One Tough Pressure

Tom, No need to get insulting. This is an open discussion and that is what Mike did, but not in a negative tone. Please refrain from name calling, or your post will be subject to editing by bbs Forum Leaders.

Wonder what Roland is up to now?

Freakin rats, I have a friend that I wash with and I do the back of the place and the dumpster, because he hates the rats. You pull the dumpster out and they just come out from everywhere as they run for the storm drain. I always thought no biggy, and kinda laughed that he was so bothered by them. Well. I have done this place several times with him, and this past Thursday he was unable to go, so I did the place myself. I usually shine my 10 Million candlepower spotlight and they take off, then a couple kicks on the dumpster and they are gone. I decided to use my flashlight this time, which is fairly bright, but apparently not bright enough. I did the usual shine the light, kick the doors, open the doors and started to pull the dumpsters out. A few slow ones were still coming out, so I backed off and waited till they ran off, but as I went back to grab on, one jumped out on my arm, and as I swung at him with the Stream Light, another leaped off the dumpster onto my pant leg. They both ran off and went wherever, as I stood there cussing up a storm. No harm done, but it was a real shocker as I do not like rats very much, but never had them come my way before. They now have a new respect from me.

One way to weed out the looky loos, is ask who they plan on going with for insurance. A large majority of the time, I will get a blank stare and something along the lines of "uh whattcha need that for?" With answers like that you know who to look out for.

According to a chart that I read, the pressure drop on a 8gpm machine for 100 feet of 3/8" hose is 130 psi vs an 80 psi drop with the 1/2" hose. Any 8 gpm users who are using the 1/2" hose? Is it worth the weight and cost?

Recently I found a use for those high pressure ball valves. However after a short time, they start to bind up and become difficult to open and close. A friend of mine introduced me to some high temp lubricant and in just a few minutes, they work like new again. They need to be taken apart to apply the lube, so unless you have "Hands of Kong" to hold this thing, you will need a vise. I always hear people saying they get hard to open and close, but no remedy for making them easy again. So is everybody throwing them away or what?

I have a few local guys that I have helped, and in return they have helped me as well. I would say start out easy and see if they are really serious or just another hack that thinks this is easy money. See what their background is, and what their future vision has in store for them. You may have smaller jobs to give away, or need help on bigger jobs and some of these guys may be just what you need. I wouldn't waste time worrying if they are competition, or a threat because if they are, then it is already done. Always nice to have a local or two in this business with you.

I just switched from a 5gpm 3500 psi pump to an 8 gpm 3600 psi. I threw a rod in my General and for just a wee bit more, got the AR 3025 in it's place. Since I only have a 20 HP engine, I am a little limited in using the AR to it's max output, but it is very versatile in it's current form. Since I have another generator aside from the one on the skid, I disconnected the belt to gain more power for the pump. I can get 2500 psi out of it with the full volume, or I can bypass water on the high pressure side with smaller nozzles to get 3000 psi and 5+ gpm. As time goes on, I will upgrade engines to maximize my pump investment. And when i get the replacement General which is under warranty, I will start on the building of a back up washer.

Here is my custom nozzle rack, since I need such a large variety of nozzles with this pump, and the bypass valve.

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http://www.ejmetals.com/extsyst.html I thought this was cool. check out that roll over foam nozzle they have on there. You could soap a whole fleet with that thing.

http://www.msmfg.net/

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This topic has gone back and forth on whether having a license really means anything as far as quality. If a license were required in California, then so would insurance and bond. Only the people that are making a living would go after the licensing, so the beer money folks or whatever else you may call them, would be the outcast. For the cost of what it takes to be legal, that alone would mean higher quality, as the hacks out there would see no reason spending it for the short time they will be in the business. It would also help the customer narrow down the choices of who to call. Of course they still need to verify if everything is current, but as it is now, they have nothing to verify. In short it would raise the bar, by how much is not known, but every little bit helps.

California has an older one on the books for compressed air waterblasting & sandblasting, but since very few if any use compressed air for general cleaning, then it is not a required license.

So which pump did you go with? I just threw a rod in my General and will be replacing with an AR.

I looked at their stuff back in 2003 when I went with the gas vacuum. Had they been willing to build what i wanted, I would have gone with them. They claimed they did not do any custom stuff, just production. Times change i guess. Liquid ring pumps like the one in the LR configuration do very well, however they require a fresh water feed to go with the word "liquid". Steel Eagle used to use them on the Fury 2400XL, before they switched to a Sutorbilt blower. The liquid rings use about 1 gpm and you then have to deal with that on the waste side, so if you are recovering to a tank, you have an extra 60 gallons an hour to deal with, not to mention the supply if you are tank feeding only.

Do you have a link for the vacuum you speak of? My vac has 16" Hg or 216 inches of water lift and 300+ CFM. Using the 24" surfacer I can not always get all the water as the floor is not level and the surfacer will not seal. The larger the surfacer, the less likely chance for it to seal, due to floor conditions. My 11" will recover every drop and air dry in a minute or two. To much vacuum is not a problem, as you can buy or make a vacuum relief so that you can allow more air in at another source aside from the brush on the floor. In case you are not aware, full cfm has very little lift and full lift has very little cfm. Lift is what moves heavy items such as water. Shop vac makes a vacuum that has 350 cfm, but only 50" lift or 4 Hg. It would do a fine job in a dry situation, or wet with small hose runs. In longer hose runs, and when vacuum surfacers will be used, then you need lots of lift. As far as O-rings go, all of mine that wear out are usually from the twisting of the gun on the surface cleaner. The fury tools require an awful lot of torque on the gun as it is one of the handles and you need to muscle these tools. I bought the euro couplers for the fury, but have not tried them out yet.

I do not do any interior cleaning for residential, except for garage floors. The volume and pressure are not the issue, as bothcan be adjusted. I just do not have an interest in those jobs at the moment. As for Fury System, I only use the Steel Eagle Surface cleaners. My vacuum system is made by another company.

I am limited in the air dept, so was never able to get a full charge. It worked well for spraying the driveway and sure beats a pump up. My new project is a shurflo, just need to get a tank and some hose for it.

http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209&highlight=sprayer

I have the Steel Eagle 11" and 24". I gave thought to making my own, but these are not a quickie item to produce. The time that you spend scavenging for parts and making one, you could have done a few jobs and paid for a real one that is already has the bugs worked out.

I do tile and I start my pricing at .25 a sq ft. I use a vacuum surface cleaner, so the floor goes fast, it is the baseboards that take the most time for me.