Testing my equipment before I open my doors. Started with my own driveway. I have gone over it twice and it still looks the same. I used 2gal water/3gal 12.5% SH/5oz surfactant through the down stream. I have a 4gpm 4000psi unit. I let it sit for 7-10 min and post treated and rinsed. I used both the wand and surface cleaner. I can barely tell a difference. What could I be missing?
What does your DSI pull? Even at 10:1 you’re only putting down like .80% SH… Try it without diluting it and just downstream straight 12.5%.
Also don’t rinse off the post treat, let it dry.
Is the photo you attached showing it fully dry?
If so, I also question your strength of bleach actually hitting the surface, and it’s dwell time?
And, don’t rinse off the post treatment unless you absolutely have to. Just let it dry on it’s own.
And go horizontal, perpendicular to line of sight and make sure you don’t let dirty water dry on it.
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what’s your psi? you may have to fdisconnect the dsi if your psi is really low and using long hose.
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- When engaged it operates at 3500 sometimes more. Manufacturer said that’s right where it needs to be.
The SH is 12.5. Measured 3gal to 2 water with surfactant. That should be enough. I’ll try pump spraying it on directly. Dwell time was 5 min the first time. I gave it 10 the next day. And yes, that is the after photo. The before is about the same.
What surface cleaner do you have? Show a pic of your setup. how many ft of hose are you using. Do you have an inline pressure gauge that you can plug in between end of your hose and your surface cleaner? If not you can get one for about $20. Something is not right. When you downstreamed it, did any soap actually come out?
3 gallons of 12.5% mixed with 2 gallons of water gets you 7.5%… then you are downstreaming it which dilutes it even more (assuming you have fresh SH and you are using a 10:1 draw) the most you are applying is .69%. That is too weak of a mix for most concrete around me. For pretreating I need to use closer to 1-1.25 and sometimes up to 2-3%. Downstreaiming straight 12.5% with a 10:1 gets you in that 1-1.25 range… anything hotter you need a 12V, x-jet, or pump up sprayer to apply.
I have a 20” BE rated for 4 gpm. I have a gauge. I used the wand to apply the detergent with the proper tip and yes it came out. Suds up and smelling like an indoor pool. Used a 50ft line.
What’s your gauge say when hooked to end of your hose, between it and surface cleaner with you running the machine wide open?
Also, how old is drive?
I’m taking in everything you are saying about the mix. When you ask, what is the draw on my dsi? I don’t know how to answer that. I thought that had more to do with the nozzle type.
I’m not getting the math. Mostly because I’m getting conflicting info and results from different sources. How do you calculate?
You need to do a test and some math to figure out what GPM your pump is actually putting out, and to figure out how much chemical your injector is pulling.
Once you know that, you can calculate the rest.
You can also use a batch mix calculator to figure out your strength before downstreaming.
640 ounces in 5 gallons
384 ounces are 12.5% bleach
649/384=1.69
12.5/1.69=7.396% (that is what’s in your 5 gallon bucket before downstreaming)
7.396/11=0.672% being put down on the concrete. (take what’s in your bucket and divide by the injector ratio 10:1=11)
I don’t know, doesn’t look like organics to me, looks like discoloration in the concrete. Even with no pretreat and only 1000 psi, if it was dirty it will look different. Even the driveway across the street looks the same. Driveways facing opposite directions usually don’t have the same organic growth amounts and patterns.
No reason to get so hung up on the % he’s putting down. When I wash houses at 0.6%, run off onto the driveway will be noticeably cleaner if it was dirty. This pic is with no pressure, just rinsed the cleaner off with tap pressure. A 0.6% mix than ran down and pooled here for about 15 minutes.
I was thinking that was a possibility. Yes all the driveways in the neighborhood have very similar “shadows”. So I started to think maybe it wasn’t bio. After all of the advice, I am now more confused than ever about mix’s and %’s. Even batch calculators are giving me conflicting results that I am getting here.
One thing at a time, your mix doesn’t matter with this driveway situation. This is easy, take the wand and hit one of these dark areas and see what happens. Put straight 12.5% on a spot too and see. 2 minutes of testing will tell you what you need to know about what’s going on
Thanks brother
It could very well be discoloration in the concrete… the second photo shows wand marks… so OP is either removing the cream or there is some form of inorganic material (tire rubber most likely) that can be removed using something other then SH.
How do you know you are putting .6% on a house? You either calculated it or you’re guessing… in which case you could be off. For someone just starting out, learning about percentages and ratios will only enhance their knowledge base as they grow their business.
Skipping pretreat and using only 1000 PSI is a pipe dream around here and applying .6% and waiting 15minutes for subpar results isn’t efficient… from the looks of it though I have to deal with a lot worse organics then you do.
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The dark lines running parallel are most likely tire rubber, degreaser and pressure should take care of them.
What calculators are you looking at? Wash Basics has a good calc and as much as I don’t like them Southeast Softwash has a decent one along with %'s for different surfaces. Just remember with the SESW calc you need to factor in your DSI draw ratio to get the final % output. They are just a starting points though, you’ll have to test your equipment to figure out more accurate strengths.
Thanks. I assure you I am not guessing. Just have variables I don’t understand how to calculate. I assure you I am not using 1000 psi unit and not pretreating.
