577-Jersey

Wanted to share something great that I found works for me. This tip is darn awesome,,I can do a whole house without changing any tips,,it fans from zero degree to about 60 and everything in between. The size of the orfice is about the same as a .0040 tip,,it will reach way up over the second story(35-40ft) with a nice rain like rinse and minimal mist using a 4 GPM pump. This tip works my 2.2mm chem injector to max efficiency,,plenty of soap sucking action!!! Then when you get down below the second story you just twist the end to fan it out how ever you need it. I am going to go to Home depot and buy a couple more tomorrow,I love this tip and recommend it to anybody here that down streams.Give it a try,it saves time,very nice not to change tips every time I get low or high. The only bad reviews it got was too much flow for their squirt guns...lol Tom :) http://www.homedepot.com/p/Power-Care-Variable-Soap-Blaster-Nozzle-AP31048/204467843

I just did my last two jobs last week...a small single story and a brick walkway. I winterized both washers till late March here in Jersey....time to sit back and get my learn on.. BTW-Happy Thanksgiving to all you guys!! Tom :)

I noticed I can feel a high speed vibration in my wand sometimes when trigger is squeezed,,it does not do it at first but after an hour or so I notice this happens and is most noticeable with low pressure tips. When the water hits the house or surface you can even hear it,,sounds like a buzz splash. Its pumping out the water in high pressure spurts. It feels like you can feel every pump of the piston in the plungers,,the water pressure and flow is good and strong. Is this normal,,maybe not enough water supply from hose spigot causing the plunger cylinder to fill with some air?? Maybe cause Im not running the Honda up to WOT?(I didnt even try to check it at WOT) I have no idea but is this normal,something I can fix,or just dont worry about it? I have felt this in the past on other units as well,,vibration flutter. Thanks!! Tom :)

I wanted to add I replaced all the packing seals today,,the old HP seals looked like they where falling apart,,the LP seals looked good. Now the wet end of the pump is completely rebuilt,,should be good for a while....no more vibration :)

I have two crescent wrenches,socket set,allens,hammer,screwdrivers both kinds all sizes,extra belts,hose,tips,wand,chem injector,QC,s,orings 3/8 and 1/4,oring pick,extra garden hose,hose seals,zip ties,duct tape,jumper cables,razor knife,vise grips,C clamps,and a bunch of nuts and bolts..oh yeah a tarp and thats about it. I use some of these tools for when Im doing lawn care as well :)

Thats an awesome job Guy, Im happy just on my small little one two story home owner jobs for now..I will leave the big stuff for you big dawgs!!

I will have to buy one an try it,,I did see the tip is quite long compared,,thanks for the tip,,no pun :)

Just wondering what you guys use,and what works best.... I was thinking to try auto antifreeze because it has the best lubricating,and anti corrosion action out of all of them. My unit stays in a shop with no kids or animals that could get into the stuff. I did pick up a cheap RV antifreeze but I saw alcohol as an ingredient in there,,might not be so good for rubber o-rings and such? Thanks for any opinions,,I plan on using my PW after it gets cold so am looking for the best way to leave it over night and have it ready for the morning :) Tom :)

My manual says to use an RV type anti-freeze,,I wont do that because rubber and alcohol don't mix well,,on the other hand the auto anti-freeze mixes perfect with plastic,rubber,and all kinds of metals.I will stick with what Rod says and my gut on this one unless I can find RV without alcohol. The manufacturer also has super expensive rebuild/repair service kits that they need to sell,just saying.

Thats what I figured Rod,,why spend $10 on a small 10oz. can of who knows what when you can get the real deal,,heck one gallon of auto anti-freeze will last me a long time. Thanks for the reply! Tom

Hey guys,, I was browsing CL last week and found what looked to be a nice PW for sale,,its a MI-T-M belt with Honda GX390 and an AR RKA-4G40H pump.I went to look at it cause it was so close and decided to buy it. The guy was asking $850 and I got it for $720....the oil was new in pump and engine that was a good sign I guess. I had to change the quick connectors as they where corroded.It came with wand and 50ft hose,I changed the connectors on the hose also. The thermal relief valve was pissing out water even while the machine was cold,,so I replaced that for $10 from ACR and now its perfect. The unloader works very smooth,and I took the chem injector apart and cleaned it out really good,it was sucking plenty of soap afterwards....seems like I can run this machine throttled down for down streaming as it was shooting soap and rinse really high without running the Honda WOT. I will post a few pics of the unit when I get a chance,maybe you guys could tell me if I got a good deal or not. It looks used but looks like it sat more than it was used,,the belts are new also and the paint on the engine is not sun faded at all. Going to wash a small house tomorrow for a friend,want to see how it works,I was spraying up over my chimney with a soap tip the other day,the house is two story with attic so Id say it was 35ft easy. I hope this unit will be a great way for me too start adding pressure washing to my list regularly. I was using a 2.8 GPM Cat,7hp Saburu thats a great machine for small jobs,always good to have a back up too!! Thanks for stopping by!! Tom :)

I believe Awesome is the same way,Ive seen it remove white oxidation,also have seen it discolor paint too a lighter shade if used straight on some surfaces. Proceed with caution,or you better better be ready to paint if necessary.

