hose to float valve that's installed in the main tank 7-output hose at bottom of tank goes to second filter 8-from filter to check valve 9-check valve to gated Y 10- one side of Y goes to wash unit 11- other side of the Y goes to a 12 volt washdown pump. 13-from outflow side of 12 volt pump to a hose reel[cheap home depot type] 14- take off return hose from unloader and run longer hose back to the tank. 15-if needed install a gated Y for diverting water back to unloader if you need to use upstreamer. I hope this help's.

rick,can you post a pic. Do you use the pin loc. Do you have a link for part's. thank's

on the start-up of this site we/beth/members got spammed with porno so i think the programming auto delete's some keywords.

Found a guy selling them for $120 comes with the close range tip and proportioners. maybe this should be posted in the equipment section but i wanted everyone to see it.

pissing off everyone that sell's them. maybe it's better to "wait and see"

they have the 3 gal size. I just used the site as a place to get the picture. You can get used soda kegs for around $30. I lost my link to the supply house that sold the conversion part's. Anyone got that link?

go to www.topoftheline.com click "new products" you will see what im talking about.

OTP you are on the right track. They make speciality tops for soda keg's[they are stainless steel] that have an air valve built into them. You need a compressor to charge them. Then they use the hose coil type hose and either a spray nozzle or brush. Lot's of car detailers use them. The compressor can be as small as the type that you plug into your cigertte lighter. Cant find the site right right now for the top's.

this is one of the main reasons that contract's are so important. You can sell the job once and wash for a year. If residental is your niech, then keep accurate records of each est. Even if you dont get the job. If you do get the job snap a pic and on the back of the pic write the amount of each chem you used,what chems you did use and your selling price. Then leave a note on if you should have charged more money. I learned this trick from an old painter/wallpaper hanger. He use to write the info of how much paint or wall paper he used in each room on the back of the light switch cover. In 2 years when they want to re-do the room he has the info just a twist of the screwdriver away. When you send out your spring post card's you can also address them RESIDENT with the price. You might just get a new homeowner to call you or the homeowner went with someone else and did'nt like the work. keep at the one's that got away, you never know.

if you have a nice easy way to figure out the TRUE sq ft of 2 of the same houses but one has a 3/12 pitch roof and the other a 6/12 pitch roof. I want to know about it. To tell you the truth, if after est say 3 house's, you cant EYEBALL them and give a snap price after a quick walkaround. Your going to waste to much time giving est. my stride is 3 ft, so walking a house is fast and easy. Remember when you do an est. or after you collect a check, your time started when you started to drive to that location. This BS about making $75 per hour is in most cases not calculated correctly. Deck job-1/2 hour travel,fuel,cust. not home-return 1/2 hour. Then cust want's to go over things in person 1/2 travel,fuel-sell the job 30 min,1/2 travel home right their is 2 1/2 hours plus fuel and you still might not get the job. most contractor's or price chart's dont include travel time or selling time, nor lost time doing est. where you dont get the job.

tim i cant spell it but beth can lithem's paper it turn's diffrent colors for diffrent PH's and has a chart. Remember diffrent wood's have diffrent natural PH's. Some sealers have diffrent PH requirement's for diffrent woods.

the way to do your est. will depend on how easy you find it to do the math. Some people can do an est by the sq ft of the living space. I find that you can get short changed this way because of the styles of homes. Diffrent peak heights,dormers,they dont add garage space,ect.... this goes for sq ft also-just too much math,peaks,dormers,overhangs,ect..... I like liner foot priceing. Take a measureing wheel[home depot $45] and walk around the house. Whatever that number is you multiply times your lin ft price. $1 to $1.50 a lin ft or single story to $2 to $2.50 per lin ft for 2 story. Depending on degree of diffaculty.[your price my differ].[also your price will or will not include things at this price] Some guy's like to charge extra for stuff like gutters,front step's,front walk,ect...i dont tell the customer the lin ft or whetever method i use. I just tell them what is included and what is'nt in my quote. I dont want to argue over math. Flatwork goes by sq. ft. Fleet goes by the piece. Decks can go diffrent way's but i use sq ft plus lin ft on the railings. Some jobs/add ons are done by T&M [time and materials]. Lastly buy a book at www.amazon.com "how much should i charge?" by ellen rohr it is money well spent.

mosmatic swivel 3/8ths made of stainless $36 1-800-346-4876 install it at the end of your pressure line. You wont have to change O rings for a long time. Euro couplers are good for somethings but not where you want to save time.

if the reason for the filter is for pump protection only[not water quality] then why do more then a an iron horse filter at $27 ? I have run my unit for 3 years and have never any junk in my filter. I must have good water here. I also have a bucket that i wash all the fittings in before i hook them up. Do you guy's run 2 filters? I do, one going into the tank and one comeing out. cheap overkill. my first filter is before the Y that can feed either the big tank or the small float tank. I sometimes use the tank with the rinse aid and feed the washer with un-treated water. I switch back and forth for washing water and for rinseing.

on things that dont have to come apart for a long time. I use a dab of neversieze on them. never had a problem.

do yourself a big favor. Find the right info from the right people. two wrongs wont make a right. If you get a repuatation for doing it correctly you could end up making a lot more money. Talk to the local EPA.

i dont think reed get's it. A scale like that can be used to measure a lot of things. If you put that scale in the trunk of a new BMW you might need to a lot of exsplaining to a traffic cop.

