Downstream on two Story homes

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degraffreed

Guest
Hello to all.

I have a question that I hope on of you vets could help me on.

I been PWing pt for about 4mths and have done approx 10 home in this time. I am completing these two story 1800 - 2000 sqft,(vynil siding, lot of miledew here in GA), home on average of 2.5 hours. This include the soffit, trim and gutters. I am using R109 upstreaming my detergent. I am hearing that other contract cleaners are doing this in 1 -1.5 hours.

No matter how thought out my plan is before I start out. I cannot seem to get done under 2.5 hours. What am I doing wrong, that I could fix in order to decrease my cleaning time. Never had one complaint on the quality of the work. I just want to decrease my time on these jobs. I am metering my soap a 1/4 turn from the closing position. This is where I belive is costing me time. I wonder if I open the metering valve wide open, I would therefore have more chemicals on the house to break down the dirt, mildew, let dwell for 5-10 mins, while I start on other side, and then return and rinse. Will this help decrease my time?

I also am thinking that I could use my 18ft extension wand with my roll over nozzel and downstrea my chems on two story homes, and apply chemical this way to decrease time.

Sorry so long winded. My wife says it takes me so long is due to being a perfectionist. I just want to give the customer a quality job. Not like these $99.00 splash and dash contractor.

Degraffreed
 

squirtgun

New Member
speed..

You can try an Xjet,it cut our housewash time by at least a 1/3.
I would think that using the downstreamer on the machine ,you're not getting a strong enough concentration of chemicals on the house.
Yes opening the valve and applying a stronger mix should cut down cleaning time.

Are you using just the R109?What else are you adding to the mix if anything?
 
D

degraffreed

Guest
downstreaming two story

Squirtgun,

Thanks for replying. I am currently using on R-109, which is supposed to be a good detergent made for the pwer. I do not mix anything in with it.

I am researching the possibility of ordering the x-jet. I had a terrible experience with Extendawand. I purchase the 24' foot wand back here in March, Not only was the wand alot heavier than the 18' wand I have, but the dam thing broke when I used it the first time out at a residence. I called and e-mail extendawand for about 2 months, finally they told me I had recieved a defective wand and they would send me a replacement part. I just recieved it a week ago. I was so fustrated at the lack of customer service that I recieved, I am going to send the entire piece of S**t back tomorrow.Needless to say I will never buy from them again. I will be sending the wand back and purcasing the x-jet.

For the mean time I am using my 18' wand with my rollover nozzel to apply the chems up high at low pressure and hopefully this will decrease my time on site and still deliver a quality job.

What do you think about that set up until I decide whether I will purchase the x-jet. Will my downstream even work with a 18' extension and a roll over nozzel?

Thanks for any and all advice. I am really excited about putting money in my own pocket.

Degraffreed
 

oneness

New Member
Your mix is part of your problem. You need a fairly high concentration of chlorine on the siding to knock down the mold...between 1 and 1.5% sodium hypchlorite. I mix two gallons of 10.5% pool chlorine, 1 gallon of citracleen, and water in a five gallon bucket. I Xjet that on, and on vinyl, I can rinse with a soap tip. I can do a 2000 square foot vinyl (one or two story, doesn't matter) house with algae in under an hour, no county setup and breakdown. Figure between 1 and 1.5 hours from drive up to drive off.

Downstreaming just doesn't give you the concentration of chems you need to get the job done quickly.
 

chemozkiy04

New Member
I have an x-jet and the only thing i don't like is that I have to drag the bucket of chem. around the house with me. i'm thinking about trying downstreaming my chem's. I just started too but i haven't found much work yet. i'm thinking of selling my x-jet if your interested. what is your psi? I also live in the atlanta area.


chip
 
D

degraffreed

Guest
Chip, Hey I am out in Douglasville,

Are you serious about selling the x-jet? Do you have all the proportioner and a close range tip?.

I am doing pretty good right know just bided on my first commercial job and hope to hear from the customer tomorrow. I am sending a 24'extendawand back to dealer. Want to swap for x-jet

Degraffree
 

squirtgun

New Member
Housewash...

Mike uses the same housewash mix as we do.The chlorine added to the mix will help you a considerable amount.
We don't use the downstreamer on our machine for housewashes,so I'm not sure how strong of a mix you'll need to get the results we get using our Xjet.
Not sure how well the extention pole will draw.

Shoot me an email.
kkarbone@bellsouth.net
 
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D

degraffreed

Guest
Onesss.

Thanks for the reply.

Maybe I have seen one of your post stating that you are cleaning 1500-2000 sqft homes in 1-1.5 hours.
Is that including the gutters too?

The time that it take me is about 2-3 hours a home. Due in part to not applying the chemicals correctly. I am fairly new to the industry but I have 3500 psi 5 gpm Rk41 and have done about 10 homes in the last 3 months.

My issue is not so much the mold and mildew but cleaning the dirt and enviromental deposit on the homes. Even up to the second story gables. I guess I am giving a cadillac job at a volkwagon price.

From other post that I have read, I realized that I am not metering my soap correctly. I am turning my knob a 1/4 turn from the closed position. This tells me that I am not letting enough soap get on the home and dwell in order to come back and rinse. I am spending alot a time actually "dry"pressure washing. Would you agree? On my next customer I am going to try opening the metering valve wide open and really letting the chemical get on the homes and see how this works. I am really concern about off property discharge and trying to make sure I am being EPA compliant and I think this is why I am concern when I see large amount of soap coming off of the home.

