Hello all! My name is Aiden Lee, 20 years old in college, and I’m looking to start up a new pressure washing business here in Georgia. This business will be a part time business for me to get through college. I will be focusing solely on residential jobs, cleaning homes and adding driveways, trash cans, gutters, etc as my services.
I’m planning to go with a budget 5.5GPM build, built with a Predator 459CC with an Udor 5.5GPM pump. Or, my alternative would be to buy the GX390 build that pushes out 5.5GPM @ 2500PSI from KECSupplies. Let me know if that’s too much power for that poor little pump, but I don’t think I will need to exceed for something that I will not be doing full time. I’ll be buying a metal skid for it to mount it to my trailer, but the issue is, it is a 5x8 mesh trailer. Would I be fine attaching some wood to the top of the trailer on the mesh and then mounting the motor that way?
I’m also curious because of the differing information that I have read up on the forum regarding the water tanks needed to push a 5.5GPM, and I believe that the max that I could get is a 50 gallon water tank and run it not completely full, due to the 5x8 trailer that I am looking at to only be able to support a weight of 2000LB. Let me know what you guys think because I’ve heard people running all the way up to 125, but some not even running half on a 65 gallon tank.
If there is anyone located in Georgia, I would also love to get some pointers on where they obtain chemicals! All the bulk chemical stores around me seem to be selling 5 gallon tanks for SH at a price of around $150, and a tank of 55 gallon of SH for $640. I’ve seen many varying prices from $1-3 gallon around here, so those prices just didn’t seem right to me.
Lastly, I’d like to ask if the 5x8 Mesh Trailer is appropriate. Someone in my area is running a killer deal on these but I’m afraid that I will need a trailer with more weight capacity, but at the same time, my car (2013 Ford Edge) has a maximum towing capacity of 3000lb for my specific year and model, and that seems to be pushing it. Thank you guys for teaching me a lot up to this point, and I look forward to reading much more, I just wanted to get some initial questions out of the way that seemed to have differing sources of information at the moment. Thank you for reading all!
Put wood over the mesh with bolts and lock nuts underneath itll work just fine
Also you wont need to run your buffer tank full while driving and you can put a hudson float valve on it so it doesnt fill up full anyway.
Yes you can mount directly to wood few guys on here either have or used to run directly into some wood
Thank you so much! Just what I was looking for. Do you have any opinions in the builds of the motor, if I should go with a custom built Predator or the GX390? I’ve heard a lot of good things from the GX390 but I’m not sure that it will be able to push enough for flatwork/surface cleaners.
Awesome, that’s what I thought, I hope I can find a suitable supplier for it soon. I will only be shopping for 5 gallon batches since this will be a small part time operation, but still, it adds up!
What part of ga are you in …down in savannah sh is 1.50 a gal of 12% at one place and one down the street sells 55 gal drums of 10% for like 125 ithink …wood ontop of your mesh would he fine just need to remember the weight limit …your water tank will be fine just dont fill it up all the way for weight savings just make a dump valve so you can drive without the water weight
5.5/2500 is plenty for residential, flat work might need little stronger pretreat… i have 55 gal tank, and water is always full. I could get buy with a 35 gal tank but water flow is pretty good at 97% of jobs. Flat work will sometimes run it down if its a lot of surface area.
Go with 16” surface cleaner, the 19” Whisper wash worked fine while i had it but it was slow moving.
I’m more near North Georgia, right above Atlanta. I guess I’ll just have to look harder for a distributor, I think my problem was that I didn’t look nearly as hard as I should’ve. Thank you for your input!
If I were to use the Predator 459CC, don’t you think that it would push a little more than 2500PSI when used with a 5.5GPM pump? I’ve seen people making 8GPM out of this little motor. Thanks for your input, I hope it can!
If you can stick with a basic simple stupid setup starting out lol …like a honda 4gpm 4k psi and get a dual pressure wand that way you can turn up or down pressure as you go and throw your chem as you need it …most start up kits if you go that route start at like 2400 i think i can send uou a link to a local guy here or buy a used system off marketplace from someone …if you can and are willing to finance something do it …saves alot of upfront costs and money you can throw into marketing and repairs and parts when they do brake …i got a 7800 system for like 200 ish a month no down payment with clicklease …giving options
I’m not afraid of credit as I’ll be busting it out on this job. Most of all expenses will be placed in a 0% APR Business Credit Card, because who doesn’t like free loans? I do have the capital to pay for my desired build up front, but why not save it and pay it off with what I make with the business and save the money long term and for other stuff. Thanks for the advice.
3 places you should visit before making a decision
BCE systems in Calhoun
Georgia Chrmical in Norcross
North ga airless in Gainesville
I bought a beast from BCE. Love it, but I’ve used hot water maybe 5x in a year. Def not needed but they have great trailer builds. Good ole boys.
Georgia chemical has good builds and great SH prices. Today bleach was 2.55/gal 2.25 last week. Buy some 5 gal pails from them as well so you’re not making daily trips.
North Ga airless - haven’t purchased anything but they’ve been extremely helpful when I go in. They wouldn’t build a 12v system for me but they offered to design and supply the parts and basic instructions. Good SH prices as well but they’re out of my normal market so rarely make it up there.
Awesome, thank you for the amazing advice. I’ll contact BCE to see what they can do in terms of my trailer build and if they can make it to spec of how I’d like it to be and see what their insight is on my design. I’ll have to reach out to Georgia Chemical as well, I saw them on Google and all seemed good!
and lock nuts underneath itll work just fine
