So, I bought my pressure washer a couple of weeks ago and finally got around to cleaning my rental house.
Can anyone offer advice on a few things? On the sides of the house that actually got clean I still had some black spots that were left over. These go away easily if I rub them but wouldn’t go away with the soap/rinse.
On the side of the house that’s the worse I had trouble getting the siding clean. I soaped and rinsed twice and it still wasn’t clean. The only thing I could think is that I needed to make my mix stronger? The mix I used was made two weeks ago so I am not sure how much the SH would have diluted over that period of time.
The original mixture was 1gal SH, 1gal water and some Elemonator. This was all applied using a downstream injector with a JROD.
Also, what’s the secret to getting the aluminum around windows and soffit clean? I have some Gutter Grenade otw and it should arrive tomorrow but I didn’t know if I was missing something.
are you using store bought bleach —assuming ? Store bought bleach varies in strength (%'s) . Walmart I think sells a bleach that’s 3%, Average bleach is about 5.5 %, and alot of grocery stores here in the south part of U.S. sell an 8.5% bleach in a smaller container. Your mix wasn’t strong enough. I’d ditch the other additives you put in your mix until you get the ratio right. You can always downstream straight 5.5% through your pickup and it will clean the house without harming anything. Always pre-soak plants and raw wood around the house. You can always cut it with a little water after your mix starts going down a bit in the bucket.
I purchased some stuff from a pool supply store that they said varies between 10%-12.5% depending on when it’s purchased. They said the shipment had just come in the same week that I bought it though.
if you’re going to redo it. Ditch the soap and other cleaner. I think that 1:1 ratio should be fine.
You should see what’s left disappear within about 5 minutes.
Where was your mix stored? Sunlight and heat cause SH to break down quickly.
Also, the higher the concentration, like 10% or 12.5%, the faster the SH tends to break down on its own. Opening and mixing the solution will exacerbate the issue.
I would suggest mixing a fresh batch with freshly bought SH, (just go and get the 6% or 8.25% bleach at the dollar store if that’s more convenient- adjust the mix accordingly), and check the manufacture date on the bottle (it will be a 3 digit ‘day of the year’ and a 2 digit year. should be at least 16 200 at this point in the year).
Nothing wrong with using the elemonator while you figure this out. It will boost the cleaning ability of the bleach and allow you to use less of it. I would never apply straight SH without some soap for cling and suds. Helps me see when I’m done rinsing.
Last thought: did you literally use only 2 gallons of mix on this (or was that just the ratio)? Because that would indicate your injector is not pulling like it should. Most houses I do I use 5-7+ gallons of mix. I use around 3 or 4 on a single wide mobile home. And I would expect a newbie to use even more, especially if you’re going back to re-wash stuff.
The mix was sitting in my garage. I mixed 2 gallons originally and still haven’t used it all. My injector is definitely pulling because I can see the it on the wall and ground. Right now I’m using the injector that was built in my pressure washer so I’m not sure if it dillutes it too much or not? It’s a 10:1 ratio. I bought an injector from pressuretek but I haven’t used it yet.
Yeah, take off the built in injector and use the one from PT. You’re not pulling nearly enough detergent if you used less than 2 gallons to wash and then rewash parts of your home.
Think about this: if your machine is rated at 4gpm, and for the sake of argument let’s say it only produces 3.5gpm with that injector on, your ‘10:1’ injector should be using .35 gallons of mix every minute. It should take less than 6 minutes of spraying to go through 2 gallons of mix.
Also, if you’re still within the return period for that machine, I would strongly consider it. You can get a starter-professional 4gpm or 5.5gpm belt driven machine in the $1200-$1500 range. Well worth the extra cash.
Eh, I only paid $799 for this one…I should be able to sell it for a decent amount if I decide to upgrade. I will try to figure out how to take the built-in injector off. Hopefully it’s not too difficult.
re= I will try to figure out how to take the built-in injector off. Hopefully it’s not too difficult.
*** Put a screw in the hose inlet of the injector or plug it up with JB weld., Then go out and buy a good quality injector and add it onto the built in injector. I did this with my older Honda machine. Still works great. All you need to do is prevent air from being vaccuumed into that old built in injector.
Lots of possibilities here. 1st thing for sure is, with a 10% injector, you need full strength SH. 2nd at $799.00 you have an 11hp or less engine and a 3.5 gpm pump or less. You are not going to pull a lot of chemical with such a small machine. Also, if it has a built in unloader and downstream injector, they are crap.The unloader and injector should be removable-not part of the pump.
Try a 13hp Honda, with a 4gpm or more pump, with switchable unloader and injector. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC4mPqGrVk4
