garden hose downstreaming?

[jeffex11 121]

I washed a house today DS ing simple cherry and rinsed with a pencil nozzle on the garden hose. I only needed the pressure washer to DS the mixture. Does anyone have a setup to simply DS the chem through the water hose? I cut my time from 6 hrs to 3 and only had to get on the ladder to reach the back second story. Will the DS work if plumbed through the garden hose?

[plainpainter 217]

I don't know what your muni pressure is - but I've never seen a garden hose reach 35 foot peaks.

[jeffex11 121]

how about plumbing the garden hose to the pressure washer outlett. I have a pencil nozzle and ball valve setup on my garden hose that shoots my muni water pressure 30 ft.

[Cajun Cleanin 64]

Buy some bigger tips for your machine and rinse with those or if you have a m5 xjet use it.It will rinse two stories no problem.If it is taking 6 hrs to wash a house it should be huge or you need to upgrade some equipment.I rinse with my m5 almost exclusively now,I can dial out for reach and down for up close.

[John Doherty 126]

Even if you could (I don't know) each home has varying pressure and volume so it would be nearly impossible to get a consistent mix from house to house.

[John Orr 206]

I used to wash house this way I washed houses when I started almost 10 years ago. Try using an Ortho tree spayer and fill the cup with your housewash mix.

[Apple Roof Cleaning 202]

I used to wash house this way I washed houses when I started almost 10 years ago. Try using an Ortho tree spayer and fill the cup with your housewash mix.

Shhhhhhhh John ..... don't tell them that a short garden hose works better washing houses this way ;)

Gives more draw on the Ortho Tree Sprayer.

Lesco used to make a bigger canister sprayer then the Ortho, filled it up with housewash mix, and clean away.

[plainpainter 217]

Jeeez, if someone invented fuel injection first - there would be some smart Aleck who would later invent the carburetor and espouse it's simplicity over fuel injection as an advancement. Craziness. Pressure washers rule hands down to wash homes.

[jeffex11 121]

where I wash the house pressure is fairly consistant. It would be nice to just load up less equipment . I'm sure a sure-flo pump set up would do the job but then that would be about the same as hooking up a pressure washer to DS. Not a big deal just wondering if anyone has set this up . I will search around and try and plumb the DS injector to the hose and try it.

[jeffex11 121]

gettin' one of these manana...Ortho Tree Sprayer $14.95 at ace thanks for the tip

I can't believe how easy it was to finaly just watch the house clean itself with this formula

Edited June 12, 2009 by jeffex11

[plainpainter 217]

gettin' one of these manana...Ortho Tree Sprayer $14.95 at ace thanks for the tip

I can't believe how easy it was to finaly just watch the house clean itself with this formula

Heck - at this rate, why employ pressure washers at all?

[John Orr 206]

Jeeez, if someone invented fuel injection first - there would be some smart Aleck who would later invent the carburetor and espouse it's simplicity over fuel injection as an advancement. Craziness. Pressure washers rule hands down to wash homes.

Just to be clear, I downstream with 8 gpms...but I still carry an Ortho, just in case. (I also carry a 5.5 gpm portable in the van. Again, just in case. My point is that it IS possible to wash without a machine, but it does take longer and, in my opinion, looks less professional. It also won't help with washing a drive or bricks.

[jeffex11 121]

I'll leave the pressure washer on the trailer and start it just for effect if the homeowner is home! your right about the concrete and brick though.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

With an 8 gpm machine, I never considered ds'ing w/garden hose. Too slow in my opinion.

I have seen various items in the box stores for cleaning houses that are consumer based in their uses but I would not think of them for rugged contractor purposes.