Im glad you liked my creative writeing. No one else said a word about that and i was'nt sure it went over well. I know we are supposed to be professional but you got to have a little fun. If you ever think that you cant do certian types of creative things? Check out a book called "how to draw with the leftside of your brain." Even if you have no interest in drawing or simply think that you could never be an artist. You should read it and do the simple steps. It will open up a lot of new thinking you never knew you had. If everyone here read that book we could/would get along much better. I'll look up the writer. She teach's for most of the major buissness in the world. IBM,MICROSOFT,ATT,ECT...... I highly reccomend reading it and following the activitie's. Your right side of your brain is programmed to do 95% of your thinking because of the way you were trainned in school and growing up. Your left side is much much more fun. Once you learn how to use it, you can do things that scare the crap out of most other people. Beth is a left side thinker. That is why she is a good public speaker and dose well with writeing and logo's. It dose come down to some natural talent but you can open that door in yourself IF you sit down and read this book. It could make you a better person. It will tripple your confidance in SELLING, CLOSEING THE DEAL,and sheareing ideas.

i have not used spa n deck,i think it's supposed to be a 2 or 3 part system. A-PLUS FLOOD did'nt invent spa n deck they just bought the right's to sell it. The whole "one day deck" is very interesting. I know Russ is trying to get the new WOOD TUX to the point of advertising it as a "one day deck" Biggest draw back to most sealers is measuring moisture content.

Idid'nt think that size and type could do more then 50 gal per day?

a pinch is less then a smidgen and a pinch is only used for cooking. A smigen is for measureing stuff at home depot. a dash is way bigger then a pinch and is also just for cooking. A dab is for measuring liquids and is way bigger then a drop. Now i could be a hair off but im probley only a touch off. Dollops are only for thicked fluids and are bigger then a bit. You can nick time or kiss the 9 ball You can shave a hair off You dollop sour cream. You only need 2 fingers to measure a pinch,smidgen or a touch but you need a spoon or brush to measure a dollop or a dab. A nick is smaller then a pinch but is used for measurement's on diffrent surfaces. Both can be used on your face,or your other surface THE END. :D

it makes no diffrence if your talking 1 oz or 100000000 lbs the ratio stays the same. 1 oz of chem to 5 oz of water is 1 to 5 5 oz chem to 1oz of water is 5 to 1 Now this is the tricky part that a lot of people get messed up. Dont confuse weight and volume. When you buy a powdered chem and it tell's you to mix 8 oz of chem to 1 gal of water, some people would use a measureing cup and a 5 gal bucket. This would be WRONG. Water is measured by volume[in this case], dry chem is measured by weight. Two diffrent things. What weigh's more, a lb of feather's or a lb of gold? both weigh the same but the feather's will take up a lot more volume. I bet less then 1% of guy's who use powdered chems have a scale. Then wonder why other people love a chem that they cant get to work well. A good exsample of problem's comeing from a mis-informed pressure washer is when they use a X-JET. Everyone tell's the next guy how they mix their chem and how it work's. Well, guy A telling guy B to mix 1 gal of chem to 4 gal of water and use his x-jet to apply. Well guy A has a 3 gal per min wash unit and guy B has a 5 gal per min unit. They will have diffrent DRAW RATES AND WONT WORK THE SAME. Guy B will need to allmost double the amount of chem. He is shooting allmost twice the amount of water in the same min. Next is guy's who only use water to keep their deck cleaners/strippers wet. This just deluites the cleaner. You must keep it wet with MORE CHEM. RATIO "a way of concisely showing the realationship between two quantities of something" Another exsample of a ratio. Say your downstreamer has a draw rate of 20 % You have a 5 gal per min pump. in one min you pumped 5 gal of water and added 20% chem. 20% of 5 gal per min would be 1 gal. So you had a 5 to 1 ratio. The pump pumped 5 gal and drew in 1 gal so a total of 6 gal shot out the tip in one min. 5 to 1 makes 6 total. Most people dont understand how you can get 6 gal per min from a 5 gal per min pump but it will.[draw rate] now have i helped you or just messed you all up?

he/you/i could be able to land some car dealers if you wanted to exspand your market. You could also sell the water to other window washer's. Thier is still a big diffrence between DI and RO. I was just trying to be helpfull.

my story was just to show a sample of what a bond could be, not what you should or should not do.