Back Up Equip..?

[Guest rfitz]

Just wondering how many folks out there have back up equip. and vehicles just in case your main vehicle and main equip. get into a bad accident..? I know no one wants to think it will happen to them, but if it does, and you dont have back up, your biz is finished...?

[Paul B. 523]

Good Point!

The extent you need to go to cover your business will depend on the size of your business and the type of set-ups you have. Insurance is a must for this reason as is having money put aside within the business to be able to replace pieces. Keeping spares and back-ups is crutial for full time operators.

If you pull a trailer and your truck is damaged, you can always rent a truck (insurance should cover this). You can always rent a P/W for short term and should be able to replace a set-up within a few weeks. If you have a very special set-up then you definitely need a back-up plan.

[Jon 533]

Paul B. says you can always rent a truck and pw, not out here in CA, when my truck was in the shop not one rental has a super duty pick up that could tow my trailer and insurance would not pay for a bob tail or any commercial truck.

I did get lucky and had the body shop put a priority on my repairs, in and out in 5 days.

As for backup, no truck or second rig although I have looked at some and when the right one at the right price comes alone I will buy it.

I do carry extra parts and should add to that a back up pump.

Jon

[John T 744]

Along with the 5 powerwashers that I own (3 cold and 2 Hot) I have 2 rigs and truck set ups. One is mainly for commercial and the other is residential. Of course they can be mix and matched either way.

I was going to sell my Dodge Dually but I decided to keep it since I just landed another commercial account(Mall complex) for flatwork cleaning.

I'll try to post a picture of my set-ups later.

[John T 744]

For my Commercial set-up I have a 1989 Ford Diesel F-350 Bucket Truck with a Hydrotek Rig. This truck now has 3 surface cleaners stored in the back of it and every compartment is full with Powerwashing items,tools and chemicals.

[John T 744]

And for my residential end I have my 1997 Dodge Dually Diesel and a 7'x12' enclosed trailer that has 2 cold water Powerwashers stored in it along with a mounted Landa Hot water Powerwasher. Also stored in there are tarps, Airless sprayer, Flojet and surflo pumps among many other Powerwashing related items.

As for that Van I since sold it with a blown Transmission because I used to carry to much equipment in it which is the reason I am not a Fan of the Van....except for maybe Commercial cleaning ONLY. My Bucket truck took the place of the Van.

[Dave Olson 23]

Having extra equipment is the key.

Trucks, pumps, hoses, surface cleaners, they are all going to break at the Darnest times!!:(

I have too darn much equipment but there have been times we've needed almost every piece! :)

Sometimes it seems that when you have equipment out of service that is when more customers call! :D Of course when it gets really slow, you wonder if you should go break something! NOT!! :)

Dave Olson

[John T 744]

Right on Dave;)

I actually thought about selling my Dodge diesel just last month. I took it off the road and was getting ready to sell it when I got this call to clean this mall complex on a monthly bases which will consist of using 2 rigs.

All I needed was a reason not to sell my beloved Dodge...

[Guest rfitz]

Dave, I heard you run high GPM machines, ? anyway if that is true, I am going from a 5.2 GPM machine to at least a 7 maybe 8 GPM machine, how has this helped your biz..? I do mainly houses and decks, and looking for ways to dramatically increase washing and rinsing times...?

THX

[Dave Olson 23]

Hello Rob,

Our primary unit puts out almost 10 gpm.

Running two guns helps in many things that we do. Sometimes we run three.

Also there are times that having the high volume on one wand really gets the cleaning done. We cleaned an old manufacturing plant floor using just wands. We did 100,000 sq. ft. in 4 days using both of our trucks and we picked up all of the water!

As long as you can keep the pumps supplied high volume is the way to go. Our trucks are as big as they are just so we can carry a large quanity of water! Of course we have alot of other stuff on our Red truck too. It weights about 34,000 pounds fully loaded.

Dave Olson

[ron p 500]

rfitz, you should ''try before you buy''

are you sure your supply is going to meet your need's?

I would much rather have 2-five gpm unit's then 1 -10.

I can plumb them together if i want to run a monster surface cleaner.

[Guest rfitz]

Hey Ron,

I will have another 5 GPM back up, Hydrotech cold water unit, Im just looking to pump to a 7-8 GPM for faster house and deck cleaning, I think 2-3 GPM's should make a huge difference, plus I carry a decent tank on board to keep up with the flow...?

