We had snow on top of ice a few years back (unusual in my area!). It warmed up just enough for me to do a wash job and when I got back home everything was frozen again. I pulled my truck in the yard and got STUCK on the ice, but I had to park the rig in a certain spot so I could hook up the heater to keep it from freezing. Neighbor gets his tractor and also gets stuck trying to help. Frikin' cold and tires are spinning on the ice. Brainstorm...brainstorm..... Got it!!!! I take the turbo nozzle out(had not used that in a while) and "chewed up" the ice from under our tire tracks. I had to make (power wash) a driveway under my tires for about 75 feet. Thank goodness that is as far as I had to go because I only had 75 ft. of hose!! I wish I had a hot water unit back then.
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Check out this this free event.
Contest for most unusual pressure washer use.
- Thread starter Staff
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Larry L.
PWN TEAM - Moderator Emeritus
In a day or two somebody is going to win a extend a wand.
We've dug ditches,blasted pecans,drink beer,melted ice,made ice,made holes in the ground,ect.I wouuldn't want to be one of the judges unless something really unusual happens in the next day or two
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<marquee>MerrY ChristMas</marquee>
We've dug ditches,blasted pecans,drink beer,melted ice,made ice,made holes in the ground,ect.I wouuldn't want to be one of the judges unless something really unusual happens in the next day or two
.<marquee>MerrY ChristMas</marquee>
Mark Dadian
New Member
This past January, when the temp hit 5 degrees for a high and the wind made it feel like -15, I got a call from my father-in-law. The Christian school had exposed a 6" drain pipe to pour a new foundation for a portico. Well when s**t hits these temps, it's just a wall of frozen stoppage. I took my, until then, nicely winterized system and started to make plans to clear this stoppage with hot water and drain jetting devices. But first I had to clear the ice that I discovered had setteled into my pw hose. Next came an hour of trying to get the engine started with a frozen carburator (a story in itself). Finally, I get to the job and discover that someone (the backhoe operator) had broken the pipe (and I mean really busted it up) and used duct tape to make a temporary fix until they got around to laying the foundation for the portico. I then contacted my dad-in-law and had him send the needed supplies to repair the breach for when I cleared the stoppage. At least this would make it easier to access the stoppage. By the way, it is STILL FIVE DEGREES with a 20 knot wind ON A HILL, with NO TREES.
I hook up the pw to the jetting valve, I check all connections, and I put the tip on the end of the jetting hose. And I think to myself, I wonder if there are any ice bits that might jam the tip of the hose. NAWWWW, I did to good a job of defrosting the hose back at the shop. Should I put the blow-by gate valve on the hose in case of a blockage in the line? NAWWW, I'm sure it's A-OK.
I fired up the pw, flipped on the burner, and pulled the tirgger.
And cursed myself for the next half-hour. I shot a clot inside of two-seconds. It's less than 5 degrees, my system is now at 3000 psi, and not one drop of water is coming out of the nozzle. Shut down the engine and burner, wrestle with the impossible QC's, and frantikly wonder what to do. I now know that I could actually have unscrewed the QC (yes at 3000psi) with no hope of ever finding it again as it shot of my hose at God know's what velocity, but I didn't do that. What I did resort to came as a result of having disconnected my by-pass hose from my tank, so as not to fill my tank with 150 gallons on the coldest days of the year.
As I stood in the ditch, looking at the incredibly frozen drain pipe, my incredibly pressureized hot water pw system, and my incredibly cold helper, I noticed that the water I had hooked up to was flowing from the disconnected by-pass line. THEN light dawned.
I disconnected everything that wasn't under pressure, threw what was under pressure inside the covered trailer pw, and proceeded to cram the simple garden hose up the 6" drain pipe. My rationale was that, since the water, cold though it was, was running (A LOT), it was warmer than the ice that I originally went out there to dislodge. I rammed the hose up the pipe until I hit stoppage, and my helper pounded on the exposed exterior of the pipe. Within twenty minutes we had worked our way up 15 feet of frozen s**t to receive a glorious reward of a few more gallons of what had triggered the school to the problem in the first place (the unfrozen stoppage stuff). Satisfied with our success, we replaced the four foot section of damaged pipe wrapped up what little garden hose was needed, and drove off to find a way to thaw my quickly solidifying profit center.
The only damage suffered was a rupture in a newer hose, and a bruised ego. If I had either blown out the line before putting on the tip, or put in the blow-by valve, I could have done the job as planned in about five minutes.
