Xjet vs. Vjet (knockoff)

[Guest rfitz]

Hey Mike,

Thats what I use, a 0040, and its great tool, anyway, where can I get a

ADAMS downstreamer....? I would love to see 5-1 I also have a 5.5 GPM machine, so we should get close to the same, I get the black speckled mold on facia, and it takes a while for the chlorine to eat that stuff away, and also, I always get the gutters with a housewash, it is an xtra $100 so I figure why not..

THX

[Howard 50]

I started using the X-jet last year and haven't used anything else, was using the down streamer off the washer 5 GPM 3500 psi and never got anything close to 5-1. With the x-jet I use it straight no proportioners I get roughly 1-1. Mike you say 1 hr to wash a house no matter the size? would love to get that fast and still clean the house. My average time, from driving into the driveway to leaving with the check is 2.5 for a 1200 sq ft rambler to 3.5 for a 3000 sq foot colonial. I use 1.5 Gal Chlorine, splash of Jomax and cascade dish soap. then allbrite for the gutters.

[Guest rfitz]

Howard, my average for cleaning a house is approx 3 hours, now there are a few reasons for this, number one with cleaning the out side of the gutters,

facia, siding etc.. it takes that long, secondly, if I charge someone $400 and I am in and out in 1 hour, I would have really mad customers. people no matter what part of the country relate money in time, so if they see me finish in 1 hour, they do not think they got their money worth, and would honestly feel they got ripped off, and so would I frankly...

I have washed with some of the best in the industry, and we were never done in under 2.5 hours on an average 2000 sq ft home, it is physicall impossible to thouroughly wash a house in 1 hour or less, if you wash like you are cleaning it, anyone can wash a house in 1 hour, but I will CLEAN the house in 2-3 hours big difference.. just go and wash each piece of siding on any house, and I mean rinse each piece side to side, at a good rinse pace and that alone will take well over 1 hour, and that doesnt include putting soap down...

Also with mold on facia, it takes at least 10 minutes for the bleach to attack and kill the mold, that is a scientific fact, all I know, is after I wash a house in a subdivison, I always get referrals, especially, after I started taking longer to wash...and adding gutters

[Howard 50]

Rob Just to clear the air

I'm confused, my post for Mike at Extreme, I agree with you that 1 hour isn't long enough to properly clean a house. If you understood that I clean one in 1 hour then I Don't. Like I said I take 2.5 hours from arrival to departure. set up and tear down is usually 15 minutes both ways for a total of 1/2 hour. that leaves 2 hours for a 1200 sq ft home 3 hours for a 3000 sq foot home. I also clean the gutters as part of my total cost usually with a brush and allbrite, then rinse off. I don't charge extra for the gutters because the market won't allow for it here. :cool:

[Mike Cappa 14]

You guys are more than welcome to think what you would like. I get more referrals than I can handle, including many apartment complexes. I am not even going to advertise anymore. Way too much work. That doesn't even include all the shopping centers and other types of Power Washing. If you have a good set up and I mean effecient, very good chems and an effecient procedure, I can guarantee you could wash a house in a hour. The chem I use is a little more expensive but is definitly worth it. No brushing gutters, just spray the whole side, then rinse, all clean. I have no problem letting people know I can do it quickly and the reason they pay what they do is becuase I have overhead, I am not a charity, I have a business to run and the chemicals also arent cheap. I have never had an unhappy customer.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Mike,

You mentioned this wonder chem on another board, but did not give the name. Don't leave us hangin, share the name.

[Mike Cappa 14]

It is a truck wash called 6173. It can only be bought by chem. Distributors. The guy I was getting it from started to have some very questionable business practices so I no longer order from him. As soon as I find a new distributor, I will let everyone know.

[Aplus 525]

Mike,

Do you use hot water to wash a house? I've tried it, and find no improvement over cold water, just an added expense for diesel fuel. Plus, I don't have to worry about brown striping the grass.

I've also found it easier to use a portable cold water machine, with 100' of supply hose and a 100' of hp hose I can reach all the way around a house only moving the machine twice.

If I bring the hot water rig, the trailer is too big to fit in most driveways without completely blocking the sidewalk, so I end up having to park in the street, and then will need at least 150-200 feet of hp hose. I also worry about someone tripping over the hose across the sidewalk, or being nosy and getting too close to the burner exhaust.

For a typical 2000 sf colonial, I can wash the house and clean the gutters in about 2- 2 1/4 hours, including setup. Sometimes I'll have to get up on the roof of the garage to get that side of the house, because you can't even see it from the ground, much less properly clean it.

Most of the homes I wash have mold or algae growing, and I find that downstreaming often does not apply the chems strong enough to be effective. For that reason, I prefer the xjet or vjet.

