Get (and use) a pressure guage

[John Orr 206]

Did I feel dumb today. As many of you know, I have been washing houses for a living for a long (to me) time - 7 years. So I should have been checking my pressure every once in a while, but washing with low-pressure (downstreaming), having a lot of pressure has never been an issue.

I have an 8 gpm/2-gun 3000 psi/ hot rig. I downstream from one side and use the other for drives. I run a 24" Steel Eagle with 4.0 tips. I have never been "thrilled" with the speed at which I can clean a moldy drive, even at 3000 psi/8 gpm. Today, I was trying to use a turbo nozzle (I actually was trying to remove some flaking paint) and the unloader was cycling on/off. Thinking my pressure was higher than the nozzle was rated (a hunch, since I had tried everything else - including trying a different nozzle.) I adjusted the unloader (God, I love my flow-type unloader!) and was able to use the turbo.

That solved my immediate problem, but I had neglected to mark the adjusting bolt for re-setting, so I "guessed" where it was and adjusted accordingly. I seemed close, but I remembered that I had a quick-connect guage (the in-line guage quit working soon after installation) so I hooked it up. To my amazement, I was only getting 2000 psi! All this time I have been running with 2/3 output (pressure and gpm)! I adjusted to 3000 and was amazed at the difference. The 3 houses/driveways I did today went much faster. (I could actually walk at an almost normal pace!)

So...get and use your gages and find the power you have been missing!