If your buffer tank is small’ish’ I might just rent a trailer with a larger tank and add that to the price - if that’s an option.
The fact that you are using a buffer tank though, means that you have, in a sense, disconnected yourself from supply issues. If you are able to keep up with the amount your buffer tank holds then you just may wait a little initially. Given it’s flat, taking all things into consideration (hose size, size of buffer) you would have the same issue at 100’ versus 400’ once the flow starts and you have a full buffer.
I just carry a large tank because I have to fill, disconnect, wash, then fill it up again. When I had a smaller buffer tank I had a job with 300’ of hose and never skipped a beat even if I wasn’t off trigger for that long. Just my $.02 FWIW.
I don’t know what GPM he has for a machine. I had a 30 gallon buffer with a 4 GPM machine at the time. Those days are gone with an 8 GPM machine - need a much larger buffer with 8gpm.
400’ of supply hose, still had reasonable flow thankfully. I did outrun it a few times but gave me an excuse to take a break. 250’ of pressure hose was about perfect.
thanks for the update! So when you run it dry do you just shut the PW down as fast as you can? is it bad for the motor and/or pump to run dry for any time?
I can feel a slight vibration in the surface cleaner when it happens so I just let off the gun and go take a break. The buffer tank circulates the water anyway so I just walk back the 400’ to the truck and shut it down to save gas.
Sometimes retention ponds and private ponds like this can be home to massive fish! This is from the pond in my neighborhood, shoe is a size 13 for reference
