alternative to bleach on houses

[derekcaldwell 14]

Is there a product that instantly removes mildew off of houses other than bleach/Jomax. Here lately I have been cleaning houses with bleach/Jomax and my XJet. Yesterday, I cleaned a house and the wind picked up and took my mix and "tossed" it in the air. You could smell it on the other side of the house. It also affected some of the flowers. I keep things watered down as much as possible but it is time/labor intense. I've tried other products such as All-Brite, SimpleGreen, HomeDepot - House cleaner, PowerHouse, etc.. But the only thing that seems to work (atleast for areas needing to be reached with the XJet) is blasting it with bleach. Everything else needs to sit and dwell and then still needs t obe hit with some pressure. Bleach kills the mildew on contact but gets in the air and affects plant life.

Is there anything as effective as bleach and are there techniques I should be using that I'm not doing? Such as watering down plants. Is it a two person job? One cleaning and the other constantly watering down plants? Also, is tarping a good idea even in the hot summer months?

Thanks,

Derek

[Mike Williamson 198]

Yea with all that said...a 20% (5:1) marketed downstreamer matched perfect to a machine could dish out 2.4% from the starting 12% bleach if that were all that was going to be in the supply tank.

Mike, what % bleach do you end up putting on house after adding things to your mix?...1.5% the recommended right? Don't think that enough for many houses with algea let alone roofs....Round here folks won't be ringing my tele til it a half inch on the wall..

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Mike, I was mistaken,I don't have Kassanders cat. I have Soapforhope/ Envirospec. That you right? oK but I see no 5003c offering but rather a 5004c (2-5gpm)...

Ever try the Double Gulp in the Xjet position?

Never tested the draw rate the precisely...all I know is that with both the 8gpm and the 5gpm machine, I get plenty of chlorine to get the algae off...and Florida is the algae capitol of the US!!!!

Check with Paul on his website, I believe the 5003 is for a higher gpm, and on his website, there's a drop down menu to select the size you need. Try using one sized one step down from your machine...you'll usually get a better draw rate.

Never tried the double gulp. As long as this downstreamer keeps doing the job, there's really no need to try anything else!

[MMI Enterprises 289]

HaHa Mike..yer just gonna beat around bush by not speaking to it hu?

And but hey! come on folks!!... Let's stop beating around the bush..... The Xjet and the M16 Thruster type products obviously gain their fantastic draw rates by way of their mounting position on end of wand rather than in the classic downstreamer position. They get a huge increase in differential pressure between the inlet supply and the outlet supply...One might think their venturi is totally different but I say prove it... Go ahead and tell me what brand and model venturi it is in the Xjet or M16...LOL...

You know I want more chemical draw...

I would think the 5003c is the one size down for a lower gpm machine not higher.

Is that what your doing..going one size smaller?.. and if so do you notice any power loss at your tip?..

Info that some engineers sent me makes it clear that restrictions cause energy conversions that sap power. The conversion of pressure energy to kinetic energy is when the water must speed up to go through a smaller orfice and during the conversion back to pressure energy you loose some amount of power. Connectors, coils, downstreamers, reel swivels, triggers, roll over nozzles for soaping..etc. cause restrictions but I don't know to what extent such can be classified as conversions from kinetic energy and back to pressure energy causing a loss... one of the engineers was very perticular with me on the idea that two venturi mounted inline (series) will not allow the first venturi to work. I some what question it though until I try it though. I suspect that there are these multiple conversions happening throughout our systems all the time. For instance my downstreamer (before I lost some of it's 2 parts) still worked fine when my rollover nozzle was busy sapping me of a smooth flow out my tip. Was it kinetic energy conversion related? I don't know..

What I do know is that the manufacture/suppliers for this industry are somewhat full of it.. You better believe that there are methods/designs to entrain larger amounts of chemical than we see available. The design depends on how much power loss we are willing to give up in the end. When the downstreamer is in it's usual position we are not willing to loose much at all therefore we can not entrain as much as some of us would like to. The solution to this might be found via plumbing methods of putting multiple streamers in parallel but sidelined to where we can turn them off with ball valves or in using a pump to force chemical into the downstreamer. Increasing the atmospheric pressure on top of the chemical tank/supply should do it just like an aerosol can so the pump added does not have to be a fluid pump persay.

With this said I question the loss of power of the downsized chem injector method..I want to know what brand and model the M16 or Xjet uses. Before I am done I will be downstreaming with draw rates close to those gizmos.

