I’m getting ready to set up a trailer and i’m thinking about just using my roof pump to apply soap on house washes and decks, etc.
it seems like a lot of guys like to downstream with a 4gpm or 5.5gpm and rinse with an 8gpm. my question is, why bother with a second pressure washer?
these are the benefits i see in using a fatboy to soap:
you always know exactly what you’re applying to the surface. you mix your batch to your specs and the pump just throws it on. no worries about what kind of draw your downstream injector is giving you, if it’s working right or not, if it’s worn out and time to replace it, etc.
you don’t need a second pressure washer
the volume that pump puts out is huge, at least as good as a 4gpm pressure washer, and with the right tips it will shoot 40’
relatively cheap to replace when it wears out
you don’t need a buffer tank for it, like you would if you soap with a 5.5gpm
much less maintenance than a second pressure washer- no oil to change, no unloader to watch out for, no fuel costs
you can use a much smaller trailer since you don’t need a second machine
the only drawback i can see is that the fatboy will eventually just crap out and you’ll have to replace it. but that doesn’t seem like too big a cost considering how much simpler it is to set up and use.
i may be way off with all of this. am I missing something?
no pretty much on point… Its nice knowing exactly what is coming out of the tank and going onto the house… Most guys that downstream though are only using one machine and just switching from a low pressure tip to a higher pressure tip to stop the syphone…
We apply all of our house wash chems with out roof pump… Which is an allflow thats air powered… The fatboy does a good job of it as well… Some people will argue back and forth that you cant spray as high or something… But they do, and they do not mist like a pressure washer does, its more of a solid stream for shooting up high… You can really knock out some siding utilizing this method
big drawback of soaping houses with a 12v is you have to mix a barrel or tank of soap. That takes much longer than mixing a 5 gallon concentrate to downstream out of. We’ve gone back and forth 10 different ways, but when it comes to washing large complexes we just run four 5.5gpm pumps each downstreaming and rinsing.
I’m assuming that you have a two man crew on every job? If so, then why not two pressure washers? You’ll get jobs done twice as fast! One guy on the house and one guy on the concrete or whatever. On 90 percent of house washes, DS works fine. The only time we need to use the FB is on Stucco or dryvit fronts, decks, and concrete or whenever the chem needs to be applied in a stronger dilution ratio. Besides if you have one guy just for spraying the chem, then whats he going to do after he’s finished and the other guy is rinsing?
Thats a good point. i suppose if you just had a full tank of water to start the day, you could mix quickly when you get to the job.
yeah, but then you are back to two machines. thats several grand worth of extra equipment, not to mention maintenance on all of it, to achieve the same result. and the guy running the pump could just as easily rinse when he’s done soaping. or start packing up, make up an invoice, mix the next batch of soap, whatever.
I agree downstreaming works just fine. but if you want to add a second guy to your crew and work faster, then why not just use your roof pump?
let’s say you had a 4gpm, a 5.5gpm and a roof pump. you pull up to a house wash job. to me, it seems like it would be easier to just use the roof pump than hook up the 4gpm.
I work by myself and downstream so I just use the ball valve to cut the soap on and off. Keeps me from running back and forth. What I don’t like about using the 12 volt pump is the solution is pre made and you really are getting that strength but the 3-4 houses I do a day don’t always need the same strength. A regular vinyl siding house does not need the strength as a dirty stucco home. Would rather mess with my 5 gallon of mix than keep trying to make a 55er the strength I need. When you have two machines, at least one person can be knocking out the concrete.
since you already have both types of equipment why not wash your own house and time yourself. You dont need to use soap but you will need to estimate the mix time for both types of washing
i guess this thread mainly applies to two-man crews. it wouldn’t make sense if you were on your own. i should have clarified in the OP.
that’s a good idea. maybe i’ll try it.
how is the usage any different than washing a roof? you spray for awhile, then you stop and move a bit. then you spray some more. seems like an average house wash and an average roof clean would be real similar as far as the load placed on the pump
Yeah I can see that. I suppose it would work out OK if you were only doing a few jobs a week but eventually you would need to upgrade to a second machine.
I might try to get by this year using this combo and see how it works out.
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Right now Im a1 man crew but I have 3 washers on my trailer there’s no way am going to stop working if one of them breaks down. Not to mention that there’s no way I’m going to unroll all of my roof cleaning hose, mix housewash for roof pump, then unroll my water hose for the pressure washer then my pressure washing hose and run back to turn on the pressure washer after I sprayed the housewash with the roof pump… its just a lot of work… just downstream, spray it, rinse it be done. I would be half way to 3/4 of the way done with a small house before you would even be set up. Theres a reason we all downstream. Hope I dont sound like a know it all…just being plain. Oh yeah…you got to rinse that roof pump out when your done.
