Just Starting Up - What Do You Think Of This Trailer?

Reedy

New member
Hey Guys

This is my first post, nice to find a place for info and advice.

quick background, I ran a pressure washing business in the UK for around 5 years doing driveways, graffiti, gum removal etc, and built myself an enclosed trailer system which worked well, but was not that well arranged inside.

Fast forward 7 years, and I am heading back into the business, and am struggling to decide between van or trailer, or even box truck mounted system.

There is a company over here in the UK that offer a trailer mounted system, my issue is with both weathering of the kit, and also access with a trailer, narrow roads etc. I love the trailer option, but narrow roads and crappy weather here in the uk could make it a poor option.

Here is a pic of the setup

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They also offer a skid mounted option that can be put in a van

skid4.jpg


Van issues, I don't want to vent through roof etc, but there is a lot more security and weatherproofing for the kit.

what do you reckon???????


Thanks in advance
 
There are many different vendors out there making hot water skids, some or a lot might not be in your area so that might mean a drive to the next town if you find other vendors by calling on the phone or internet searching.

You can vent out the back door with some vent piping that is easily done by vent companies.

You can rig up a skid like in the pictures by yourself, just have to search and find what you need.

Depending on what services you focus on, you might want the hose reels in the back like on the trailer or if you focus on residential, you might want the hose reels on the side of the van that will face the house when working.

You can hang the hose reels from the ceiling so they are somewhat out of the way, mount them to a door or put them on a slide so you slide out the hose reels when working then slide them back in when done so you can close the doors.

There are a lot of companies that make shelves for inside vans and box trucks here in the states, probably a lot over where you are also, just have to search for them.

If the roads are narrow, that might make backing up trailers harder to do so maybe it is a better idea for a van, plus you can keep it out of the weather and less eyes looking at your equipment and tools.

You might look at some of the house cleaners and carpet cleaning companies to see how they have their vans rigged up, that might give you more ideas for your own van and possibly save you some time and money doing some things similar.

When you find a vendor you want to purchase from, see if there are some pictures of other pressure cleaning companies trucks and vans that they might have, might give you more ideas for your own, based on the trucks and vans in your part of the world.

Good luck.
 
thanks for the info and advice. Over here in the UK, we just do not have the equipment suppliers you have in the US, probably only a handful in the UK that offer this sort of kit. The Hydrotek units are only sold by ONE company. Others sell Karcher 200 bar hot water units, but the Hydrotek is pretty much the only US hot water machine one can get here. No Hotsy or anything similar.

Will keep looking and browsing the forum. Might even need to import from the US, but that also throws up some warranty issues etc.

In a country of 63 million, one would expect more options :)

Cheers
 
Those are great units i would stay away from that one with the hose reels mounted in front that looks like a pain to take off if you needed to get to things on the front of the machine.
 
thanks for that, I agree about the reels. I am actually thinking a trailer might be our best start up option, but with water supplies not being too much of an issue, I might look at cutting the water tank capacity, and creating space for a rotary cleaner etc ON the trailer. Also storage for chemicals etc, and pull it in a van, where I can also create compartmentalised storage for other equipment. This provides more options that a van which is just stuffed with pressure washing gear. We intend to expand, so this is not the definitive setup, it will adapt as we move along and learn more.

thanks for the replies
 
Good luck on what you decide to do.
 
Get one of these!



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Haha that thing looks awesome

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thanks guys, really appreciate your input. One thing that is relevant is that we are now going to get a small garage to keep 'something' in. So a trailer could work out, and be open topped. In fact, I ran a trailer setup behind a landrover for 5 years with no ill effects or problems, my memory has not served me that well, as I am now considering issues with a trailer that I never experienced when I had one :)

I think a flatbed or similar style truck would work well, that said, we also want to be able to add kit for differing types of jobs, so perhaps wet vacs etc for fire/smoke damage restoration. In this case, a pressure washing trailer would be good, as it still leaves the vehicle free for all sorts of stuff.

What I may do, is buy the same kit as shown above, but get a fabricator to build it up to my specs rather than the ones shown above. That trailer is only 8ft 8 in by 4ft or so, not a big one by any standards.

Options, options!!!! So many, and pros and cons to everything. Will look at some truck options and let you know. I'll post some pics when I get sorted.

BTW, does anyone have any pics of a setup using a sure flo pump like this for delivering detergent etc? I am looking at ways to reduce labour time, and a sure flo has gotta be better than a pump up sprayer for many jobs

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cheers

Steve
 
BTW, does anyone have any pics of a setup using a sure flo pump like this for delivering detergent etc? I am looking at ways to reduce labour time, and a sure flo has gotta be better than a pump up sprayer for many jobs

I don't have any pics, but I do use them and they are pretty simple to setup. Inlet goes to the chem tank/bucket, outlet goes to an air hose real at the back with 150 ft of 1/4 inch pressure wash hose. I used air hose for awhile, but it couldn't take the constant abuse and I spent too much time fixing it, while the pressure wash hose has given me close to years of trouble free use. I use a wash gun/long lance combo with a quick connect for different nozzles depending on what I need for flow.

I have a few of these setup for different chem's as I don't like changing chem's in the lines
 
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