Where can I purchase this citraclean? Do you think it is better than r-109 by delco? Do you have to mix anything with it to make it clean better.?

DeGraffreed
 
D

degraffreed

Guest
Hello Squirt,

When you use the x-jet for housewashing. I know that it will spray about 25-35 ft up. My question is when you start cleaning below the second story is it to powerful to say clean the lower part of the house? I seems as though the pressure coming out of the tip would be that equal to a 0 tip nozzel and could cause damage.

Correct me if I am wrong.

Chemosku04, how long is your hose going to your chemical bucket. I wonder if you could purchase, say a 15 ft hose and that would allow you to pretty much leave you bucket and spray a larger area and not carry your bucket as much. Just me thinking out loud.

You say you have not had much work yet, who are you targeting, commerical flat work, strip mall, residential etc. I have been pretty buys on with residential. Just completed a job in Kennesaw this weekend. 6 out of the 10 jobs have all be from word of mouth and refferal.

DeGraffreed


DeGraffreed
 
D

degraffreed

Guest
Squirt,

Why would you not think the extension wand will not draw from the downstream injector? As long as the hose is under 200 ft, from reading past post, a was aware that it could draw under low pressure. I try it on my home first and see what happens.

Are you using a close range tip on the lower portions of the home?

Degraffreed
 
D

degraffreed

Guest
Chemosky04,

What kind of equipment do you have? Enclosed, open etc.

Degraffreed
 

squirtgun

New Member
xjet

We use our close range nozzle on the lower part of the house.With the M-5 Xjet you can adjust the spray at the nozzle no need for a close range tip.You can also back up 10 to 15 ft from the hosue to reduce the pressure at the nozzle if you choose not to use the close range nozzle.

We have a 3500psi/5.5gpm machine and use 50ft of 3/8" hose with our xjet.

Chip,
Residential in southwest Ga is slow,different economic environment.Thankfully commercial and window washing keep us busy.
 
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chemozkiy04

New Member
all of my equipment is in the back of my truck under a commercial truck cap. I have a 3700psi 4gpm machine with 100' of hose. does the extendawand come with a belt? i'm mostly into the houses I do this part time so i'm not sure if i want to get into commercial. what about you? what kind of equipment. oh yes i have close range tip and proportioners the x-jet is for 2000-3000psi machines.if you have a higher psi you could get the orfice swaped i suppose. i upgraded machines for driveways so that is another reason i'm thinking of selling it. thanks

chip
 

klean_freak

New Member
Sorry maybe im stupid but i just use straight chlorine thru my injector.

start chlorine on one side work my way around and rinse NO DWELL TIME and im in FL lots of mold .
 

oneness

New Member
The best results I have had with chlorine and mold is with about a 4% sodium hypchlorite solution Xjetted onto the house. This puts the final ration at around 1.5% hitting the house. That kills the mold, and yes, you could get a similar strength through a downstreamer if you were wide open pulling 10-12% liquid pool chlorine and drawing at a 10-15% rate. The problem is, the chlorine kills the mold, but does nothing to remove it from the surface, nor to loosen dirt. Yes, it is easier to blast off with the wand once it is hit with chlorine, but in my experience, you wind up having to use much more pressure than necessary. If you were to add soap to your mix that you were downstreaming, you'd lower the chlorine to sub-par levels.

When I use the bleach and citracleen together, I can rinse at a much lower pressure than if I just hit it with bleach. Not to mention, I'm not running chlorine through my hoses, connectors, or gun.

Originally posted by klean_freak
Sorry maybe im stupid but i just use straight chlorine thru my injector.

start chlorine on one side work my way around and rinse NO DWELL TIME and im in FL lots of mold .
 

oneness

New Member
Originally posted by degraffreed
Onesss.

Where can I purchase this citraclean? Do you think it is better than r-109 by delco? Do you have to mix anything with it to make it clean better.?

DeGraffreed

email me at mike@northfloridapressurewashing.com and I can point you in the right direction. Yes, it is DEFINITELY better, by far, than R109. I tried that for a while, with poor results.
 

Larry L.

PWN TEAM - Moderator Emeritus
Call Mark he is a Sponsor of the board,he has all kinds of chemicals............................the not repect shows,call if you don't get my meaning.

Chip

Your cann't expect to be as fast as some on the board,you haven't been doing it long enough yet.The not being a slash and dash part timer is taking alot of time in a job will done,in time you will get faster.......fast is not always good.
 

oneness

New Member
Originally posted by Larry L.
Call Mark he is a Sponsor of the board,he has all kinds of chemicals............................the not repect shows,call if you don't get my meaning.


If you're referring to my statement, I disagree that it is disrespectful to anyone. I have bought supplies from Mark, and probably will again. I use cleaners I get elsewhere, and they are better than anything else I've tried. I'm not going to point someone to a product I know nothing about simply because they donate money to the board. I'm going to tell anyone interested what I use, what results I get, and where to get it if they're interested. I've pointed plenty of folks Mark's way, but I certainly have no obligation to do so.

Telling someone what I use, and where I get it, is not disrespectful to anyone.
 

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