Please bear with me, this may be a dumb question but I could not find the answer anywhere.
I am working to complete a new skid build this month and due to some size restrictions I am going to have to buy two 55 gallon tanks to use as my buffer tank since I cannot seem to find a 100 gallon tank that fits in the desired area. My new proportioner has not been delivered yet but I planned to plumb the two tanks together at the bottom to connect to my pressure washer so here is my question. After the two tanks are plumbed together, can I run a splitter off to the pressure and then to the proportioner?
Everything I see is people who will put a bulkhead on the top of the tanks to draw from water, soap, and SH but I thought that this may be an option. I could plumb them like normal but wasn’t sure how the proportioner would do if I had to connect try and pull water from two buffer tanks equally.
Many of you have a lot more experience than I do so please tell me if I am way off base.
I can tell you that when I was using a smaller machine - 4 GPM, I used to have a 30 gallon drum for a buffer tank which I plumbed from the bottom to get the benefit of gravity. This is because the smaller machine didn’t have a water pump. I upgraded to an 8 GPM machine and it has a water pump. My buffer tank is a 330 gal tote now and I plumb with a dropstick from the top - the pump draws very well from the 8GPM machine. I would check the specs on your machine and determine what you have and keep these examples in mind. Others here are more experienced than I but I thought I’d let you know my experience- I’m sure you’ll get more advice from others though.
Thanks. I hope to upgrade to an 8 gpm pressure washer at some point this year. I currently have a 4 gpm machine which I know 110 is overkill for that but the buffer tank will be needed more for the softwash portion at this time. I do not downstream much and only use the pressure washer to concrete cleaning.
Ok wait, just hold on before you start the build and regret how it turned out.
My first ‘real’ machine was a 4/4 direct drive and I tried to rig a 110v water pump to force feed from a small buffer tank. As you can imagine that was stupid so I finally wised up and got a belt drive that draws from a tank.
Unless you plan on carting around a lot of water because there is no spigot, I’d skip the mega water tank and be happy with a 35-55 gal tank. I never outrun mine with an 8gpm.
I now have a trailer with two 55gal vertical tanks, and I just pour some surfactant in the bleach tank when I need to housewash or 12v. The 55gal bleach tank is way overkill but too late now.
I haven’t received it yet and it’s a new product so we will see how it works. This year I will run the SESW super pump that has 3 settings. I think the minimum is 7-8 gpm, middle is 11-12 gpm, and the max being 16. I debated on that or an ar45 so that is why I just wanted the extra buffer tank. I looked for something around 75 gallons but again I had a lot of issues trying to get tanks that fit in the desired area.
Gear drives or belt drives will pull from a tank. I have read that direct drives will pull from a buffer tank as well and then others will tell you it’s not possible. I plan to try my direct drive to the buffer tank to see for myself.
I had a direct drive Cat pump and attempted to pull from a leg tank but it started making cavitation noise after a few weeks so I finally got a belt drive.
I have looked at some 8 and 10 gpm Honda machines but may wait until summer. Between everything I have purchased and what I will purchase this upcoming week I am probably into this build around $8-9000 if I had to guess.
The ‘standard’ is an 8/3500 belt drive. I would shop around on Marketplace if you’re in the US, I found one with 500 hours yesterday for $1800. They run about $4k new.
You shouldn’t waste the mod’s time with such a blatant advertisement. Honesty and integrity will grow your business faster that rule bending and breaking.
Could you please share the specific section in the forum rules that mentions this? To my knowledge, I haven’t come across any explicit prohibition of advertisements (regardless if you’re the buyer of seller, heck I’ve even posted links to websites asking about buying products from them… was that wrong?). So if it is indeed a rule, I want to make sure I’m not breaking it, but I’m also interested in understanding how other members are able to share links (or even start topics) for products they are selling on their websites without facing similar scrutiny from you? In my short time here reading through old forum posts I realize that some people still hold grudges with Heath over past issues. So are you actually holding the rules of the forum accountable or is this just a double standard for you?
Rules are rules. You won’t find other vendors posting here. if they do, they are flagged. I don’t see a double standard. I know for a fact that Paul, Lisa and the others would never post advertisements here. If you see others posting things for sell, flag them. We are self policing.
@Innocentbystander Yea, but where is that rule stated for this forum? Like I said I haven’t seen anything about it, but again I’m new so I may have missed it, I’m just curious. I’m not trying to throw anyone under the bus, but of the 17 topics that have had activity over the last week, 8 of them have links to a product or service… and I can think of one member specifically who is selling/promoting their product/store, that I believe I’ve seen you commenting on but not calling them out… so just trying to figure out what the line actually is and where it should be drawn.