I hope some of you have learned from my mistakes, and I hope I have one that nice little telescoping pole ;-)
I hook up the pw to the jetting valve, I check all connections, and I put the tip on the end of the jetting hose. And I think to myself, I wonder if there are any ice bits that might jam the tip of the hose. NAWWWW, I did to good a job of defrosting the hose back at the shop. Should I put the blow-by gate valve on the hose in case of a blockage in the line? NAWWW, I'm sure it's A-OK.
I fired up the pw, flipped on the burner, and pulled the tirgger.
And cursed myself for the next half-hour. I shot a clot inside of two-seconds. It's less than 5 degrees, my system is now at 3000 psi, and not one drop of water is coming out of the nozzle. Shut down the engine and burner, wrestle with the impossible QC's, and frantikly wonder what to do. I now know that I could actually have unscrewed the QC (yes at 3000psi) with no hope of ever finding it again as it shot of my hose at God know's what velocity, but I didn't do that. What I did resort to came as a result of having disconnected my by-pass hose from my tank, so as not to fill my tank with 150 gallons on the coldest days of the year.
As I stood in the ditch, looking at the incredibly frozen drain pipe, my incredibly pressureized hot water pw system, and my incredibly cold helper, I noticed that the water I had hooked up to was flowing from the disconnected by-pass line. THEN light dawned.
I disconnected everything that wasn't under pressure, threw what was under pressure inside the covered trailer pw, and proceeded to cram the simple garden hose up the 6" drain pipe. My rationale was that, since the water, cold though it was, was running (A LOT), it was warmer than the ice that I originally went out there to dislodge. I rammed the hose up the pipe until I hit stoppage, and my helper pounded on the exposed exterior of the pipe. Within twenty minutes we had worked our way up 15 feet of frozen s**t to receive a glorious reward of a few more gallons of what had triggered the school to the problem in the first place (the unfrozen stoppage stuff). Satisfied with our success, we replaced the four foot section of damaged pipe wrapped up what little garden hose was needed, and drove off to find a way to thaw my quickly solidifying profit center.
The only damage suffered was a rupture in a newer hose, and a bruised ego. If I had either blown out the line before putting on the tip, or put in the blow-by valve, I could have done the job as planned in about five minutes.
I hope some of you have learned from my mistakes, and I hope I have one that nice little telescoping pole ;-)
<font color=e87400> Here’s a few for ya! Hopefully I can put several on one post. Each is over 50 words
<ol>
<b><li> The Samurai!</b>
About 2am on a job-site I had my rig parked directly in front of a payphone. The muffler of my generator was half deteriorated which made it twice as loud. Some idiot comes up on his bicycle & decides to use this payphone. I noticed him go to it & just shrugged. The guy then starts to give me static about my machines running. I was about 20-30ft away working. He was yelling at me to turn off my machines. I told him to go use a different phone there were 2 more only a hundred yards away at the same property, & like I said he was on a bike. I was there & running before he hopped on the phone & he was the moron that decided to use that phone rather than one of the others. He yelled a few more obscenities at me then he hung up the phone & peddled his bike around where I was working. I was a little apprehensive at this but played it off very casually, I figured all bark & no bite. Then he stops & pulls out a knife & picks up my HP hose & says “I’ll cut your hose†I remember thinking go ahead if you make it through you’ll be in for a hell of a surprise! Then I figured it’d be a bummer to have to repair the hose since even if he didn’t make it through, which it was doubtful he would, 2wire hose, he might damage it enough to weaken it plus, I was wondering what else he was going to do with that knife. So during all this I was still working casually trying to avoid a confrontation, now I figured I needed to take a little action. So I casually popped on my 0 tip & then not so casually gave him a little 210 degree love. I doused the guy pretty good I could hear it hitting him, he yelled & hightailed it outta there like flash. Was pretty funny, I hit him with it from far enough away where it wouldn’t do physical damage but where he’d know that if he got any closer it would. I called the cops & told them what had happened & they had a couple cars come to my job site & park there while I finished up, it was a pretty rough neighborhood.
<b><li>The Pool Man!</b>
Useing a sewer jetting to clear out deco drains on pool decks. I use a 8-25 gpm nozzle which drops my pressure to about 800 psi, with 2 machines teed I get about 10gpm. Run that sucker in to the deco drains & vuala cleaned. If you do this you have to get the pressure down & learned that one the hard way I use a smaller nozzle once & trashed a deco drain. It tossed plastic all over the place.
