Soft wash blend system I’m building — running ¾″ plumbing to future-proof for a bigger system (AR30 maybe or possibly dual 12v or 24v not sure really). 275 gallon water tote, 55 gallon SH drum, 20 gallon surfactant tank, 20 gallon misc tank all metered; sodium thiosulfate and acids will go through the misc line. Motorized valve shuts off chems for remote rinse. Final tee joins with water into 7GPM FatBoy. Top-draw sticks w/ checks on every line. Looking for any final suggestions from you guys before I plumb it in.
Diagram isn’t laid out exactly how its going to be routed on flatbed. Its more just to show the logical flow of the plumbing. Next up for me is to plan exactly how its going to sit on the flatbed. I have a pretty good idea but I want to make sure I’m future-proof for expanding a couple things around it (like adding another machine or hot water burner or whatever I figure out I need).
That is going to be very slow. Like 3 times more time then using a gas powered unit. a fat boy will only output about 2.5 to3 gallon per minutes at the gun. And you will need to keep a backup pump on the truck. If you are wanting to do a true soft wash setup you might as well do a cheap shot style set up. What you have will work for doing roofs but a whole house I would not use it.
Hmm that’s something then. Is there anything in particular wrong with my setup to slow it down or are you just saying you’re not a fan of 12v pump soft wash systems in general?
If I need a backup on hand then what are your thoughts about running a dual 7gpm 12v pump system? That way I have the backup but I’m using it to boost flow too.
You have to remember that on 12v systems that what they are rated for is with no restriction. So when you add hose and any elevation in the system you lose flow. I have tried dual 7gpm 12v pumps did not see a change from running one or both at the same time. When time is money the faster you can get something done is more money in your pocket.
If I were to sub an AR30 gas powered system in place of the Fatboy would my diagram work ok still? I would have to run a 25’ bypass loop that returns to the pump? Is that standard? The only AR/comet gas systems I’ve seen in person were farm sprayers and they had bypass back to the tank but obviously we’re not batch mixing like they are here so that won’t work.
I agree, my 7gpm 100psi MAYBE puts out 3.5-4gpm after 170’ of AG hose. It barely reaches gutters on a second story. I’ve considered the 24v system but not worth it to me.
I’m more interested in any feedback on my plumbing diagram but I appreciate the feedback on the GPM of the 12v pump. Its definitely an issue but again I’m really focused on making sure I’m on the right track with the plumbing.
how would that manifold reduce air leaks? The tee fittings in my system will be barb ends so they require worm clamps on the hose to connect to the barb. With this manifold wouldn’t I require NPT thread x barb fittings and clamps also to secure to the manifold? I don’t see how I would gain anything, both would have potential to air leak and as you can see according to my diagram I have a motorized valve on the SH line after I merge surfactant and misc to the line before I merge water. If I run everything into a manifold I lose the ability to remote switch between water and SH/surfactant (or misc if I have SH/surf turned off manually and I’m doing a deck with misc tank line on). Unless I just tee surfactant and misc into SH anyway and then run a 2 port manifold for water and SH/chem but that kind of defeats the purpose because I only delete one tee fitting out and a 2 port manifold seems stupid given it literally is just a tee. I absolutely need remote switch for toggling between chem/water.
Don’t people pressure test their plumbing systems before hooking them up and putting them in service?
I’m not pushing back because I think you’re wrong. I’m just asking questions because I want to learn and try to understand where you’re coming from. Thanks!
What do you plan on using your system for primarily? What I don’t see is how you’re going to flush your system unless you’ve got a 3 way valve on the input side of each.
So far the vast majority of my jobs have been vinyl house washes and stucco house wash and a TON of concrete driveways. I have been doing decks for 10+ years and (reading from you) refined my techniques this year and really elevated things. I need the 12v to dispense chemicals on decks and also to dispense hotter mixes on really dirty stucco/brick and also I’d like to be able to pre-treat and post-treat at a hotter mix than downstream house wash mix which I think will really speed up my driveway cleaning process. I also want to siamese another 5GPM pressure washer into my system but that’s just so I can surface clean at 10GPM but no doubt will speed up house wash too.
Writing out answer to you I wonder if it would just be a lot simpler to set up a batch mixing system for pre/post treating and mixing up chem for decks. I’m trying to think hard about what I would lose and would I really regret going that direction. I guess worst case scenario is I found it miserable and I could just cannabilize the batch system and pursue the proportioner system then with no loss. Do you think setting up a batch mix system I have the best chance at getting good performance out of a 12v pump like the remco fatboy?
