Ok guys, setup and got to use my new 7gpm 12v today and will say that you were all absolutely right, it’s amazing! Did a roof today and worked fantastic. I will say that force feeding the injector does work, and is good to have, but I think that with stuff that needs more than 2% and probably even regular house wash I may just start using the 12v to apply and the 8gpm for rinsing and surface cleaning. Definitely a game changer! It’s quiet, accurate and overall easier to handle. I did end up putting my 5-8gpm m5ds Xjet on instead of the J rod I bought and it worked perfect.
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So you’re going to use a 12v to apply and a pressure washer to rinse? Seems like more work with having to manage two hoses.
It’s a lot more work and counter productive
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There’s two of us. One can apply with the 12v, and use about a third of the sh and the other can rinse behind/keep plants and grass wet. downstreaming seems like a waste in comparison. I used 7 gallons of sh mixed with 45 gallons of water and did an entire 2300sf home plus a little flat work pre-treat. After flushing the 12v and still had the 8gpm PW on I saw a couple spots that needed to be hit again. Wasted almost 5 gal of sh retreating those with the PW. Blows way more than needed and is no where near as strong as I thought it was % wise.
Plus I just ordered the promixalot and won’t be needing to mix batches to downstream anymore. Really excited about that part.
That’s about double the bleach needed ds’ing. Do what works for you, but it’s not good advice for new people coming on here.
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Why is regular softwashing a bad thing? I’ve done both now and immediately saw several benefits on using a 12v to do it
How are you using so much sh on so little house?
I mixed a total of 52 gallons in a tank. I sprayed it on to clean the outsides of the gutters, under the eves, walls windows doors etc. probably used 3-5 gallons of it on the back deck and a couple bad concrete areas. Used a 7gpm 12v pump. Probably sprayed for 8 mins total. How is that too much? The sh is 2.5 months old and only about 8% strength so used about 1 part bleach to 7 parts water.
If I remember right you’re washing stucco and not vinyl which I don’t think they know. I think you said you don’t even really have vinyl out there. That’s why they’re questioning your process.
If you’re going to do that, get you a 3-7 gpm m5ds nozzle. It will shoot better. Your 12v pump only putting out about 4gpm.
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Well that makes more sense. You said 2,300 sqft house. I didn’t realize you had bad concrete and a deck. Disregard
How did you waste 5gal if sh retreating a few areas though? Was this on the same house?
Are you trying to clean stucco with downstreaming or are you force feeding you injector going through 5gallons that quick? Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not knocking you. If it works it works. This just stood out as if something’s not right.
Typically stucco or painted hardiboard. In this case it was the latter. Does painted hardiboard need a little more than vinyl?
That’s exactly what I used! I bought a j rod with the new setup but also had my old 3-7gpm one laying around (got a new 8gpm in September and got the bigger m5 nozzle for it) so we use m5 on both setups
That was my epiphany! I had put 5 more gal in the 55 gal mixing tank and downstreamed regularly with it to shoot 4 gutter areas that were 20-30’ away. I think my injector sucks really hard because it blew thru it pretty quick. It may have only been 3-4 gal because there was 2-3” in the bottom of the tank left but it went down about 75% of the way from the 5 gal mark.
For me, using the 12v sprays less but I can really see it’s not over-applied. Lots of overspray on the PW gun. I also spray multiple times when doing stucco, usually at least twice, even with the pump on. Using this with a stronger mix and only doing 1 application (i.e 2-3% as needed on stucco) is way better than even force feeding the injector. I also like how it’s quiet, easier to move the hose, saves wear on the expensive PW (didn’t turn it on for the first half of the day since we also did a roof and rinsed with shower nozzle on garden hose) saved a bunch of gas and then when we do use both have two full powered spray Gina available to double up progress. To each there own but after only doing it one way all year and immediately loving this new way for me I think I found the sweet spot.
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Ill use my 12volt on some stucco and some brick houses that or really bad but i wouldn’t wash a vinyl house with my 12volt unless the water supply just really sucked but even then i would second guess it. I hate having to rinse my pumps and unroll/roll more hose out.
Some guys wash houses like you stated above and it works for them. Using the pressure washer is just alot faster for me.
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I think it’s better for me since our jobs are mostly complete home details and I always have a man with me. Two machines two guns. I don’t see anything wrong with either way. Many ways to skin a cat! Except I wouldn’t do that, I like cats lol.
William is correct…I’ve tried and applied bleach many different ways. Have tried the two employee one apply soap and one rinse etc
The most efficient and quickest way to wash a house is downstreaming and each person soaps and rinses there own sections.
Here is our SOP
(Employee A & Employee B)
Step 1
A - knocks on door and greets customer if home
B - is hooking up garden hose to spigot at the same time
Step 2
A - Goes through and tapes off unprotected outlets/meter boxes
B - Starts unreeling pressure hose (each one opposite sides of the house)
Step 3
A- Start machines and start washing his half (front and side)
B - Washes his half (back and side)
Step 4
A - walks through and checks B side
B - walks through and checks A side
Step 5
A - pulls pressure hose behind truck (organized) and undoes garden hose from spigot - then knocks on door to talk to customer …if customer is not home then he will start taking care of garden hose
B - pulls pressure hose behind truck and reels up both reels (one at a time) if customer is home and (A) is talking to them then they reel up garden hose as well.
Step 6
Go to next job
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I have one 8gpm PW machine and now a 12v. Not 2 machines. This is my way of doing that.
