577-Jersey

I just have a small 1/4"ball valve on my injector line I turn off to rinse,,or you could just pull the hose out of the chem bucket and stick it into a rinse bucket,,while rinsing its best to stick the injector hose into a rinse bucket that way you are rinsing out the injector for next time :)

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 :)

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.

Each of us has one or more tool boxes of different brands and cool configurations. I thought this thread would be a great topic for us to discuss what we have and what is in them.
I have several tool boxes (1 in each vehicle and 1 in the shop as well). Each contains:

crescent wrenches
Vice grips
Channel locks
flat and phillips head screw drivers
a socket wrench set (some with ratchet wrenches)
Needle nose pliers
'O' ring pick
teflon tape
flat file and rat-tail file

After that is where I am sure things start to vary with many of us.
I like two versions of tool boxes, 1 being the normal tool box with the compartments on top of the lid with flip open lids to allow quick access to the most used items like 'O' rings, QC sockets and QC plugs etc.
The other version I have is a compartmentalized box that fits behind the seat of my F-150 with a clear flip-top lid. It fits almost all of the above in it.
Whatcha got?
Rod!~
ps, rate this thread.

There's a big difference between drilling out a red tip and using a "shooter" tip. Its like going to a shooting range with a handgun and a rifle to do some long distance target practice. The barrel of the rifle makes a world of difference in target shooting for long distance as does the barrel of a shooter tip.
$30 for a pinpoint accurate shooter tip that give you excellent distance as well is money in the bank every time in the powerwashing business. Its also great for safety reasons because it keeps you off ladders and saves your back because you'll use your extension wand much less often so it's a "win win" in my book!

I use auto anti-freeze concentrate. Not the 50/50 mix. (why pay for the water and get half the product, right?!?!?)
Never had any problems with the pump seals.
I drain and blow out all my lines and supply hoses so they have nothing in them over the winter.
 
Rod

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

Two areas that you need to be careful around with F-13 is painted aluminum garage doors and especially factory coated hardyboard siding. I'm not sure why, but these areas are highly sensitive to the chemical and will oxidize quickly leaving a lighter colored chalky stain!

Possibly a worn check valve.
If it gets worse, the problem resides in your pump and would require new check valves and possibly new seals.
 
Rod

No that's not normal. First off you don't want to starve your pump for water. If your running into issues where the spigot on the houses is not supplying enough water then you should have a buffer tank setup where your powerwasher is running off of that. Starving your pump for water causes it to cavitate which you might be feeling when you squeeze the trigger. If you don't correct this problem you'll eventually have to rebuild your pump.
Also check your filter to make sure the screen is not clogged because that to can cause your pump to cavitate as well as any air in the water feed line so check that as well.
If everything checks out fine & your still having problems then most likely you need a pump rebuild.

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 think you missed the point......my point was more volume (gpm) = faster production= larger jobs = more profit.....Now compute those yards being 2,3,4 + arces using a push mower vs. a 60"....lets see those numbers?....Lol. $400 a day?...or...$400 an hour? big difference.
 
Moving up is a step in the right direction......and you've found a great machine to do that.

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 :)

Purple power sucks,one the dye in it is just extra to clean off and if you boost it with SH the purple gets chunky and messy.
@Adam And are you referring to SH as Sodium Hypochlorite or SH as Sodium Hydroxide?
A buddy of mine uses simple green for house wash less corrosive and safer.
Marko

Everybody's going to say an 0040 or 0050 will do the same, and they both do good. But I do have a ladder saver nozzle and with my 8gpm machine I will say the ladder saver does shoot farther and hit harder with bigger droplets. I have washed church steeples and dormers from the ground that I just couldn't hit hard enough with an 0040. I do like the ladder saver for those few time I need long range and they are great for busting dirt dauber nests and knocking down wasp nests up high. I probably would have never bought it from most of what I read others say about just using an 0040 but for my setup it has it's revered place.

In addition to F13 I have used Gutter Shock seemed to do a pretty decent job cleaning stained gutters

ACR is a great find for new or old salts in the PW business. We're fortunate to have Tom, Barbara, and crew local to keep us in business. Been dependent on ACR for now 14 yrs. for nearly all of our chemicals, stains, equipment, and repairs.

Yeah. If it works, that's all that counts. I don't see the argument that if it isn't expensive and doesn't come from a pressure washing supply company, then it isn't professional. That doesn't make any sense to me. 
 
 
Look at  Chris from Apple Roof Cleaning. He is using Gain dish detergent as his surfactant in his roof cleaning mix. Is he not a professional because he won't use freshwash or something that cost twenty times more? He did his homework, and found something that works just as good as the "expensive" stuff and is available anywhere, cutting costs all around. Now that's professional. IMHO  

I wonder what everyone has been using to clean there gutters, just the black streaks on them not the insides.
Ive been using la awesome for years and it works great on a car wash brush and a little scrub its gone. only bad thing about it is when its colder than 60 it wont work unless the gutter or the brush has hot water on it.
If you dont know what la awesome is they sell it at most 1.00 stores and dollargeneral, family dollar and i think walmart sells it to, its 1.00 for spray bottle or 3.00 for half gallon!
works wonders with carpet cleaners and just as a general cleaner, been adding it to all my house washes for years.
back to the question
what is everyone using for cleaning those streaks on gutters?

Tom look at the first page on Residencial Pressure Washing. Right underneath who use Ladder Saver You will see WHAT DO YOU USE TO CLEAN BLACK STAINS ON GUTTERS there are three pages of responses and guys are talking about La Totally Asome.

Tom from the pictures you posted I would certainly say you got a very good deal that looks almost brand new unit and MI-T-M are pretty reliable machines. A brand new unit such as that would cost you with tax close to $2000.

We use 4 gpm units. both 3000 psi.
Residential business; I don't recommend anything higher as some faucet flow restrictors don't keep up with the demand of the pump.
Since 2003, we have used Hydrotech skids.
Rod!~

We don't remove oxidation, we clean it. It's still there, it's just clean.
There are any number of products that have been touted and tested over the years with varying levels of success and longevity. I tell my customers that it's wear and tear from the sun and environment and that I have not found a compound that I'm comfortable selling them. But I sure will be happy to wash it for you.

A person can drive themselves crazy worrying if they got a good deal. Some will say it is a good deal and some will say it is a bad deal, All that matters is that you are happy with it. And if that's the case then it doesn't matter what anyone says.

Tom there is a full section on residencial cleaning thread regarding LA Totally Asome other have used this product very succesfully. Look for Cleaning Gutter Strippes