PS so I need to run a three way valve from water line (after check valve) on a three way valve and three way valve into SH line AFTER check valve for rinse?
if I set up a batch mix system, do you think its smart to run some kind of 2-3GPM bleach pump as a transfer pump. The big pain in the ■■■ with batch mix as far as I can tell is actually making the batches…lol. I’d want to speed that up and smooth out that process. I can use gravity to feed water from bottom of tote into 15-20 gallon mix tanks but for bleach I’d want the ability to pump it and setting up a little bleach pump mounted to the drum with an outlet hose to reach (camlocked fitting?) mix tank would be crucial I think…
here’s what I came up with back at the drawing board ha
Its not exactly a simple batch mix system but it addresses what I want out of a system (thank you for the question as obvious as it is to think about your use case its easy to get lost in the forest for the trees). I want something I can toggle between chem/water for sure and I also want something I can spray hot mixes with. This lets me do max 6% (if I put straight bleach in the batch tank since it will mix 50/50 with water from the water line). I could do 3% by adding as much water as bleach to the batch tank giving me 6% in batch tank and 3% output which is perfect for pre/post treating. It also gives me ability to rinse entire system out past the batch mix tank check valve (so three way valves, motorized valve, PUMP get rinsed).
I lose ability to dial mixes on the fly and I lose the ability to cut surfactant in/out. I think if I plan ahead smart enough it will be fine. I also solve a separate problem I’m wrestling with about transferring bleach drums at the chemical supply place I am using. I can just run my bleach tank down to around 20 gallons then transfer it into the batch mix tank and run to the supply place with the empty bleach drum and swap it out with a new one. So now I don’t need a blank spot on my flatbed to transport a full drum back to home to transfer out thus conserving space on rig and also simplifying the transfer process. Only possible problem I see is it kind of ties me to doing that errand down to 1-2 day window unless I guess I keep a 20-30 gallon bleach backup at home which I guess I could.
PM me your number - I’ll text you some pic/slash videos later today. KISS. I’ve tried all different ways over the years with 12v and the AR45 and my current builds I’ve eliminated a lot of stuff. I’ve literally have used my 12v for concrete pre or post treating maybe twice in past year. And I clean a LOT of concrete and even with my 8gpm I never need. I ds hw mix for pre and post treating. It’s a pain, unrolling 12v, priming the sh, etc and then rolling back up and flushing everything. You can lose 10-15min doing all that. If by chance there are a few spots that need touching up other than what’s needed with DS, I just walk around and hit those few spots with a pump up. I can do that quicker than unrolling the 12v hose. Learn to clean it better and I’d be surprised if you ever needed it with the stronger mix than you’re pulling with a 5gpm. Unless I’ve got a lot of area that needs a 12v, easier and faster to use the pump up or my little Ryobi pump sprayer. Same with applying degreaser.
A DS injector will wash 99% of what you need to wash and will make you more money than you can spend. Let someone else that doesn’t know any better chase the 1%
thanks, I need to hear some real world advice…I have been pre/post treating with downstream and its working fine. I just have a couple guys telling me I can speed myself wayyyyy up if I pre/post hotter mixes. But I think what will really speed me up is moving from 5GPM to 8-10GPM flow.
That’s what I’m on now thanks to your guys input. I may eventually get a 12v soft wash system but I realize where I’m making my money (besides doing decks like I’ve always done) is washing houses and cleaning driveways and that’s best done with my 5GPM belt drive machine and downstreaming. An 8GPM machine will help. My problem now is that the flatbed I was buying fell through (I canceled the deal because there were little minor issues I wasn’t liking) so I’m still running my Tacoma for another 1-2 months at least or maybe rest of season. I don’t mind it, and I’ve got it set up pretty nice but I’ve pretty much maxed out payload with a 55 gallon drum for a buffer tank and my machine and supply hose reel and pressure wash hose reel. I gotta upgrade my truck so I can carry a larger water supply so I can upgrade to 8GPM…I think? I’m on wells a good bit and I already once in awhile thirst for water with my 5GPM machine. But I can do some tips I’ve picked up here like strip supply hoses off the reel and don’t run through the reel, double up on two spigots to the buffer tank (get some sort of reverse Y so that I can run both through the hudson?)
and the thing I most want to figure out is how can I elevate my hudson valve so it sits RIGHT at the lip of my barrel. I can’t quite wrap my head around how to do this…I’m imagining like a wide PVC pipe that can fit the hudson in it and securing the PVC pipe so it screws into the top of the buffer tank somehow so the bottom of the hudson just barely pokes into the water tank? Does that make sense?
