Hello all,
I am a 21 year old college student hoping to launch a part time pressure wash/soft washing company. I am asking for some advice as I would like to start with a relatively small initial investment. My plan is to start off doing flat surfaces and then try to incorporate a 12v soft wash system into the mix a little later down the road. Below are some questions I haven’t really been able to find a great answer on.
Would I be better off purchasing a 4gpm direct drive pressure washer with either a CAT or AR pump (~$1300) or a belt driven 4gpm with a lower quality pump (~$1800)?
Would either of these machines work well with a 20" surface cleaner like a MiTM or would I be better off with a smaller SC?
To start off, is there any success using SH downstream for flat surfaces or would I just not be able to get a hot enough mix for pre/post treating surfaces? I tried soft washing a roof with one of those foam cannons when I was younger and told myself I would never tackle such a thing without the proper equipement.
I have found out a lot about the various chemicals for treating rust, oil stains, etc. but how are these chemicals applied for someone with a chemical pump? Same way as SH or with something seperate like a pump sprayer?
I am also going to operate this business out of the bed of my truck for now and don’t know if I can even fit a soft wash and pressure setup in there. Since it is my daily driver all of this stuff would have to be moveable.
You can’t run a 20 inch surface cleaner with 4gpm, get a 16 inch
If you are starting small, don’t worry about the other chems. Wash dirty houses and concrete
You can pre/post treat any concrete with a DS injector
I’ve made it since 1998 without a 12v pump with the exception of a few years when we did roofs. There a a lot more easy ways to make money than doing roofs.
Ok so I’ll look for something belt driven. Is CAT pretty much the best in terms of pumps? I’m also under the impression that I can’t go much higher than 4gpm without a buffer tank.
In terms of cleaning a house, wouldn’t that be more of a chemical based process rather than pressure? and how do you clean irrigation stains and what not?
Cat and GP are a step above homeowner grade. Yes, chemicals do the cleaning, not pressure. I don’t offer cleaning on irrigation stains, rust, roofs, decks. Not worth the headache. Pump sprayer with muriatic will handle it though.
One of the best pieces of advice I got when starting out was to go ahead and get the better machine now, even if you have to put it on a credit card. You make that money back within 2-3 jobs and your efficiency will be magnitudes better than starting with a wimpy washer.
@Innocentbystander must be in a charitable mood tonight…the answer to all of your questions (in great detail) already exists in this forum. Use the search bar and read up on all of those topics you’re asking about and you’ll be way more prepared to get your plans together.
i knew this had been said about AR, i had to get this one tho as it was brand new and only $322+shp. rebranded Dayton, 8g35n.
I will personally give a report on it. And my backup big pump if leaky, needs new oil seals.
Thanks everyone for the replies. I found a 4gpm belt driven pressure washer near me and am gonna go with that one. I would love more GPM but I just can’t have a permanent rig or trailer at the moment to support it plus I still need to keep a budget.
Can I use the injector that comes with the machine or would another one give me a stronger ratio? I’m worried about the effectiveness of downstreaming because I won’t be starting off with 12.5% SH which means I will probably only be able to pull 1% SH with pool shock(10%).
I don’t know what injector comes with the machine. Most everyone uses General Pump injectors. They are sized to your machine, with exceptions being length of hose used. You would probably be fine with a 3-5gpm injector. One is none and two is not enough.
Get this injector and stick with the size smaller than your machine. Get the 2-3gpm injector for the 4 gpm machine. Also by 2 of everything especially chem injectors they fail quick.
That’s a great question! IMHO The common injector was never designed to be used on the high pressure side of the pump despite the fact that is. It’s rated to work within a specified flow with NO backpressure!!! That means it’s for use on the low pressure side of the pump and NOT the high pressure side. You will see many issues using common injectors. I feel I solved the reliability issue with the injector I designed!
I watched the video and you seem well educated in the subject matter and your solution seems logical… So I just purchased one. However, I saw that you also offer rebuild kits on your site, which means that you didn’t solve the reliability issue… and it doesn’t say how long the average lifespan is before needing to be rebuilt. I am assuming you have tested these quite a bit, I am using a 4 gpm machine and wondering what kind of lifespan I can expect out of your downstream injector.
Yeah, i just saw your order come through, thank you Andrew! I sell rebuild kits because it’s an industry expectation to have one available to those who want one to have peace of mind with one on hand. Run a filter/strainer and don’t open it! As far as reliability, I DO believe I have solved the issue. With regular rinsing it will more than likely last you a few seasons trouble free. I have not had any customers needing to rebuild within the first year other than the curious, meaning they opened up the injector and now the interference fit seal no longer seals. You’d need a rebuild kit for that.
Thanks for the testimonial @dcbrock again for the quick response @dperez - Your design is pretty awesome and intuitively seems like it should be quite durable. I’m excited to test it out. Looking at the rebuild kit, it seems like the o-ring is probably the weak link. Love the ingenuity man, keep up the good work!