Although I don't understand it totally I do understand that I am willing to give up major psi power temporarily and let it flow out on a roof or house at almost atmospheric pressure at times. They do similar in the ag field. Our equipment is plenty powerful enough . Heck check out the water dredge industry if ya really want an example. I can lift(suck) a 4" collumn of water 30 ft. with a pump/venturi and a 5hp engine and soak a house in less than a minute easy ..just an example :)

Here is sample engineer info that I have not run numbers on as of yet:

"Let's assume your chemical is at atmospheric pressure and being entrained at the same elevation as the eductor (therefore no 'lift' is required) our suction pressure is 14.7 PSIA at sea level. Let's further assume you want a minimum 150 Psig (164.7 PSIA) discharge pressure of your water/chemical mix in an approximate .5 to 1 to 1 mix ratio. Than your motive water pressure would have to be 164.7/14.7 X 164.7 = 1845.3 PSIA (1830 PSIG approx) . Hopefully this provides a rough rule on how to determine the energy loss in a venturi to achieve a high entrainment ratio."

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morepowerwash (chris) do a search on xjet vs 0030 / downstreamer thread or maybe the Long distance Love thread

[yazbird8 17]

Ken,

My bad....I thought you were telling derek to throw the X-Jet away... I read your post wrong....Sorry about that...How are you feeling today?...I hope a little better.............Question..Is it feasible to downstream if I own a van and it's full to the hilt?......Downstreaming is based on owning a tank system, right.......I do not own a tank for my chems.......

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

Home & Property

Care & Maintenance

[Barry M 73]

No it has nothing to do with a tank. I draw from a 5 gallon bucket of mix all the time just like xjetting. You can use a bigger tank if you want to have larger amounts of pre-mixed chems but it's definately not necessary.

It's rare to use more than a 5 gallon bucket of housewash on a house unless it's just huge.

[yazbird8 17]

Wow...Can I downstream my stripper when stripping a deck ?...I hate pump-ups...and that Sureflo gadget looks like rocket science to me......lol........Tell me more.............I actually used a 6 inch china bristle brush today to apply my f-18 because I couldn't get the darn pump-up unscrewed.....Ugh

Stephen Andrews

Power Washing

Home & Property

Care & Maintenance

[Barry M 73]

You can if your stripper is strong enough to start with. DSing stripper is how Jarrod strips a deck in the time the rest of us are getting all our equipment out.

[derekcaldwell 14]

Mike, I'm the original poster of this thread. Can you tell me, in more detail, what your referring to with down streamin? All I know to do with down streaming is to use a variable wand and apply chemicals at low pressure. Then after a little dwell time turn the wands handle and rinse with high pressure. How far do the black chemical nozzles reach? Is there a trick to getting the same results w/o the x-jet?

Thanks,

Derek

[Mike Williamson 198]

Mike, I'm the original poster of this thread. Can you tell me, in more detail, what your referring to with down streamin? All I know to do with down streaming is to use a variable wand and apply chemicals at low pressure. Then after a little dwell time turn the wands handle and rinse with high pressure. How far do the black chemical nozzles reach? Is there a trick to getting the same results w/o the x-jet?

Thanks,

Derek

I use a cheap, $15.00 downstreamer from espec. It works well for me. I have the chem line running from the downstreamer to my 65 gallon chem tank, in which I keep about 95% pool chlorine and 5% soap.

I have several tips that I use. I use a standard gun/wand setup, and simply change tips as needed. I have a 25 degree size 50 tip that I use for most soaping. I don't like the black tips, because their spray pattern is too wide. Other than that, they work just as well. I also have a 3/8" nylon hosebarb screwed into a 1/4" female plug, that I use for soaping areas above the reach of the first tip I mentioned. I also have a zero degree size 30 and size 40 tip that I use to reach really high (30-40') when needed. To rinse, I use a 25 degree size 25 tip (for 8gpm) for most rinsing. For things that require a little more direct pressure (wasp nests, cocoons, etc) or for more stubborn algae on 2nd story gutters and fascia, I use a zero degree size 20 tip (again, on an 8gpm). Those are the only 6 tips I ever use.

Same procedure as the Xjet. Soap things down, let it sit, and rinse. The only difference is that instead of turning off a ball valve, I'm swapping a tip. There's still enough chemical hitting the wall, and I can get it just as high or higher than the Xjet. So, same results, less effort!!!

[Paul Kassander 26]

The M16 thruster nozzle uses the same basic injector as our standard adjustable injector it just has 1/4" MPT instead of 3/8 mpt and we add the HI-Lo nozzle and chem line and premium filter.

A simple and inexpensive trick to shoot the chemical 3 stories is to use a standard 1/4 hose barb in a quick connect. The opening is large enough to allow for soap draw and it creates the perfect 0 degree tip.

Most of the time people that have problems with down streaming are using really long lengths of hose and the back pressure caused is what reduces or stops the venturi suction in the injector. One method people use is to go 1 size down on the injector to compensate for this.

What John Allison has done to help those who prefer using longer length hoses is to develop a better downstream injector for greater suction. His new injector works on hose lengths up to 500' it is model SSS-001.

For those who claim they cannot get enough chemical downstream he also developed a chemical induction pump that will inject 204oz (approx 2 gallons) per minute on a 5 gpm machine with 500 ft of hose.

Here is a link to the injectors, look under down stream injectors. Envirospec North 877-351-1238