My 12v down streaming setup

Kind of a long read, but I wanted to make sure I explained fully.

When I first joined I attempted to show what I use for cleaning houses, but I failed to do a good job explaining why I do it the way I do and the thread went south. Again, this was my fault for not properly explaining why I do this. This setup is not designed for the guy who washes 5-6 houses a day all week. I do this as a side business and don’t wash more than 2 houses a day, maybe 4-6 a week. The reason I build this setup and not the traditional pressure washing / soft washing setup is because I don’t have a vehicle or trailer dedicated to washing, therefore I can’t mount a large pressure washer or tanks. I need my rig to be easily transported and taken in and out of my truck. I have a tool box that keeps all my hoses, guns and chemicals, so all I need to do is grab this rig and my ladder and I’m out washing.

This setup simply takes normal water pressure from the spigot and boosts it to 100 psi. This allows me to use a Blue Mule Spray-all gun with #50 nozzles to apply cleaner without needing a ladder 95% of the time. With normal tap pressure of 60 psi or so, it will not hit two story peaks. With this rig it maxes out at 100, but can maintain about 70 psi while spraying allowing me to put out around 6-6.5 gpm with enough distance to hit two story peaks and chimneys. I carry 0, 5, 25, and 65 deg tips. The gun allows to change out the orifices to dial in exact ratios, so I typically use a 19:1 with straight 12.5% and elemonator. If the house is really bad, I use a 12:1. It simply connects to a jug, so yes I have to carry a gallon jug around while spraying, but the tube is long enough I just hold it down by my side, so it’s not really a big deal. I’m much more mobile than pulling form a 5 gallon bucket. For rinsing, I just use the same rig and switch to a garden hose sprayer. At this kind of pressure and flow it does a good job rinsing, not 8 gpm pressure washer good, but pretty good. A normal house for me in my area is two story, 3000 sq. ft. homes. They typically take my 1-1.5 hrs. Ranches take :45-1. From what I’ve read, I feel like that’s on par with most house washer with traditional setups.

As you can see, I have a series of 4 cheap Chinese pumps. There is a couple reasons for this. The main one is the high inlet pressure you have with hooking up right to the spigot. I tried a couple higher end pumps, but they leaked and when I read the manuals, most say you cannot exceed 30 psi on the inlet. I found that very true. Last thing I wanted was to keep trashing $200 pumps. These cheap pumps don’t seem to care. I get a couple drips here and there, but they just keep going. Redundancy is another reason. They are small and don’t flow much, so more than one is needed to feed a #50 nozzle. In my testing I found I can get the job done with 3 of these, but I built my latest design with 4 in case a pump craps out. They are cheap at about $15 each, so I don’t worry if one fails and I keep a few extra on hand. I’ll say, surprisingly these cheap things hold up pretty darn good. I’ve been using them for 3 years now and have only had one completely die. They do wear out over time and you can hear them getting weak and losing pressure. Again this is where the redundancy comes in handy, weak pumps don’t stop me from completing a job. At a minimum, at the end of each season I replace all of them. During the year, I think maybe 3 times I changed out a pump, so overall it’s been cheap to operate. I average about 130-140 houses a year, so $90 a year or so in pumps is not bad.

I have a 2 gal accumulator at the inlet to keep a constant pressure on the inlet. It helps when houses have poor water pressure and someone runs a sink or flushes a toilet inside. My first couple designs didn’t have this tank and I could tell when pressure fluctuated. From there it splits into the 4 pumps, then back into one outlet. They are controlled by a 100 psi pressure switch on the outlet. Then I added a small tank to even out the flow. Inside the while box is a fuse panel to individually fuse each pump, a relay and then a voltage gauge. I’m able to run a small 35 amp/hr battery which really keeps the weight down. This isn’t heavy at all and I lift it up over the bed sides, I don’t even bother with lowering the tailgate. I just roll it up to a spigot, connect my hoses and go.

Sorry for the long read, but I though others might be able to adapt this method, or at least give some ideas of other ways to clean. It’s worked out awesome for me for houses. I have a 4/4200 pressure washer for when I need it, but 90% of my jobs are soft washing. I’ve learned a ton on this site, so thank you to everyone for all the information.

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This is the spray gun I use. It can draw as strong as 5:1.

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I think your setup is flippin’ genius (and from the looks of it, well built, too). If it’s working for you, then: :+1:t2::+1:t2::clap::clap:

That said, it’s the sort of special-use-case device that maybe 0.5% of readers here will actually find practical, compared with more traditional setups. I think that’s why you received such a poor reception the first time around.

Most people view the world from the lense of “WIIFM”, “What’s In It For Me”, instead of simply stopping to admire someone else’s creative solution to a unique problem.

