Connecting 2 powerwashers together

[John T 744]

I know this has been discuss numerous times but I'll throw this out there again because I'm contemplating on setting up my two hot water Powerwashers together.

These are the specs. First machine is a Landa 3000psi @ 4.8 gpm and the second machine is a Hydrotek 3200psi @ 4.6 gpm. SO my questions are will there be any problems connecting these 2 machines together to get aprox 3100 psi(WHich by the time it gets to the end of my hoses its less) and 9.4gpm??

[PressurePros 248]

I have seen this idea and thought about it myself. I really want to step up efficiency this coming season. But one question keeps coming to mind. What benefit is one machine pumping out that kind of gpm versus two guys using two wands, surface cleaners, etc? I know on concrete more gpm equals faster and easier using one machine, but since (in this scnario) the measured cleaning units come out equal is there a true benefit? I am thinking of trading in my skid unit for two smaller cold water units for decks and housewashing. Any thoughts are appreciated.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

John,

You will have to match the engines horsepower and the pumps psi in order to prevent unloader trauma.

You will need 1 unloader with 1 inlet, 1 outlet, 1 by-pass. (psssst...get the one with the big green spring, they are tough)

You will need a Y connector to the inlet where you will be feeding the high pressure lines to combine into 1.

Set the psi to the pumps psi rating and use a psi guage as you do.

Let me know if anything blows...:whoops:

Rod~

[COOPER 14]

John,

You will have to match the engines horsepower and the pumps psi in order to prevent unloader trauma.

You will need 1 unloader with 1 inlet, 1 outlet, 1 by-pass. (psssst...get the one with the big green spring, they are tough)

You will need a Y connector to the inlet where you will be feeding the high pressure lines to combine into 1.

Set the psi to the pumps psi rating and use a psi guage as you do.

Let me know if anything blows...:whoops:

Rod~

I don't know if this is what they are for, but in someones catalog I saw high pressure check valves that you could put on the end of the pressure lines coming out of each pump, use the individual unloaders for each machine, and then y the two together. You could y the hoses together out of the hose reels and hook to a seperate reel just for the combined setup. I have never tried it, but I am building a new skid myself and I am planning on trying it when I get it together. I built my own skid almost 4 years ago and it is still running strong.

[VanDiesel99 14]

Delco has a "power booster" which is two high pressure lines that Y together with check valves that don't allow water to flow back through them. I don't believe the PSI or gpm would make too much of a difference as long as they are reasonably close. You have to have pressure actuated unloaders though. I have never seen it work, or talked to anyone that has done it.

[John T 744]

Yes I know Delco sells that hose set-up to do this which is what I was thinking about using. My goal is to set these two machines up together when Flatwork needs to be done. I also have 2 cold water belt PW's that we use for House cleanings and Decks. I just want more GPM's when doing the flat work and since I have pretty large surface cleaners that are 2-30" and 1-27" the more gpm's will let these machines kick it up a notch.

Now of course I will have to find out how much GPM's my Big Guy 30",Pressure teck Bad Boy 30" and my Hydrotek 27" can handle.

[VanDiesel99 14]

I too have wanted to set that up for my flatwork. My problem is the my main unit(hot) uses a k7 flow type unloader. All of my others machines have pressure actuated unloaders. I would have to set my hot skid up with a pressure actuated unloader(which I don't want to do). I figure with one hot and one cold, you could still achieve warm enough water to clean thoroughly. Just crank that sucker up! I may go ahead and install a pressure actuated unloader, just for this purpose. But I have yet to hear from many(any) people who have have successfully combined two units using the booster. My hot water unit is 3000psi at 4.8 GPM, and the smaller units I have are 3500 PSI and like 3.8 GPM. It would be a much cheaper alternative to buying a 8GPM machine. :)

[rocco 14]

Ive seen it and honestly it turned out best just to get a larger pump! The setup was the same that Rod had spoke of with the difference being that it was two 4gpm pumps ran by the same diesel engine on a belt drive. This was a setup that was done by a pressure washing company that I worked for and due to a confidentiality agreement that i signed I cant go into to many details but to say it caused a lot of stress on the engine and pumps! Not to say if you have two engines and two pumps it will be better or worse. I would just prefer to invest in a higher gpm pump if its financially feasable. If you get it to work good then congrats!

[Ron Musgraves 240]

John T,

I bet if you e-mail the hotwaterwizard he have the spects.

[John T 744]

The higher rated Pump will not work because then I'll need a higher Horsepower engine to run that pump. Both of my engines are 16 hp and to get at least an 8pm pump to work I would need probably at the very least a 24 hp engine.

There's a chart out there that tells you what size hp engine you need to run certain pump sizes. 16 hp engines probably can't work with pumps larger then 5.5gpm. Maybe even less.

[John T 744]

The problem with getting a larger Pump is that I would need a larger engine to run it and that is not cost effective. My 2 powerwashers have 16 hp engine and at most they can probably run a 5.5gpm pump. Maybe even less. There is a chart out there that tells you what size engine you need to run different size pumps.

To get a pump that runs 9.5 gpm's would be expensive and the engine to run that would probably be a couple of grand itself.

If I had any $$$$ I would just sell the two Powerwashers and then buy that 2 man Powerwasher that has a 10 gpm pump. That would be sweet :)

[PressurePros 248]

I still say having two machines is better. How is one 10 gpm machine with one surface cleaner going to clean any faster than two guys with two surface cleaners on 5.5 gpm machines? Not only that, with two machines if one breaks down, you have a backup. Parts are cheaper and more readily available for machines under 5.5 gpm. I think you reach a point of diminishing returns when you go over that. Just my opinion. I guess if you are a one man operation hooking two together would offer the best of both world's.

Now don't get me wrong, if money were no object a diesel engined 10+ gpm machine running 2500 psi with a 30" surface cleaner with built in reclaim would be my dream setup for concrete.

[John T 744]

The thing about hooking two machines together which is what I'm aiming on doing is that it will only take a minute or two to disconnect them so they can run seperately. This is why I am looking on buying Delco's $95 hose connector to do just that.

Of course the beauty of having the one machine that is capable of running two seperate surface cleaners at 5 gpm each or running one at 10gpm this machine takes up much less space and you can clean Commercial flat work so much faster then the one 5 gpm set-up. Also a 10 gpm machine is usually a little cheaper to purchase then buying two seperate 5gpm machines but since I already have the 2 hot water machines I need to go the cost effectice route which is to connect them together.

Of course I have a cousin in this business who has 8gpm machines and his operation is much bigger then mine. Not only is he bigger so are his machines. SO there goes that theory about bigger not being better but with a little alteration here I can be bigger :)

[VanDiesel99 14]

Hey John, be sure to keep me posted on how the powerbooster comes out.

[John T 744]

I sure will. I still have another problem to work out where I need the water from my tank to go slightly uphill to feed my powerwasher in my Van since the water tank is on my trailer.

Here's a picture of my two hot water powerwashers with the the one in the back of my bucket truck now being in my Van but its still higher then the tank. I have another pump that is used for RV'S that pumps 5 gal a minute which is what I am going to use to incorportate into this set-up still I'm not sure as to how I'm going to do this. I'm thinking of running a small water tank in the neighborhood of 50 gallons to put into my van that the other tank will feed into first then it will go to the Powerwasher, I can't go any bigger then that because my Van is jammed with goodies on the inside already.

[jsavoy 14]

Love your rig John!