I think that perhaps regional differences factor in heavily on what works and doesn't work for each of us.

Water hardness, and other conditions require different chemicals and approaches to achieve satisfactory results.

It's great that we have a board like this to share ideas, I can say that when I started this biz, there was no such place to come and get answers. I had to learn by trial and error.

If everybody takes and gives a little info here, you'll find that you will be light years ahead of other competitors who don't access boards like this to learn from.

IMHO, I don't care who you are, or how long you've been doing this, there still is more to learn. If you stop learning, and improving, somebody will pass you by. If you think that's wrong, look at what Walmart is doing to Kmart.....who would have ever thought ten years ago that Kmart would come so close to failing?

Sometimes when I read posts from others, it flies contrary to what I've experienced, but I always try to find the tidbit of information that I may be able to take and use.

So let's all keep sharing this valuable info, which is certain to help keep us all viable into the future.

[Guest rfitz]

I have to disagree, no matter what chemical you are using, you still have to rinse every piece of lap siding, and that is where it is imposiible to wash and rinse correctly in under 1 hour, unless you have 2 guys washing, now about the gutters, yes you can spray gutter zap or something similar and just rinse off, in my testing, brushing actually works worse, but alot of the homes I wash are 3+ story, and it is hard to spray that chem up there, that being said

Im not sure if you are aware of this either, but chlorine or any other harsh cemical can etch glass in minutes, so now, every bit of glass has to be pre-wet, before you start washing, and this is not something you can see with the naked eye, but wait till you run your hand over a piece of glass, and it feels like sandpaper, and then I find out last year or the year before, the homeowner had a company wash their house, and they said they were only here 1 hour or less, and it didnt look like this when they were done,

People can do what they like, its their business, but if I paid someone for a service and they were done in 1 hour or less and they charged me $300+

they better be a doctor with alot of overhead, because I promise you, I would find something wrong with the service they provided, remember people look at money as time, one time I actually finished a house in under 2 hours, and the house was crystal clean, and when I went to the door, the lady had a fit,

done already, she said, you make more per hour than my husband and he is a doctor, that was the last time I worked that fast, if in fact you could find a downstream injector that drew 5-1, you would use over 30 gallons of housewash per house.. is that how much you use...???

To each his own...

[Mike Cappa 14]

I agree, different areas may pose different problems. I always use cold water, once in a while hot on alum. siding, but not very often. I have 300 feet of hp hose on my real, and and extra 250 in spare just in case, never needed it but just in case. So parking my rig on the street usually isn't a problem.

Now for Rob. Most of the homes I wash are two stories, so your time may vary, but... your numbers confuse me. 30 gallons of chem, I have no Idea how you came up with that. I may use two gallons max. I don't know how you are applying but I can't see how anyone would use 30 gallons, even with an xjet, On a home I mean. Unless maybe it was a mansion.

Like I said, I have not had any complaints, I actually get an "at a boy" for doing the job so quickly. I think it comes down to quality not quantity, in time I mean.

I do agree with you about everything having to be rinsed off. You can't leave any soap behind. If you are happy with your way, who am I to judge. But I am sure you would like to wash 5 homes a day and still have sunlight. Not saying this happens all the time, but I have done it a few times. All the homes were in the same area though.

[Guest rfitz]

Mike, That is how much chemical you would draw at a 5-1 draw rate ratio,

you cant do better on downstream than you can on upstream, and the best on upstream is usually 10 or 12 to 1, I think maybe you misunderstood the company you bought your downstream injector from, I know 5-1 and 20% draw rate sound similar, but here is why you cant have 5-1 chem draw injector, If you have a 5.0 GPM machine and you are drawing 5-1 chems you would drain a 5 gallon bucket of chemicals in 5 minutes or less..? That means if you would wash a house and wash for 30-40 minutes of shooting soap, you would use 30-40 gallons of soap, I think you may want to call the company you bought your downstream injector from and have them explain to you exactly, how much chems per minute there injector draws with your machine,

the best on the market is approx. 20-1..... 20 parts water 1 part chemical,

and with 100 or 200 feet of hose, it drops even more maybe 25-30 to 1,

I hope I helped, I know this can be confusing... Maybe someone else out there can explain it better...Or what I did, is I filled a 5 gallon bucket of water and soap, pulled my trigger on my gun continuosly, and timed how long it took to drain that bucket of soap, from there you figure exactly what % of chems you are drawing.... I think you will be closer to draining that bucket in 20-30 minutes

[Jon 533]

OK GUYS ENOUGH FLAMING HERE.

I know all of you, have spoken to you and from a good post about x-jet and v-jet to soap to fighting is not what we will tolerate here.

Yes some of your post have been edited, some moved or deleted.

All of us Moderators here will not allow this board to sink as many others have, we run a pretty open board but we keep a sharp eye on it too.

