Ive been looking into a new skid setup for next season as ill have the time this winter to change the truck around a bit… We currently have 2 truck mounted washers but are not feeding of a reserve take as we have direct drive washers (trust me i know we should be using a reserve tank) So i looked into quite a few different setups and have been seeing TONS of direct drive skids running off reserve tanks with no inline pumps? Im not exactly sure how theyre making these work… We’ve tried gravity feeding our direct drive washers on multiple occasions with about 55-60 gallons of water and the water tank being consierably higher than the washers but have had no luck… am i missing something? We have a 250 gallon reserve tank that has been unused because we cant get the washers to take from it. Anybody running a direct drive skid setup? I appreciate any more info on how this works because if thats the case ill keep our current washers and build a skid instead
I just started a few months ago and run a direct drive softwash skid at 8.34 gpm 127 psi.
Let me tell you a thing about this. You aboslutly need a 5 gallon bucket if you are going to be doing things with a pressure washer.
Why don’t you upgrade to a direct drive anyways?
I have a 4 GPM 4K PSI direct drive and I gravity feed it with no problem at all. I use a 275 Gal tote that sits in my truck and the PW is in my enclosed trailer. I have 10 ft of 1" ID poly hose that fills a 5 gal bucket in about 40 seconds. It is about a 2+ ft drop between the tank and the pump. I’m a bit OCD about making sure the pump has water before I start the engine. I prime the pump first by connecting the supply hose to the PW without the wash hose on it and let water push through, (you can also pull the start rope with the engine off and it will help pull water) then I connect the pressure hose and fire up the motor. I can use it until there is next to no water in the tank if need be. It works every time. There’s another post about this titled “Pulling water from a tank”.
interesting… these skid setups i was looking at were also completely level with the pump and engine. Im still not sure exactly how it works
Here is a pic of my set up in use. You’ll have to zoom in to see how it lays out but you get the idea.
Ran into a similar problem when I was using a buffer tank. Pulled fine for a while, then starved my pumps. Woke up at 3 in the morning to realize that the top was screwed on tight and that I had created a vacuum. There was no water supply to my pumps because I had forgotten to crack open the top spigot. Funny how that works, but I woke up out of a deep sleep with the answer when I couldn’t figure it out on the spot.
I just upgraded to a trailer with two 8gpm machines, one hot. It’s got a 250 gallon tank for water that is hooked up to them and it’s even hooked up to my soft wash bandit. I have 3 chem tanks and perportioners. There is even room for my surface cleaner and I place my ladders on top. It was hard to fit them all into the enclosed trailer, but it works.
If you get hot, make sure you vent it out the top and keeps those doors open!
So my 3 chem tanks have sh, cling on, and lemonenator.
I also have goose reels with 250ft of hose for all the machines.
Make sure you get 200ft garden hose, you never know when you will need it.
Forgot to add that I keep a tank with a drain in the back of my truck for washing my hands.
Also, get the biggest drain possible for dumping the water.
And you say I fill up the forum with spam…
That’s a very good point. I do keep the top open while using it but did not think to mention it in the post. It might be what has been causing him the headaches.
I am just getting started as well, but I am still gaining knowledge before I spend money on a full setup… I fully understand the process, but the equipment investment is what I am studying. Could you show a picture of your setup, it sounds like the direction I was wanting to go.
I mean i know how i want to set it all up. But im trying to figure out how they are getting direct drive pumps to feed from a water tote when they are level with the washers. I feel like it would not gravity feed as ive been having trouble getting mine to feed even with it a bit higher
NO. aswesomewang1 is not allowed to show his website, company info, YouTube channel or equipment or anything showing any work he thinks he has done… It is all right there black and white, plain as day in the BS handbook.
Here’s a video of my setup.
If you have any specific questions, I’ll try to answer them.
Nice and clean set up Steve.,
Thanks! It works well for our business.
@ProClean_Plus check this out… Steve just posted a 4 minute video that explain exactly what the video I made you does, but he did it in a 1/4 of the time. lol
I’ll still post it, but this is concise.
How are you down streaming? Do you have an injector on there somewhere?