$30 each man thats alot of cash,,I drilled out my red zero tip and it does about the same pattern. The machine in the video must be at least a 5 GPM,dont think mine will shoot that high..lol..well on the 18ft wand it would,,but that thing is a real pain to work with,,i only use it for really stubborn spots here and there.

You where right Rod, I could suck air through the top left check valve,it was also the dirtiest one,,I replaced them all. I believe that one leaky valve caused the problem,,will find out tomorrow.

Hey Rod, I used it today to clean a vinyl decking for a couple hours,,it ran good...afterwards I went to ACR and picked up a check valve kit for it. I am going to remove the old ones and see if I can suck any air through them later tonight. Gonna replace them with the new ones anyway just to be safe. Thanks again for the wealth of info you guys share freely on the site. I really appreciate it,,huge help!! Tom :)

Yes Rod,, I was reading that worn or dirty check valves would cause this high frequency vibration that i feel in the hose/wand. I am going to get a check valve/O-ring kit for it possibly next week. Thanks guys!! Tom

Hey John,, I pulled all my valves out tonight high side and low,,the O-rings that the valve head sits on looked good,the brass under O-ring looked great,,the valves looked good also. No signs of cavitation that I could see...the filter screen was clean,,I am just going to run it till it blows now,,i only have a few more jobs before Winter. It was not vibrating or hammering violently,,it was subtle,,you really had to pay attention to feel the light flutter in your hand under low pressure. Thanks again!!

Thanks John,, I will check all of that,,guess a rebuild will be on my Winter project list. Its an AR pump(belt drive) so it shouldn't be that expensive to do,,at least i hope not. A buffer tank,, Could that be as easy as putting a 30 gallon tank in the truck and running a line to the inlet on the pump,,will that just gravity feed? Guess I could run the home owners hose into the tank while Im working to keep it full. Not sure exactly how to set it up. Tom

I'm following ya now Guy,,for what I do I think the 4gpm will be just fine,,if I ever get into the upper commercial end of the business i will be looking for 5-8 gpm for sure!! :)

Oh believe me I know thats a fact,,I had to start somewhere though and I believe I made pretty good $$ using the 2.8..I did enough jobs with it to buy a used 4 GPM that I love,,I dont have a trailer or a tank so 4GPM is going to be my max as some of the home owner water supplies may not be able to keep up with anymore,,also PW is not my bread and butter,its just something for me to offer and do during slower times like drought,sept,oct,nov,and then in march. Oh BTW- I have made close to $400 in a day using a 20" push/self propelled mower,,its all about location,city or burbs,,if you have all your $30-$40 lawns in a 2 mile radius,,you can knock out 10 small ones easily,I have a friend that does close to 90 accounts he lives in St Louis and works out of a van with a couple push mowers,,he grosses close to $75K a season..if you have 70 accounts that need to be done every 7 days you do the math :) Thanks for the reply Guy :)

Im only 5 miles from ACR...never even knew they existed until I decided to start researching PW. Im glad I found them here :)

I have been using this stuff for many years now and know its no joke. Its a great degreaser,I have cleaned tiger stripes off my camper,gutters,and flashing with no problems. My question is do any of you guys use it to boost your house wash? I washed a house today that had very dirty red dirt on the siding,,the bleach and Elemonator alone did not take it all off. I was running 3 gal. 8.25% SH and 4 oz Elemonator down streamed in a 3er,,most of the house turned out great except for a few of these spots...even after light scrubbing. Also if anybody knows the chemicals found in Awesome that would be great,I thought I read TSP was in there also,,that would make it a great oxidation remover for paint prep on aluminum. I am going to try and mix 32oz.into my house wash mix and test it out on a small spot on my garage one day. I wish elemonator was a bit stronger than said...even had a couple squirts of dawn in there today. Thanks for any replies in advance guys!! Tom :)

Yeah I love them there at ACR,,Matt takes awesome care of me every time I go in there,,cuts me a break on stuff. I used the PW today for a couple hours soft washing a small 1200 sq ft two story house,,it worked great!! I also used Awesome on the gutters,,they turned out good for it being pretty chilly this morning. The whole job took me about 2 hours and I had to wash two of the sides twice because the siding had nasty red dirt on it. I also brightened up the walk ways quick with my surface cleaner. My wash mix was 3 gal.SH 8.25%,4oz.Elemonator,small squirt of Dawn,and 1 cup of awesome,no water,down streamed.There was good suds but this mix rinsed very easily. The machine kicked butt compared to my 2.8 gpm..lol Thank you guys so much for all this info on the site,,its really a pleasure reading all this stuff,,and priceless. Tom :)

This does suck and i know the feeling,, I had a back pack blower and weed eater stolen from me while I was in the back yard a couple years ago,,cost me close to $1000. Thats alot of sweat and blood to get your stuff back!! I hope you guys find the trash balls and they get what they deserve!! Tom

Awesome thread,no pun intended!! Has anybody tried adding some Awesome to their house mix to help boost the bleach? I know it has great foaming action and could possibly be a great alternative or boost for the tough jobs.