Rod!~

[jeffex11 121]

DON'T GET ME WRONG I love my pressure washers...but if I don't need them to come off the trailer for a job...oh well! We all know that the box stores sell watered down chems . It is the simple cherry w/ f-13 that is on my payroll! best worker for a house wash IMO

[jeffex11 121]

I got a ortho tree sprayer...great for a small job but not enough volume for a whole house wash . I'll use it for spot apps of higher concentrated chems. I guess my pressure washer is still employed. It can cancel its application for a bailout! OOObamanation

[CCPC 26]

DON'T GET ME WRONG I love my pressure washers...but if I don't need them to come off the trailer for a job...oh well! We all know that the box stores sell watered down chems . It is the simple cherry w/ f-13 that is on my payroll! best worker for a house wash IMO

Pressure washers shouldn't come off the trailer anyways, only the hose and gun/wand should.

[jeffex11 121]

another soft washing success story. I used the pressure washer to downstream the cleaner but rinsed again with pencil nozzle on garden hose. High $$ neighborhood and sold the neighbor . They have had lower price estimates but my NON use of pressure for cleaning won the job

[offduty 25]

What in the heck kinda of house are you washing that takes 6 hours. 16,000 sq foot apartment buildings only take about 2 hours. Why rinse with a garden hose that maybe puts out 5 gpm when you have a p/w. Ditto on why are you taking your machines off the trailer. Mine are bolted down and weigh about 600 lbs each. Much easier to ulnlock the hose reel and walk with the gun in your hand

[plainpainter 217]

William - your eyes must have bulged out reading this thread - LOL!

[jeffex11 121]

well, i've made YOUR day I see...I hope "William " is ok.. 2 hours for an apartment building..one person ... how do you have time for a minion like me with all your millions to count? I am pleased that your level of equipment and setup must be something for us all to strive for one day. In my simple mind if I can create a system where as I could wash a house using a garden hose , extension pole and brush, ladder, pump up sprayer, and the proper chems I could create more than one crew on the cheap and max profits. My son is training with me now and although we will only hope to be as good as you one day we still made a few measly dollars. I have had great luck with the simple cherry formula and f-13 reducing time onsite washing houses from the days of vinyl brite and the pressure washing extension wand. However, in my area the gutters still need scrubbing to remove the black stains in many cases. It still takes time to protect plants from the SH chems and I would rather take time to rinse them off rather than replace them later. We were able to sell an add on of washing the windows on this job as well. Math doesn't lie. I believe this house could have been washed without a pressure washer and acheived the same results. Without the cost of that equipment to factor into the profit margin even the lightning fast time some are able to wash an apartment in must pay for that rig. just an observation . let the floggings continue until morale improves!

[offduty 25]

Jeff, not knocking on your equipment, you work with what you got. That being said Equipment is not that expensive in the overall picture. If you already have a trailer you can have an 8 gpm set up for less than 5K. 6 gpm should be a minimum for residential. Charge the same price you did for that 6 hour house wash but be done in 2 hours. Rinse the plants and siding with a good flow, not garden hose pressure. No need for extension wands. And no pressure. Don't equate pressure washers with high pressure for house washing. I flow about 80psi. A garden hose is about 45psi. You would not believe the number of people that rinse with an XJet and think they are low pressure washing. Again, not knocking, just trying to show you the potential to work faster. If you were in my area I would ride buy and snicker and never offer any advice, for you would surely be my competition then:)

Dan, after a week on *** my eyes don't bug out any more. Quit trying to set your unloaders with a pressure gauge and you might have better luck with your 2 machine set up.

[plainpainter 217]

You know william - I may just get a big 'Blue' unloader and unload both machines into the one unloader - and set it up like you explained. The more I tinker with this setup the less it makes sense.

[gawashman 15]

I find using my 4GPM machine for small homes is sometimes taxing. I would much prefer using my 5.0 GPM for rinsing and washing.

[fullthrottlepower 14]

what kind of repeat business can you expect and is it feasible to to see yourself

charging upwards of 100/per hr (to cover business expenses and still show a profit)a 6 hr job i'm sure didn't get charged near enough but then again its how you sell yourself or the job

just curious as to what prompts this kind of thinking. (garden hose vs pw, im sure insurance would be cheaper, then more claims for ladder accidents) im really not seeing this