<b><li>The Poop Business!</b>
Similar to Squirtgun I’ve used my machine to jet out sewer drains. One in particular was a terracotta pipe that had been filled with tree roots. I ran sewer jet nozzle into it at 4000 psi & 10gpm & It actually cleared the roots out. It took a while but did a great job. I was pretty amazed. I had to keep feeding it in & then pulling it out to pull the debris out a little at a time. I’d get a mass of micro roots in one pull & get chunks of bigger roots in another. That thing brought out roots as big as an inch in dia.. The roots were pretty soft from being in a liquid filled pipe which is why the endeavor was successful. It was a crappy job but was worth doing -- Not exactly an unusual application I suppose but worth mention.
<b><li>The Bull Rider!</b>
One of my younger bucks that used to work for me had a little fun one night. We were doing a construction rinse on a parking area at a shopping center & had 3 machines teed up for 15gpm, upon on feeling the power he got the bright idea to hop into a shopping cart & go for a ride. He did so, the start was a bit slow but he build up enough momentum to where when he got to the end of the line he opted to toss it rather than to get snatched back by it only to end up slamming a curb & to have the shopping cart toss him over head first. That cart must have gotten to 15-20mph within only a couple hundred feet, he was hauling tush! Would make a nice Jackass skit!
<b><li> The Jetboat!</b>
Now the most bizarre thing I have seen with one was in Welaka Florida. My dad was getting his dock cleaned so I went up to check it out. The guy he hired does almost exclusively docks. He had a 15’ john boat & used a pressure washer to power it thru the water. The powerwasher draws thru a live-well <I>(for those that don’t know a live-well is box in a boat that fills from a hole in the boat up to the boats waterline)</I> to pull water right from the river. For propulsion he used a “turbo†nozzle, which was surprising but he said it worked better, on a customized rigging with a ballvalve for on & off. The rigging is a little hard to explain but what it did was put the nozzle in the water a few inches down pointed slightly upwards. It was braced so as not to bend. It lead to a steering arm on the stern of the boat so that steering directed the flow of the water.
The rig was permanently installed so as all he had to do while he was pressure washing was to turn 2 ballvalves & he had propulsion. He used his motors throttle to slow it down while working around the dock.
He said he opted to use the washer like this to cut down the rigs weight. Not sure if that made sense but he did have an awfully lot of stuff in the boat, chems & such. He said he usually puts in as close to his jobs as he can & just putts down to them. The little sucker actually clipped along pretty good. The unit he had was a 3000 @ 8gpm.
</ol>
That's a few for now. Funny, I've done all kinds of wierd things with this equipment but now when I'm put on the spot to recall somethings I get a blank. Go Figure.</font>
<ol>
<b><li> The Samurai!</b>
About 2am on a job-site I had my rig parked directly in front of a payphone. The muffler of my generator was half deteriorated which made it twice as loud. Some idiot comes up on his bicycle & decides to use this payphone. I noticed him go to it & just shrugged. The guy then starts to give me static about my machines running. I was about 20-30ft away working. He was yelling at me to turn off my machines. I told him to go use a different phone there were 2 more only a hundred yards away at the same property, & like I said he was on a bike. I was there & running before he hopped on the phone & he was the moron that decided to use that phone rather than one of the others. He yelled a few more obscenities at me then he hung up the phone & peddled his bike around where I was working. I was a little apprehensive at this but played it off very casually, I figured all bark & no bite. Then he stops & pulls out a knife & picks up my HP hose & says “I’ll cut your hose†I remember thinking go ahead if you make it through you’ll be in for a hell of a surprise! Then I figured it’d be a bummer to have to repair the hose since even if he didn’t make it through, which it was doubtful he would, 2wire hose, he might damage it enough to weaken it plus, I was wondering what else he was going to do with that knife. So during all this I was still working casually trying to avoid a confrontation, now I figured I needed to take a little action. So I casually popped on my 0 tip & then not so casually gave him a little 210 degree love. I doused the guy pretty good I could hear it hitting him, he yelled & hightailed it outta there like flash. Was pretty funny, I hit him with it from far enough away where it wouldn’t do physical damage but where he’d know that if he got any closer it would. I called the cops & told them what had happened & they had a couple cars come to my job site & park there while I finished up, it was a pretty rough neighborhood.
