Homemade softwash extension pole

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Threw this together the other day, and thought i would share it with you guys. It works really well, although it is tricky to handle at times. I was cleaning a big roof the other day, and couldn’t quite make it across to a peak. Would have had to move the ladder and the hose all the way around the house to access where i might could have hit it. Used the pole instead, and it worked perfect.

All this stuff came from Home Depot, except the quick connects:

20 ft. Unger extension pole
Wooster lock jaw tool holder (paint department)
1/2" x 6" riser (irrigation section)
1/2" x 1/4" reducer bushing
1/2" x 1/2" threaded coupling
1/2" barb x 1/2" threaded (3)
1/2" threaded ball valve

barb → threaded coupling → riser → bushing → quick connect

Then at bottom of hose hook up the ball valve.

It can be tricky to control, if there is a lot of force coming out of the sprayer, and if it is extended a lot. You can turn it off and on with the ball valve, but it’s tricky if you are on the ladder and trying to keep the stream directed. Might be best to let the ball valve stay on the ground, so the ground person can control it.

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I can’t tell from the picture, but I assume you jus QC the valve at the bottom on the pole to the end of your normal line? (Where you would QC your nozzles normally)

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Yes, although i just used a hose clamp to attach the barb on the ball valve to the end of the chemical line coming off the reel. Quick connects would be faster, and i will probably add them… i did it like this just to test it and see if it would work.

Thinking about it now, i might could attach one of these poly guns to the base of the pole with zip ties or something, and have a quick connect on it. Then you could easily control the trigger while maintaining two handed control of the pole.

Polypropylene Trigger Gun 1/2 FPT - Pressure Tek

4

How far does your softwash machine shoot in the air?

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I use a 1 HP booster pump, and measured over 55 feet horizontally.

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I am doing some research on this right now, I am assuming you are attaching this after the softwash pump to increase the PSI and reach farther heights. These are about $500 right?

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The booster pump IS the softwash pump.

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I am ignorant to any of this. Not asking to be spoon fed, could you please provide me a link to the booster pump and I will attempt to do the rest of the research :slight_smile:

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This is what I found but could be way off Flotec FP5732-01 FP5732 - 1 HP Cast Iron Multi-Stage High Pressure Booster Pump 190 PSI

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Yes, that’s a booster pump.

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It looks like you may benefit from a 45 deg angle for more control but the paint brush holder might do the same thing. I’ll attach a photo of my setup

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12

And you are restricting the flow to create GPM that you want to use?

Any tips of what I should search for. Any keywords?

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Yeah the paintbrush holder will rotate to any position, otherwise i probably would have used one. I recently picked up a couple of those 45’s to add to my softwash wands, though, i think they might work out better than a straight nozzle. Thanks for the pic.

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