Has anyone noticed?

[PressurePros 249]

That the less pressure you use to strip, the better the old sealer comes off? My #12 took a dump today and the next larger nozzle I had was a #20 (about 350 psi on my machine) I liked the results much better. I was able to move more quickly. Have I been breathing in too much chemical or is there a physical reason for this?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Ken,

It makes me want to ask a question...

Did the wood fuzz less than it would have with the other tip? Strippers break the bond betweent he wood and the product. So if less pressure is used, it makes me wonder if less fuzzing will occur? (assuming correct dwell time)

Beth

[PressurePros 249]

I was using HD at 1/3 cup per g. Fifteen minute dwell on PT with 3 year old Cabot's semi trans on it. No furring. I am still refining the dwell time with HD-80. It's very potent and the urge to make it a little hotter for faster effect can come back to bite you. The only time I really get the annoying fuzz is on Cedar.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Hey Everett,

Care to chime in here? I know I would like to hear your take on this.

Beth :groovy3:

[JFife 14]

Ken,

Here's a Q. What was the temp?? Strippers work best at 72deg., so this time of year.....maybe the first deck was on a colder day, which you might not have paid any attention to. Another thought.....maybe with the light pressure there was less water ricochete (sp?) and you could see your work better, and it gave you impression you were doing a better job. I dunno, these are just the two things I thought of.

[reed 500]

One more thought, you mention pressure treated not cedar. I rarely get any furring with pt wood as apposed to cedar. With cedar, just count on it. Especially with the hevy duty strippers available.

reed

[Russell Cissell 65]

Great post!

There is a very specific reason for this. When you are removing a finish, (or cleaning in general) you are the mechanical force in the equation. Rather than get overly technical I will give you an analogy that should be pretty simple to understand.

Imagine the finish that you have to remove is represented by a mountain of rock. Your job is to move that mountain.

Now you can equate GPM (gallons per minute) to your hauling equipment.

2.0 gpm = hand basket

4.0 gpm = Dump Truck

I can tell by the tip sizes you are working with that you have yourself a nice dump truck there. It's not the pressure that does the work, it's the flow. The more flow you have the more material you will be able to move. When you lower your pressure with a larger tip you are allowing your dump truck to pick up a greater load. If you think of each drop of water as a truck then more drops are getting to the pile.

Now you can equate PSI (lb/sq inch of pressure) to speed/force.

You are using chemicals to break down the mountain so you don't need force. If you increase the speed of the water it is like telling all of your drivers to drive really fast and get out of the way because here comes more trucks! That is not how mountains are moved. We all know time is money but in the case of finish removal, slow and steady wins the day. The lower the pressure you are able to use the more material you can move at a time. Lower pressures also prevent a lot of sanding.

The key is to allow the chemicals to dwell long enough that you can rinse away the finish with these lower pressures. If you ever find yourself in a hurry, I bet you can trace it back to not charging enough. If you know it is going to take a while and you charge accordingly what better job is there in the world then sitting back supervising your soap?

I hope this helps

Best of Luck

Russell

[Russell Cissell 65]

And yes yes yes, lower pressure will always cause less furring!

Here is the magic formula!

Chemical Stregnth + Easy Rinse = no sanding

Proper Dwell time