I’ve bought a truck (2012 F-250), ordered a dual axle steel trailer (being fabricated by Mennonites) and I’m acquiring all the necessary parts and equipment. Will have 8GPM with Udor pump, Hannay reels, etc.
I’m working with a local marketing company to develop my ‘visual theme’ for logo, colours, truck wrap, business cards, shirts, etc.
I’ll document my Build here starting in a couple of weeks once the trailer arrives.
I’m hoping to have everything ready by end of April or early May!
In the meantime, I’ve found sources for most products but a few items are eluding me.
My Hannay pressure reel has 1/2” Female NPT inlets and outlets and I’m planning to use 3/8” hose. Any idea where to buy the proper adapters - that are good with high pressure and with SH, etc.?
Also, what’s your experience with having the first 50’ of pressure hose be 1/2” followed by another 200’ (or so) of 3/8”?
First fifty ft of hose being 1/2 is stupid. Some guys do it because a vendor made some extra cash selling it. Any metal half inch to 3/8 bushing I the plumbing dep’t of a hardware store will work. If you can’t find them, send me your address and I’ll send you some. Sounds like a good build you have going on.
Yeah I never understood the whole 1/2 inch whip line to the reel and first 50 feet of hose.
The inlets are still 3/8 inch on both pump and reel.
So 3/8 to to 1/2 inch to 3/8, to 1/2, to 3/8…
Makes no sense.
1/2” before the reel makes sense to me, due to the additional elbows and restrictions that occur. A 1/2” elbow has much less restriction than a 3/8” elbow. You’ve still got to adapt down to 3/8” for your DS injector, but if you run an injector bypass, it can actually do some good with larger plumbing. A 3/8” bypass will have much less benefit due to the restrictive elbows it adds to the setup.
Just my 2¢. I’ve yet to re-plumb with 1/2”. Might not bother until I upgrade to a larger machine.
I hear you, but we are only talking about maybe 8
to 10 feet of line to the reel.
I think the reason is more for manufacturer recommendations.
I believe they also recommend 1/2 pressure line for your entire length. The first 50 ft was a way of the distributor of saying they recommend it and maybe upsell additional supplies.
My thoughts.
The bypass is a marketing ploy by vendors. if you use your three way ball valve, turn it from soap to rinse water and downstream water from the tank, you will be getting the same flow as diverting the injector with all the additional elbows, ball valves and friction loss.
That may be your experience, but I know I can reach higher with my 5.6 gpm machine when I use the bypass, versus pulling clear water through my (undersized) injector.
I remember you mentioning once how much pressure is lost in each 3/8” elbow? Whatever it is, I’m betting the pressure loss through a 1/2” elbow is one third that, or less. It could make an appreciable difference for someone running an underpowered machine.
Everyone has to do what works for them
I don’t really understand the bypass. The oriface on the injector is larger than the ones for your pressure tips. So whatever gpm your machine is rated at and producing, the injector shouldn’t be restricting flow anymore than the pressure tips.
Also on top of all that it’s less lines and connections to fail or leak.
The first 50 feet of 1/2 is dumb…just like 1inch feed line. 3/4 in is more then adequate.
Remember your going out 3/8…3/4 is double
It’s a psychosomatic thing, like thinking the Super Suds Sucker works better because it costs more. But sometimes thinking something works makes a difference. Maybe.
My house washing tips are definitely larger than the orifice in my ds injector.
I’ll have to shoot some video of my shooter tip stream with and without the injector bypass. The difference in flow pattern and distance is quite noticeable. Currently I’m using a 2-3 gpm (1.8 orifice?) injector on a 5.6 gpm machine.
Later this week I’ll be test driving the stainless gp injector which has a slightly larger orifice. I’m guessing the difference in flow will be a little less noticeable.
I understand that you’re not using xxx70s to wash a house with, but in theory your machine should be producing 5.6 gpm at 2500 psi +- with those tips with that size oriface.
If it works better for you that’s great. It may work well for me I’ve honesty never tried. Maybe I will one day if I just have some cash laying around that needs to be spent.
I have the gx390 with a hp5535 and I only get about 2100 psi to the gun but get a little more than 5 gpm and can shoot to the gables on 2 1/2 story with my m5ds and a 24 inch wand running through an injector the whole time. On anything shorter I don’t even use a wand, just the m5ds right into the gun.
Yeah, sounds like we have the same machine. What size injector are you using?
2.1 it pulls fine. I mix my 12.5 50/50 and a splash of elemonator. Perfect for the houses around me. At least the ones I like to wash. Sometimes it takes 2 applications on the nasty homes. I did the math a while back and it ended up being about .8 hitting the walls. I’m a fan of not being complicated. If it cleans, its the right percentage.
Nice trailer! I’m constantly hopping up on my trailer to grab something so I’d probably hate the tall sides but that’s just me. It’s pretty though!
Nice looking trailer. That tire mounted there?
That’s where the manufacturer mounted the spare. I’ll look into other options.
