Not Thinking

[Kennedy 14]

I bought a new portable 5.5 gpm machine to replace my (don't laugh) 2.8 gpm without thinking about house water supplies. What would be the best way to set-up a portable water tank for those homes that don't have the flow needed for my machine. I am a painting/staining contractor with no trailer so this thing has to be loaded and unloaded from a covered pick-up. Thanks for any advice.

[Paul Kassander 26]

You can make a small breaker tank from any type of storage tank. All you need to do is add a hose hook up on the bottom and a float valve on the top.

One of the best setups I have seen is with a 15 gallon square drum. The top was cut half open leaving the handle for carrying and he installed a float valve near the top through the side and an outlet on the bottom. When he is done with the job he just dumps out the excess water and carrys it to his truck. Simple easy and inexpensive, it seems to work quite well and he rarely if ever has supply problems.

[JFife 14]

Hey! You came over from ContractorTalk! First off, I am far less worried about your water supply than I am about your back if you are planning on unloading this thing out of a truckbed. I think for that GPM, you are going to be stuck with a water tank at some point....don't see a way around that.

[Kennedy 14]

Thanks for the replies. As far as my back goes thats what apprentices are for (just kidding). Down the road I would like to get a trailer set-up, but for now I am primarily a painting contractor. This will be for painting prep, house wasing, and wood refinishing. We dont do any roofs or flatwork.

[jbruno 14]

Get a tank that fits into your pick up bed? or van. They make so many sizes of these things that you could probably get a 100 to 150 gallon tank that doesn't take up too much room. Plus at 5.5 gpm you may need more than a 15 gallon head start.

[Kennedy 14]

Unfortunatly, I have to keep so much painting stuff in my truck at all times a huge tank really isn't a possibility. With the breaker tank, does it matter how much hose I have between the tank and the machine? I guess I always figured the pressure from the hose bib helped the pump not work so hard and by bypassing that pressure with a tank might make everything run hotter.

[Mike Williamson 198]

Unfortunatly, I have to keep so much painting stuff in my truck at all times a huge tank really isn't a possibility. With the breaker tank, does it matter how much hose I have between the tank and the machine? I guess I always figured the pressure from the hose bib helped the pump not work so hard and by bypassing that pressure with a tank might make everything run hotter.

Just the opposite. If you run your bypass to a tank, and feed the machine from the tank, the pump will run cooler. Even a relatively small tank will be better than none.

[Paul Kassander 26]

If you are running a breaker tank I would definately run the bypass back to the tank like Mike said. If you are pressure feeding the pressure washer add a thermal relief valve, it releases water when the temp gets around 140 degrees and fresh cool water from the hose replaces it.

[Kennedy 14]

Thank you for all your advise. This forum has been a gold mine of information and has helped raise the quality level of the work we produce in the wood refinishing field. A very professional site I am happy to be a part of. (Truth be told I have been waiting for a "painter" dig.) Thanks again-Sean

[Chappy 138]

A small tank shouldnt be a problem. doing paint prep your not running constant flow like you are for a surface cleaner, and every time you stop, the tank will be filling up.

you could also run 2 hoses into the tank with a Y fitting, or even into the PW itself.

[PLD 14]

Even if you are not running a tank, spoil your bypass to ground. You machine will run cooler and last much longer. As for adding a thermal relief valve, I recommend against it. IMHO, they fail to often, resulting in air in the supply line and pressure problems. After the last incident (which resulted in a head repack), I have taken all of mine off and tossed them. But to be fair, I bypass to tank/ground 100% of the time and overheating is not an issue in that arrangement.

As for needing a tank, I do 99.9% residential and athough I always use a tank because of my setup, the truth is that I *very* rarely need a tank for one machine (5.5g). If I do, it's because the homeowner is on a poor well or has serious plumbing issues. In these cases, I pull two hoses, one from each bib. With two hoses, I can usually drive 9.5gpm house washing without a problem. If both units are running a surface cleaner, we will run dry at 9.5 gpm about 60% of the time.

At 5.5gpm, more often than not the supply overfills the tank (275 gal) and must be shut off 1/2 way through a job. We dump excess water at jobs end 95% of the time. If I were actually applying a suction to the water line with a pump, the flow would be even greater than it is being fed into the tank.

I wouldn't worry about getting a tank until it proves itself a problem. Even then, be creative if you need to be. Anything that will hold water can serve as a tank. 55 gallon drum, trash can, or even a kiddie pool. And it need not be located in your truck. You can unload it and hook it up on the ground.

As for a float, if you are in fear of overfilling your tank often then you don't really need a tank. And in the event you have a customer who is providing 10gpm of water, the overflow from your tank for 1.5 hrs will cost the customer about $1.21 add'l. Personally, I don't run a float. If I see the tank rising as I work (or overflowing), I cut off the supply. Yes, some water gets spilled, but it's minor in comparison to what I am using on the job.

My $0.02

[Deck Guy 14]

I agree with Phillip. Most municipal water systems should have no trouble keeping up. If you live in St. Louis and work around there (with municipal water supply), try this...measure the flow at your work place using your watch and a five gallon bucket. If it overflows in one minute, you've got sufficient flow. If not, use your old machine for this once-in-a-blue-moon scenario.

[PLD 14]

It's easier than that. Just watch your supply hose. If you're overdriving it, it'll go flat as a pancake.

[mas3372 14]

I use a 5.6 gpm and a 55 gallon tank for my surplus supply for poor water supply homes and also a place to run my bypass back to from the unloader. With a 5.6 gpm and a 55 gallon tank, I never draw more than 20 gallons from my tank. A small 25 gallon tank from tractor supply would probally be plenty, throw in a hudson float valve and run your unloader back to the tank or to the ground as philip recommends. I dont' like the though of relying on a thermal relief valve when you can eliminate one more extra part and keep it simple.

[Jim Carroll 14]

i trashed my thermal relief also, its just another part that can screw up your whole day if you don't have some extra parts

[John Orr 206]

...you could also run 2 hoses into the tank with a Y fitting, or even into the PW itself.

Short of adding a tank (sounds impractical for you to do), creating a "Y" at the pw and running a hose to two different spigots should cure the problem. However, this means you will need to carry an additional supply hose and enough high-pressure hose to go around half a building - since it won't be easy to relocate the machine.