<b><li>The Pool Man!</b>
Useing a sewer jetting to clear out deco drains on pool decks. I use a 8-25 gpm nozzle which drops my pressure to about 800 psi, with 2 machines teed I get about 10gpm. Run that sucker in to the deco drains & vuala cleaned. If you do this you have to get the pressure down & learned that one the hard way I use a smaller nozzle once & trashed a deco drain. It tossed plastic all over the place.
<b><li>The Poop Business!</b>
Similar to Squirtgun I’ve used my machine to jet out sewer drains. One in particular was a terracotta pipe that had been filled with tree roots. I ran sewer jet nozzle into it at 4000 psi & 10gpm & It actually cleared the roots out. It took a while but did a great job. I was pretty amazed. I had to keep feeding it in & then pulling it out to pull the debris out a little at a time. I’d get a mass of micro roots in one pull & get chunks of bigger roots in another. That thing brought out roots as big as an inch in dia.. The roots were pretty soft from being in a liquid filled pipe which is why the endeavor was successful. It was a crappy job but was worth doing
-- Not exactly an unusual application I suppose but worth mention.<b><li>The Bull Rider!</b>
One of my younger bucks that used to work for me had a little fun one night. We were doing a construction rinse on a parking area at a shopping center & had 3 machines teed up for 15gpm, upon on feeling the power he got the bright idea to hop into a shopping cart & go for a ride. He did so, the start was a bit slow but he build up enough momentum to where when he got to the end of the line he opted to toss it rather than to get snatched back by it only to end up slamming a curb & to have the shopping cart toss him over head first. That cart must have gotten to 15-20mph within only a couple hundred feet, he was hauling tush! Would make a nice Jackass skit!
<b><li> The Jetboat!</b>
Now the most bizarre thing I have seen with one was in Welaka Florida. My dad was getting his dock cleaned so I went up to check it out. The guy he hired does almost exclusively docks. He had a 15’ john boat & used a pressure washer to power it thru the water. The powerwasher draws thru a live-well <I>(for those that don’t know a live-well is box in a boat that fills from a hole in the boat up to the boats waterline)</I> to pull water right from the river. For propulsion he used a “turbo†nozzle, which was surprising but he said it worked better, on a customized rigging with a ballvalve for on & off. The rigging is a little hard to explain but what it did was put the nozzle in the water a few inches down pointed slightly upwards. It was braced so as not to bend. It lead to a steering arm on the stern of the boat so that steering directed the flow of the water.
The rig was permanently installed so as all he had to do while he was pressure washing was to turn 2 ballvalves & he had propulsion. He used his motors throttle to slow it down while working around the dock.
He said he opted to use the washer like this to cut down the rigs weight. Not sure if that made sense but he did have an awfully lot of stuff in the boat, chems & such. He said he usually puts in as close to his jobs as he can & just putts down to them. The little sucker actually clipped along pretty good. The unit he had was a 3000 @ 8gpm.
</ol>
That's a few for now. Funny, I've done all kinds of wierd things with this equipment but now when I'm put on the spot to recall somethings I get a blank. Go Figure.</font>
I was called out on a new road construction job one day to wash the lines on the new road, they were the kind you heat and stick to the asphalt ( very expensive to replace ). The inspector for the state would not pass the job with the lines having some tar and dirt on them from the heavy construction traffic.One lane was open and the other was blocked off for me to work, I had one of there guys drive my truck and one spraying cleaner then I followed with the wand. It made the inspector happy and he approved the job.People were asking me for weeks what I was doing to the road that day.
Michael T
New Member
here's another one for ya
Last summer we got a call to clean a ski jump. This was a water ski jump in the middle of a lake. This lake was custom made for ski jumping. Its 400' wide and 2000' long. Down the center are some floating pylons and a floating jump. This lake is for certified record jumps. They have all kinds of cameras and recording equipment to verify a jump. Anyway the owner wanted us to clean the wax mold and mildew off the fiberglass surface. We parked our rig on the shore and the owner shuttled us out to the jump in a ski boat . He said watch out for snakes , most of them are just water snakes, but we do have some water moccasin. Well that made us feel real comfortable. Hard to concentrate on what you're doing while watching for snakes all the time. It took a while to get the hot water flowing as the hose was under water running about 150' Thur 70 deg coo water. Anyway got it done without getting snake bit or sunburned too bad.