[Mike Smith 14]

I have a hydrotek 5 gpm machine and i also carry 525 gallons of water. I used to use 4gpm cold water and now 5 gpm hot water has cut my time by more than 33% on the average job and cut time in half on some other jobs. going from 4 or 5 to 7 or 8 gpm will make a huge difference but will be like holding a fire hose and will tire you considerably faster. Make sure you take that into account before spending the money on a high flow machine.

[Dave Olson 23]

Mike is right!

High volume is hard to hang on too. When my guys use a single wand to move alot of trash, or just do cleaning much faster they will run a 2510 tip at 3000 psi. They complain how much it hurts and I remind them they could use a smaller tip (lower volume) and spend a little more time, they just smile and tell me "Yeh Dave but this does it better and faster!" :)

When we need to run long periods with our blaster (10 gpm @ 8-10,000 psi) we always try to have at least a 2-3 man crew so they can switch off every 15 minutes or so.

Dave Olson

[Guest rfitz]

Well I guess there is always a trade off, on better equip. but I think 8 GPM will make my alot faster, which is what I am looking for... other than being hard to manage, how much time increase is it compared with a lower GPM ??

I am having a custom built unit made for me, it has a 25 HP Onin, and will have a 8 GPM UDOR Puump, I have a 5.2 GPM with heat now, but hardly ever used heat you just dont need it with residential, so I will sell that unit...

THX

[Dave Olson 23]

I've never done a time study. Would be almost impossible to do in the field.

One more thing about higher volume. It will also damage things faster!:mad: Gotta know what you are doing or be working on a surface that you cannot hurt!

Rob, if you want to feel and see the difference come on up and I show you what our equipment can do. Might help you decide on what to buy for your operation.

Dave Olson

[Guest rfitz]

Hey Dave,

Thanks for the invite, I may take you up on that when and if things ever slow down here, I guess after using your monster volume machines you would never go back to the smaller 4-5 GPM machines ?

[Rick G 14]

Dave I was under the impression if you reclaim than a lower gpm is more managable. Do you find that with the increase in gpm that you reclaim alot more? Thanks Rick G- I currently use sump pumps.

[Dave Olson 23]

Rob,

I've never had a 4-5 gpm machine. With our equipment if we want less volume we just put in a smaller tip.

Rick,

The more you put down, the more you pick up. Somethings like fleet washing you will loose about 50% with blow-off & evaporation. But still the more you use the more you will need to deal with.

The 100,000 sq. ft. floor that I posted about earlier was all inside so we had to pick up a very high percentage of what we put down and with both truck running we were putting down around 16 gpm!

Dave Olson

[paul-uk 500]

rfitz...mike smith says he got a 33% increase in time with his house washing using 5gall\ plus heat........while you still have your washer try it out(you said you had not give it a go yet)..do a search and see if you can improve your technich..lots of posts on this.....dave olsen is a major player and his setup is for big industrial and commercial jobs..no doubt he can scale it down for house washing but that is not his forte.

by the way i saw your rig for sale on another board shoehorned into the van.....where was all the other kit stashed, it must take awhile to get washing..room for improvement there perhaps.

good luck...paul.

[John T 744]

Riftz(Rob),

How about some pictures of your truck/van rig set-ups so we can get a better idea on how you operate. I have checked out your Powerwasher for sale and it still looks new. I think you said it only has about 40 hrs on it. So if you werent really using that what have you been using that has helped you do so well in this field.

You've seen alot of our set-ups so how bout showing us yours.

[Guest rfitz]

Hey John,

That pic was taken last march when I first got it, but I still keep it looking like that with weekly cleaning, as far as hours I didnt say 40 hours, I said low hours, which anything if used only 7-9 months should have relatively low hours, under 1000 for sure, anyway, as far as set ups, thats it, I dont have anything else really, just hose reel, chems, wands, etc. the usual stuff it isnt so much my set up that makes me successful, its more in the way I work, not too mention I work my ass off phsically and mentally daily as Im sure everyone else does as well, but Im sure I have made so many mistakes that it makes you think constantly on how to improve, improve, improve, that is why I am having a custom 24 HP 8 GPM cold unit built, Im not really cramped in there when just washing, it is when I stain and seal that Im constantly loading and unloading, so that is why next year, I will have another vehicle, with another unit in it, and that will be used mainly for staining sealing etc..

[Mike Cappa 14]

Rob, just under 1000 hours isn't very low. Sure, most of us probably have a lot more, but very low hours I think most of us would consider to be 1-200. As for heat, remember that the water doesn't stay hot for a long distance out of the tip. If you are projecting a stream 10-20-30 feet, the water isn't hot when it hits the surface, and if you are right up on the surface, too much heat can damage the home you are cleaning. Heat does however help with gutters and definitly helps with concrete.