Please if you must fight another do so privately by Email and keep the board clean.

If any of you have an issue with this take it up with me by Email or if you want to go above me go directly to Beth.

I back up the other Mods here and that goes for Alan who caught this thread getting out of hand.

Jon

[austin 14]

:2eyes: :2eyes:

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Hi Austin!:groovy:

[austin 14]

Hey there:D

[Mike Williamson 198]

rfitz:

I've seen you post elsewhere also that you can't have a better draw rate on a downstreamer than an upstreamer....My question is, why?

I don't think Mike is saying he's spraying chems for 40 minutes...You're only downstreaming when you're applying chems....once you go to high pressure, the downstreamer stops injecting chems. That's what's so nice about downstreaming. You can go from applying chems to rinsing with the change of a tip, or if you use a high/low tip, you just release the trigger and flip your tip up and pull the trigger again. The only problem I have with downstreaming is that, as Tony says, the 5:1 ration isn't strong enough for some chems, like bleach. If I downstream 12% chlorine, by the time it hits the house it is 2%...That's not strong enough for some applications. Many chemicals CAN be mixed stronger to compensate for the 5:1 ratio as opposed to the 2:1 ratio of the XJet on a 5gpm machine. I can mix my soap powder twice as strong, and when it comes out of my nozzle it is the same strength as if I mixed it normal strength and used the XJet. And yes, you CAN get 5:1 through a downstreamer...Mike isn't the only one who has done it. However, there ARE different downstreamers and their draw rates vary, as well as whether the downstreamer you're using is rated for your machine. I promise you that I can drain a 5 gallon bucket a heck of a lot faster than you think. Heck, when I used to wash with a Home Depot 4gpm 3600psi cold water unit, using the factory downstreamer, I'd drain a 1 gallon bottle of bleach in 5 minutes easily. Certainly not the 10 or more minutes you're talking about.

[Guest rfitz]

Austin, you just answered your own riddle, and you are correct when you say

I drained a gallon of bleach in 5 minutes, that is 20 to 1, I said he couldnt drain a 5 gallon of bleach in 5 minutes with a downstreamer, I will bet on it

maybe you and Mike dont understand how downstreaming works, as opposed to upstreaming, what he said and what you said are correct you can drain a 1 gallon of bleach in 5 minutes, Call 10 powerwashing manufactures,

and try to find a 5 to 1 downstreamer, guess what, ? you wont find one,

just try tomorrow, and let me know, believe me, I have some background in math,science, and engineering...

Take Care....

[Mike Williamson 198]

rfitz:

Let me preface this by saying that I am NOT trying to make you mad, or attack you, or come across as mean or ugly or anything else. I simply know from experience that you're mistaken, and I have a couple questions...

If you have so much background in math, science, and engineering, why is it that you're asking others with more experience to explain why a downstreamer can't have a better draw than an upstreamer?

When I say that I can drain a bottle of bleach in 5 minutes, I was wrong. Not thinking. That bottle of bleach would be drained in a couple minutes, max. That's with a 4gpm machine using a factory downstreamer. That's at least a 12.5% draw rate, probably higher. We'll never know since I never timed it. My point was simply that with a factory downstreamer I could get better than your earlier assertion of 20:1 (I think that's what you said, different thread, maybe different board).

At any rate, my last question is this: Why do you question a 5:1 (20%) or 4:1 (25%) on a downstreamer, but you don't question the 2:1 ratio of the XJet, which works on the same principle as the downstreamer?

If you are correct that you simply can't get that ration in a downstreamer, then you simply can't get it in the XJet either.

You may have a background in math, science, and engineering, but I have a background in I'veseenitwork. It may not make sense to you, but trust me, I'm not lying to you, and I'm not so stupid as to not be able to figure out my ratios.

Maybe when I have time I'll make a video of it and send it to you.

[R. Williamson 14]

Mike you are correct you can downstream 5 to 1. The Adams injector is the only one I have ever seen do it with 300' of hose though.

Robert Williamson

[Mike Cappa 14]

rfitz, I love the background in I'veseenitwork, that's all I can go by also.

Bob is correct, and I must say, and apologize to bob and anyone else I flipped out on. As some of you know I sometimes let my temper get the best of me and I apologize to everyone. I said some very hurtfull things to and about bob that were untrue and I just hope he can forgive me, and the rest of you also.

rfitz, I also know how much I draw and how fast I can drain a pale of chems, with the adams injector, you will drain a pale very quickly.

[Guest rfitz]

Mike I would love to try this unigue tool out, where can I get one...???

THX

[Mike Cappa 14]

shoot me an email

[R. Williamson 14]

Mike,

Apology accepted. None of us are perfect. We all need to be forgiven every once and a while.

Robert Williamson