what do you guys like for high pressure hose?

[AAPaint 14]

You're probably going to waste money lugging around extra hose for nothing. Most machines do just fine with 3/8" hose, and any back pressure on the machine is going to be the same with 1/2" as it is with 3/8" if the you are running the same amount of pressure at the tip anyway. If you're worried about the pump burning up, don't squeeze and release the trigger every ten seconds, and run your unloader to your water tank to keep the pump cool.

With 1/2" hose, you'll fit less on your reels, and you'll work yourself harder for house washing than it's worth. In some cases, bigger isn't always better, and this is one of them.

Btw, check out Russ's special on 3/8" hose here, real good prices: http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/look-whats-new/23762-pressure-wash-hose-specials.html

[Neil 14]

You're probably going to waste money lugging around extra hose for nothing. Most machines do just fine with 3/8" hose, and any back pressure on the machine is going to be the same with 1/2" as it is with 3/8" if the you are running the same amount of pressure at the tip anyway. If you're worried about the pump burning up, don't squeeze and release the trigger every ten seconds, and run your unloader to your water tank to keep the pump cool.

With 1/2" hose, you'll fit less on your reels, and you'll work yourself harder for house washing than it's worth. In some cases, bigger isn't always better, and this is one of them.

Btw, check out Russ's special on 3/8" hose here, real good prices: http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/look-whats-new/23762-pressure-wash-hose-specials.html

Well, hopefully instead of wasting anything, I will do the best thing which is why I am asking.

It took quite a while to even find prices on 1/2 hose.

I did finally find some Legacy Ultima 1/2 Inch Pressure Washer Hose 5000 PSI from PowerWash.om at about $2.30 per foot for 100 feet.

the 3/8 I have on order was $194 for 150' of blue 6000 PSI rated hose shipped.

so, 3/8 would be $388 for 300 feet and 300 feet of the 1/2 inch would be $690 plus shipping. almost twice the cost

[Guy B 70]

Unless you're running a hot water machine & running hot water all the time you don't need 2 wire (R2) 6000 psi hose, again twice as heavy as 1 wire (R1) and more expensive. While I understand your desire to buy for the long haul you will soon realize that hose is and will be a disposable part of business.

Never mind Buddy, it's your money to spend, have at it.

Good Luck!

[Neil 14]

Unless you're running a hot water machine & running hot water all the time you don't need 2 wire (R2) 6000 psi hose, again twice as heavy as 1 wire (R1) and more expensive. While I understand your desire to buy for the long haul you will soon realize that hose is and will be a disposable part of business.

Never mind Buddy, it's your money to spend, have at it.

Good Luck!

and it's your time , spend it as you wish :)

great to know about thinking of the hoses as disposable .

[bks0005 14]

What do you guys think of this hose? Good price and quality or keep looking?

Pressure Hose GoodYear Non Marking 4000 PSI Blue

[Neil 14]

What do you guys think of this hose? Good price and quality or keep looking?

Pressure Hose GoodYear Non Marking 4000 PSI Blue

some online research I did today turned up a blog article where the writer mentioned Goodyear ( non- Chinese made. how would we know? ) as a quality brand.

I do not know how the quality of that compares to the Eagle brand Russ has on sale linked earlier here by AApaint in this thread , but the Eagle from Russ looks like a good deal to me

Maybe I'll be able to switch to that hose from Russ

[Christopher 102]

I agree with you guy, sometimes people want help and will listen, sometimes they don't and end up listening to the wrong people. O Well.

I have had good luck with the 1/2" hose I got but in the beginning I was hand-coiling it up on the concrete or asphalt, this is 165' of 1/2" hose. I eventually took another hose off a hose reel and put the 1/2" hose onto the reel. It does take up more room than the 3/8" hose and is a lot heavier.

I have always used 3/8" hose until the year before last and used up to 600' of the 3/8" hose on most jobs, that Hotsy 5.6gpm 3000psi hot water machine lasted 7 years until the first set of packings needed to be replaced. Last year on an apartment complex I used 1250' of pressure hose since we could not get close to the building with the trucks and trailers and had to do what we could to get the job done for washing the buildings, stairs, and concrete hallways and breezeways. No problem with my pump running that much hose or the 8gpm machine running the same amount of pressure hose.

[Guy B 70]

great to know about thinking of the hoses as disposable .

As are down stream injectors (2-3 months) guns (2-3 months) QC's (2-3 months) and yes hoses. I'm lucky if we get 1 year out of a hose. Of course it could be longer or shorter depending on the volume of business.

[Neil 14]

I agree with you guy, sometimes people want help and will listen, sometimes they don't and end up listening to the wrong people. O Well..

Not sure who you are talking about Christopher. I can see your viewpoint since it may seem like I am not listening. I did ask for help and have been given it here. I have thanked those who did so and tried to be fair and polite about it.

It may seem like I am not listening, but I am. And I am learning :)

Part of what goes on is that as a beginner one has no idea where the truth is, so we listen to everyone including experienced pressure washers and sales people alike, giving equal weight to everything without understanding it yet.

I think something that could help would be the data on pressure drop with different size hoses at different lengths for example. Or how long different quality hoses last . There would be quite a few variables involved in this.