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What’s the big black tank at the bottom?

Also, since you’re not running anything thru the pump but water have you looked at using something like a roller pump, then you could just have 1 and they last a long time. They make in a lot of configurations but have 12v models. About how many gallons of mix do you go thru in say a 2000 sq ft house?

Racer,
The black tank is just an accumulator tank that ensures I have a good steady water supply feeding the pumps. It’s not needed, but I found it helps for houses with bad water pressure. When cleaning houses that only have 35-40 psi, I could tell when someone inside flushed a toilet or ran the sink. It helped me not notice any drops in pressure. Like I said, it isn’t really needed, but for $40, if it helps any I’ll keep in on there.

Do you have a link to the pump you are talking about? I’ve looked at so many 12v pumps and had to settle on these cheap ones since they can do over 100 psi if needed and seem to be pretty reliable. I’d love to have just one pump that would last for a couple years that could do ~6 gpm at 100 psi and not draw too much current. These little things don’t draw much at all. I can do 2 houses with just a small 35 Ah battery. I don’t want to lug around a large deep cycle if I don’t have to.

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Most houses I only use about 2 gallons of SH, 3 at most. Like I said, since it’s lower pressure, I’m not standing far back from the house and there is no mist at all. I really have no overspray. I only use the 0 and 5 deg tips for up high, then use the 25 or 65 down low or tight spaces so I don’t soak myself with splash back. The only downside is I don’t get much for suds from the elemonator. Sometimes I spray a window to check to make sure it’s drawing and not just straight water.

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Is the accumulator tank a well pump bladder tank? Otherwise I REALLY like your setup and ingenuity!

Accumulator tank and bladder are really interchangeable. It’s just a tank with a pressurized bladder inside. The larger 2 gallon is set at 35 psi and the small one on the discharge is at 70 psi.

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That’s easy, just double up on the Elemonator… That looks like an accumulator at the top, near the handrail. What’s that for? So basically the bottom tank is like a small water storage tank? Where did you find that? (the bottom one)

Lots of ones with different specs. Can get up to 10gpm and 150psi. Lots of people use for spreading fertilizer, and other chems but just running water thru should last forever. I’ve got an electric one I got from Tractor supply a few years ago, but you had to run drop cord to customers outlet. I got to try for boosting pressure for doing roofs.
A bigger battery wouldn’t be that big of a deal with that cart you have.

https://www.google.com/search?q=12v+roller+pump&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS902US902&oq=&aqs=chrome.1.69i59i450l8.1053930j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

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Large tank was from Ebay. The small accumulator is on the outlet to even out the flow of the pumps, stop the pulsing. It’s pressurized to 70 psi.

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Exact same concept. You can find them at most box stores as well, they’re sold as “expansion tanks”. You set the pressure in the bladder a couple of psi lower than the cut-on of your pump, and the incoming water compresses the air bladder so your pump cycles less. (Make sure you get the stainless steel one)

Correct, when looking for one this size I was searching “expansion tank.” Stainless is nice, but pricy and I couldn’t justify it for this. I’ve had this tank for 3 years now and still looks like new. It only has water in it while I’m washing. The whole thing gets drained, pumps on to blow out any remaining water, and sits in the garage when not in use, so it will last a long time. Again, the main idea here was not to starve the pumps if someone flushes a toilet or something. With the previous prototype, I would have times where the pressure died down for 5-10 seconds when someone did something inside. I don’t have that anymore.

I’ve found through testing that even if a house spigot can only supply 5 gal/min, this will actually “suck” more gpm out that what it normally outputs. I’ve cleaned houses that only have 35 psi and very low flow coming out the spigot, but with this I still buildup 100 psi and can maintain 70 psi while spraying. Testing at my house, I found that even with great water pressure, ~70 psi, it drops down to about 40 while spraying. When I turn this rig on it jumps back up to 70 psi and shoots about 5-6 feet farther. For someone like me that can’t haul a mounted pressure washer or tanks, it’s a game changer.

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Would love to see a video of this in action

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Baloney.

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100% true, but thanks for the great feedback. So when I’m measuring 40 psi while spraying and shooting about 25ft, then turn the pumps on and get 70 psi at the outlet and spraying 5-6ft farther what is happening? That’s not getting more volume out the same size nozzle?

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I’ve cleaned houses with very weak flow out of the spigot and only 35 psi and with this I still get it up to 70 consistently while spraying with no volume issues.

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How long does it take you to clean a 2,000 sq ft one-story?

One story, only about 45 minutes, maybe an hour if it’s bad. That’s total time, roll up to paid.

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