Help for a new guy?

I’ve been doing research and trying to gather as much information as I can but I still don’t seem to understand DSing.
Am I supposed to pull straight chem?
Or am I pulling a diluted mic to even further dilute with the DS?

Figure out the ratio that your injector pulls. It is typically 1:10 or 1:20. With 1:10, pulling undiluted 12.5% will get you a roughly 1% solution coming out on the surface.

1 Like

It’s not so much what your injector is rated and more how your machine is set up.

For example, the GP 1.8 injector on a 4/4 machine with 50’ of hose will suck down SH in no time. Put the same one on the 5.5/3500 and 200’ of hose, and you might get .8% on the house.

I run 2.1’s on my (now) 8/3000 and it’s probably around .5%, pretty weak.

Basically if you’re using a smaller machine you’ll want to dilute it at least 50/50.

2 Likes

Thank you all for your feedback

You’re overthinking this. Forget percentages.

If algae turns brown in a couple minutes you’re golden. Adjust accordingly.

And that’s not something I came up with, the veterans on here told me that when I first started.

5 Likes

If that helps you picture it a little better.

1 Like

I believe with 8 parts, you are looking at 1.56% - that is, you are drawing straight SH. If you’re drawing 6.25, or 50-50, then it’s 0.78%.

Would 4/4000 be considered a smaller pump?

Yes, a 4/4 is considered the smallest viable cold water machine for professional use. Some of the hot water guys use 3.5’s but that’s on a different level.:smirk:

Thanks for asking this. I got on here just now for something similar. Im gonna run a 4400/4. And was looking for ratios. Also dumb question I’m pretty sure but can I just use a 5 gallon bucket to suck the mix out of.

1 Like

Yes you can use a 5 gallon bucket.

Yep, however you need to either:
A. Have a separate bucket of water that you can throw your drop stick in when rinsing or
B. Buy an injector bypass kit (search for it on pressuretek.com)

The bypass kit will allow water to be routed around the chem injector so you can rinse without drawing chem. Simply turn the ball valve on way for water and the other way for chem. I’ve had one for a year now and can’t imagine not having it.

From what I’ve learned from others and from my own experience, experiment with your ratio until you have something strong enough to get the green off in 5-7 mins. Start with a 50/50 of bleach and water…spray a section of the house. Change the dilution accordingly. Worrying about what percentage is coming out of the gun isn’t that important. Also, if you add or subtract how much hose you have, that can affect the strength of your mix. For example, if I’m pre-treating a driveway, I will sometimes put on a 50’ section of hose and a 2-3gpm injector so the mix is really hot. For a house wash, I’m fine with 200’ hose and a 3-5gpm injector. Typically, longer hose will draw less chem.

So without a bypass kit once chemical is out I’d have to go shut the machine off, disconnect the DS, and then reconnect pressure hose so the injector doesn’t pull air correct?

1 Like

I have a shut off on mine. But when running out/finishing I usually just switch it to a clean bucket of water that way it rinses the injector out before finishing

Nice, so when chem runs out as long as I release trigger is will not suck air correct? Or will it suck as long as engine is running.

It should not long as your off the trigger. However if your not using a buffer tank you don’t want the washer to run long without trigger pulled to avoid overheating.

Just go back to the trailer and put the injector hose in a clean bucket of water. That flushes the injector which will make it last longer. A lot of guys use a 3 way valve to switch back and forth between mix and water. Most of those 3 way valves are remote operated so you don’t have to walk back to the trailer.

Your injector will only pull air if your using a soap nozzle that outputs low PSI. If you run out of mix to siphon and are using a higher PSI nozzle like a rinse nozzle then you should not be drawing air as the ball inside the injector nipple should’ve forced up and closed.

1 Like