I went through 7 gallons. Not mixed. Straight. I felt like a was drawing a lot of chemical was my first issue. The house I did was 2 stories and around 2500 sq ft. I felt like I was rinsing forever to make sure the chem was cleared up properly. The second issue I had was when switching between soap and rinse tips. The j rod seemed like it was still drawing chem? Any tips? Should I just batch mix and dilute my sh right of the bat to avoid drawing from a bucket? Any advice would be appreciated.
7 gallons is a little on the high side, but not unreasonable out of line especially if it was your first time washing a house. As you get more efficient and get a process down you should be able to get away with less.
12.5% downstreamed with a 15:1 is only putting .78% on the house, thats also inline with where you want to be for vinyl, but you should do a draw test to make sure that is what your injector is actually pulling. Search on here to find the steps/calculations.
How much surfactant did you add? “rinsing forever” sounds like too much surfactant was added… 1/2 - 1 oz per gallon max… some guys swear by less or none at all.
When you switch tips, there is still going to be chems in your hose that needs to get run through before water comes out. I don’t know what tips you have, but as long as they are correct for your size machine, then I’m not sure what to tell you.
Batch mixing would still have you drawing from a bucket, so I’m not understanding the idea behind that… if you mean diluting down your SH with Water and then pulling it from your downstream, again you are at about .78% and diluting any more would only lower the potency and make it less effective.
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I appreciate the advice. This makes me feel more confident knowing I’m not too far off. I water down plants and bushes but, I still feel a little apprehensive about sh runoff and using too strong a mix. So I’ll definitely look into more detail about specific injector ratios, mixes, etc.
I bought a 50 gal drum but, haven’t really needed to use it. So my idea was to just draw from there instead of out of a 5 gal bucket sitting by the washer on my truck . I’d have to stop and walk back to my truck to refill the five gallon bucket. Maybe save some time.
It’s an Amazon Jariko 0040 0010 2510 2540. I’ll be more patient tomorrow when I do my next house. Any suggestions on tips? Something longer range maybe?
Thanks for the input. I really appreciate it.
Water down plants prior to spraying chems.
Spray chems and let dwell.
While chems are dwelling water down plants again.
Rinse chems off house.
Water down plants before leaving.
After all that it should be diluted enough to not cause any issues.
Oh I see what you’re saying… when I hear batch mix, I automatically think 12V system without a proportioner. Yea you can use a larger chem tank then a 5 gallon bucket, but again no need to dilute it when downstreaming at 15:1.
I switched to the M5DS and a shooter tip last year and haven’t looked at my jrod since. Highly recommend.
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When I got started @Racer recommended the m5. I like it. I sometimes have to switch to a shooter tip for higher area, but not that often. Most of the time I have my x5 ladder with me for shooting over porch roofs and I just step on it to hit the peaks. I love that ladder, best investment I’ve made (I also do a fair amount of painting/staining).
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Awesome! This forum has been invaluable. How do you all handle high wind? I was at a house today and the wind gust was over 30 so I ended up rescheduling. I’m so paranoid of property damage. I feel like it’s bound to happen but I’m trying to be really careful with peoples stuff.
Yesterday at the house I may have killed a few flowers. Told the customer to let me know. He said it smells like a pool in my back yard but that it looked good. I told him it should go away within a day or two. @OhioFloMo I’m pretty sure you are right; too much Southern Drawl Surfactant in my mix. It’s not really covering up the SH smell too much though. Thoughts?
I got another house tomorrow that is sitting around 30-35 foot to the top. Wind is supposed to be around 15-20. I’m going to look into that ladder you are recommending. @Dirtyboy
When it comes to wind, you just have to do what you can. If I’m spraying chems, I usually wait for it to die down before trying to hit any peaks… but if it’s just water, I let it fly. As long as you’re keeping property protection in mind, you’re already ahead of a lot of the contractor hacks out there. Not saying accidents won’t ever happen, but at least you’re being mindful of it.
I was never really a fan of Southern Drawl, mainly because it tended to solidify overnight in the cooler months. I never remembered to bring it in out of the garage and waiting for it to liquify in the morning just to mix it wasted time. Elemonator gets recommended a lot, and for good reason… it mixes and rinses off easily and does a better job masking the smell. That said, the scent masking doesn’t seem as strong as it used to be, and I’ve heard a few folks mention the formula might’ve changed over the last couple years.
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Don’t believe the 15/1 ratio its rated for. Many variables can change that. What’s your gpm? What size downstream injector? Even hose length will effect your draw ratio. I always get an injector 1 size smaller than whats recommended so I can use longer hose lengths. I believe its a 2.3 for my 8 gpm and a 2.1 for my 4gpm. My 4gpms and 6gpms pull a much stronger mix than my 8’s so I use a in line metering valve to weaken it a bit
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I switched injectors cause my original one broke this is what I got going that has worked but, still feel like I’m going to tweak it as a I go.
I have the machine set to ~3100psi with a pressure gauge I bought. It’s a 4.2gpm predator. The new injector is pulling 6:1. Did multiple draw tests. So that would mean I’m spraying around almost 3% from a bucket of straight 12.5%? The last house I washed, I diluted the chem to spray .8 SH after mixing it in a 5 gallon bucket. Seemed to work pretty effectively. My hose is 150ft. M5DS should work no?
I’m about to purchase a back up injector. Your suggestion is to go down to a 1.8 orifice?
I just started looking into building a metering valve system. I’ll research it for a while before I make the move.
I’m looking at the M5DS now on Amazon. Seems like a pretty cool tool.
I’m thinking about building a chemical injector bypass valve in the meantime. Anyone have thoughts on those?
What about hose reels? Suggestions on brand. That upgrade will be coming pretty soon. I hate having to mess with all the line. Looks unprofessional I feel like as well.
No if it’s 6:1 I think that’s closer to 1.5% which is a tad hot but lots of us 8gpm guys would be extremely jealous. I’m lucky to get .6%, gutters just laugh and call me a girly boy.
Yes the 1.8 injector is what I would use for that machine. No it will never pull 3% but it will pull a hot mix. Put a 1/4” ball valve or some kind of metering valve on the line to manage the strength.
M5ds work great
Hose reels there’s plenty of good options like titan or kings reels.. need to have stainless steel innards or they won’t last
I have a injector bypass on my 8gpm machines but my smaller machines do fine without them but they’re not hard to build you can buy a kit here