Last summer we got a call to clean a ski jump. This was a water ski jump in the middle of a lake. This lake was custom made for ski jumping. Its 400' wide and 2000' long. Down the center are some floating pylons and a floating jump. This lake is for certified record jumps. They have all kinds of cameras and recording equipment to verify a jump. Anyway the owner wanted us to clean the wax mold and mildew off the fiberglass surface. We parked our rig on the shore and the owner shuttled us out to the jump in a ski boat . He said watch out for snakes , most of them are just water snakes, but we do have some water moccasin. Well that made us feel real comfortable. Hard to concentrate on what you're doing while watching for snakes all the time. It took a while to get the hot water flowing as the hose was under water running about 150' Thur 70 deg coo water. Anyway got it done without getting snake bit or sunburned too bad.
<font color=e87400>Yesterday I saw a very unusual use for a pressure washer.
I witnessed a guy washing a shopping center sidewalk, at a pretty busy center. The center is around 22000 sqft of concrete, I know because I have it measured from several years ago, and currently it is absolutely hammered. Horrible walk-up stains in-front of many of the stores & gum galore everywhere, at least 2pcs gum in every sqft of the property. What made it such an unusual use was the guy was swingin it <u>ALL COLD</u>. <li>No flat surface cleaner, <li>No heat, <li>no chemicals, <li>he plopped his pressure washer on the ground w/50 ft of hose <I>(it had a cart with wheels imagine that)</I>,
To make it more unusual – it was 2pm, and he'd obviously been there for quite awhile, & the property was busy busy busy cars were parked right against the sidewalk where he was washing & he was overspraying them bigtime.
Pretty unusual use indeed!
</font>
I witnessed a guy washing a shopping center sidewalk, at a pretty busy center. The center is around 22000 sqft of concrete, I know because I have it measured from several years ago, and currently it is absolutely hammered. Horrible walk-up stains in-front of many of the stores & gum galore everywhere, at least 2pcs gum in every sqft of the property. What made it such an unusual use was the guy was swingin it <u>ALL COLD</u>. <li>No flat surface cleaner, <li>No heat, <li>no chemicals, <li>he plopped his pressure washer on the ground w/50 ft of hose <I>(it had a cart with wheels imagine that)</I>,
To make it more unusual – it was 2pm, and he'd obviously been there for quite awhile, & the property was busy busy busy cars were parked right against the sidewalk where he was washing & he was overspraying them bigtime.
Pretty unusual use indeed!
</font>
onecallpowerw
New Member
Prarie Dog Update
Photo we found while going through some boxes last night. Visit our photo gallery at www.onecallpowerwash.com to see photo. I know it is against the rules to add web sites etc... but I cannot get my photo to post here.
Photo we found while going through some boxes last night. Visit our photo gallery at www.onecallpowerwash.com to see photo. I know it is against the rules to add web sites etc... but I cannot get my photo to post here.
[GLOW=red]The Winners Are:[/GLOW]
Cody: First Place (jet boat post) wins the 24' FlipLok wand with gutter cleaning attachment.
Michael T.:Second Place (Ski Jump.)) wins the gauge kit
Squirtgun: Third Place (Pecan Blower) wins the Al Trigger Gun.
HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
They were all great posts it was a tough decision.
Cody: First Place (jet boat post) wins the 24' FlipLok wand with gutter cleaning attachment.
Michael T.:Second Place (Ski Jump.)) wins the gauge kit
Squirtgun: Third Place (Pecan Blower) wins the Al Trigger Gun.
HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
They were all great posts it was a tough decision.
Last edited by a moderator:
Larry L.
PWN TEAM - Moderator Emeritus
I too think they where all great post..
After I got to thinking about the boat rig powerwasher I wondered what the speed would be with a 5gpm 3000psi powerwasher.
I wish I could get my powerwasher to push my truck down the road to every job like he can,could save alot just on wear and tear.
It seems there is no end to the volume and power of water,from cutting steel to washiing a badies butt it doesn't make a bad drink in small volumes under low psi.Only a special buildit boat can withstand the volume of water at the psi of the LORDS rig.
After I got to thinking about the boat rig powerwasher I wondered what the speed would be with a 5gpm 3000psi powerwasher.
I wish I could get my powerwasher to push my truck down the road to every job like he can,could save alot just on wear and tear.
It seems there is no end to the volume and power of water,from cutting steel to washiing a badies butt it doesn't make a bad drink in small volumes under low psi.Only a special buildit boat can withstand the volume of water at the psi of the LORDS rig.
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