I value the input from the pressure washers here because you know a lot about this obviously , but a part of me still wants to understand why these things are true .

Anyway, I do appreciate the time guys have put into responding to the thread.

[bks0005 14]

I am new as well been doing this for about 5 years now and have a very good friend locally that does the same work. I have been a member of this board for about a year and can tell you first hand to listen to the people that do this stuff every day. The sales people may have a good product but at what cost. People that do this stuff everyday have spend a lot of money finding what works and what doesn't work or last. Take what info they give you and apply it to what work you do It will save you time and money in the long run. I have learned on thing in the last few years: Its not how much you make its how much you keep. We all make really good money most days but it does cost a lot to keep it all going- equipment, advertising, all those things we just have to have that don't work like we want. Sorry for the rambling on and on just wanted to let you know this profession is not cheap and it take a lot on money to keep it going monthly.

[Neil 14]

I am new as well been doing this for about 5 years now and have a very good friend locally that does the same work. I have been a member of this board for about a year and can tell you first hand to listen to the people that do this stuff every day. The sales people may have a good product but at what cost. People that do this stuff everyday have spend a lot of money finding what works and what doesn't work or last. Take what info they give you and apply it to what work you do It will save you time and money in the long run. I have learned on thing in the last few years: Its not how much you make its how much you keep. We all make really good money most days but it does cost a lot to keep it all going- equipment, advertising, all those things we just have to have that don't work like we want. Sorry for the rambling on and on just wanted to let you know this profession is not cheap and it take a lot on money to keep it going monthly.

Do I know about not cheap? Yes. Already with a fairly simple setup installed in my van I will spend over 5 grand . I love being self employed , so I am willing to pay the price and work hard to stay self employed.

The main thing I am trying to do is maximize the effectiveness of this equipment for the use of the Hammerhead surface cleaner I own ( and probably other surface cleaners I will buy)

So, for example, if I use hose that robs the pressure I have paid good money to create, that doesn't make sense. But I hear that this won't be a problem at the flow rate I have 5.5 @ 4k with 3/8 hose.

I have been influenced here with regard to thinking in terms of the hose as disposable so I should spend less . And probably have only what I need on the reel so that I minimize pressure drop

In fact, most likely I will call Russ on Tuesday about his hose special and see how that goes.

Edited May 28, 2012 by Neil

[tonyshelton 112]

I am new as well been doing this for about 5 years now and have a very good friend locally that does the same work. I have been a member of this board for about a year and can tell you first hand to listen to the people that do this stuff every day. The sales people may have a good product but at what cost. People that do this stuff everyday have spend a lot of money finding what works and what doesn't work or last. Take what info they give you and apply it to what work you do It will save you time and money in the long run. I have learned on thing in the last few years: Its not how much you make its how much you keep. We all make really good money most days but it does cost a lot to keep it all going- equipment, advertising, all those things we just have to have that don't work like we want. Sorry for the rambling on and on just wanted to let you know this profession is not cheap and it take a lot on money to keep it going monthly.

We started with r2 but now just use the 1 wire. It gets run over by semis at the petroleum station we clean up and still lasts a year. The skin usually comes off before it pops. We buy it in 475 ft rolls.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

[bks0005 14]

Thats me I get r1 hose and hope it last a year or more. I have have new hoses ran over by garbage truck and crush them, that was a bad night. For that reason alone if have started caring 100' to 200' of extra hoses just in case that happens again. Also the jumper hose from the machine to the reel, i try to carry one of those in the trailer if possible. I hate to use a 100' hose for a 10' if I don't have too. You will rarely have a problem during the day its when you doing a job in the stick or 2 in the morning that a hose will blow or something simple will fail.

[Guy B 70]

We started out thinking bigger, heavier duty R2 hose was the way to go. Since 95% of what we do would be termed residential I found out that I was seriously over thinking our choice in hose. If we were doing more commercial concrete cleaning where we would be running a constant 180+ degrees for long periods of time then R2 5000 psi would be the hose of choice.

Since this is not what we do on a regular basis the R1 hose is less expensive and easier to handle for moving in and out of breezeways and around houses. All of our units are 8 gpm @ 3000 psi with 200' of 3/8's R1 hose on the reel, the jumper between the skid and the reel is 1/2 R2 hose with only a 400 psi drop with down streamer in and 200 psi drop with down streamer out and no noticeable flow drop.

That being said, I do have 400' of R2 in the shop just in case and several hundred ft. of R1 as backup. I keep backups for everything accept engines.

[Neil 14]

I ended up with more hose than I need LOL

let me know if you need hose

PM me and I will give you the details

Neil

FYI guys and gals , if you ever make an order of hose from Florida Hydraulic Industrial Supply CO and your experience is anything like mine was, you will not be able to cancel your order with them even if you give them PLENTY and I mean PLENTY of time to cancel with their wholesaler . They would not give me a tracking number , the salesman went on vacation and did not forward his email to a surrogate, on and on. Then when confronted with these issues they totally stonewalled me by screening my calls and not responding to emails. In my opinion, this company is the worst company I have EVER dealt with .. You know.. I forget about simple ways to check companies out. The Florida BBB gives this company an F on a scale of A to F.

Edited June 16, 2012 by Neil