Safe PSI for Residential Concrete Cleaning?

Pressurewasher2014

Pressurewasher2014

New member
I hope im in the right section. What is the safest PSI to use to surface clean residential concrete driveways, sidewalks without scorching?
i use a steel eagle surface cleaner 2 bar with 25025 nozzles. I cant remember what the PSI should be with those nozzles, I have a hydrotek 5.5 GPM 3,500 psi unit.
right now im runnin 3,000 PSI
 
Pressurewasher2014 said:
I hope im in the right section. What is the safest PSI to use to surface clean residential concrete driveways, sidewalks without scorching?
i use a steel eagle surface cleaner 2 bar with 25025 nozzles. I cant remember what the PSI should be with those nozzles, I have a hydrotek 5.5 GPM 3,500 psi unit.
right now im runnin 3,000 PSI
Click to expand...
2 25025's would give you 3500 psi and you will bypass some flow. Too much for resi concrete. The correct nozzle for those specs is a #6 (two #3's) . I found the ideal pressure for resi concrete in Florida is 1800-2500. I use two 3.5's on my 5.5 gpm machine which is 2500 psi. With 200 feet of hose I run about 2300 psi and can clean any concrete I come across.
 
when i have those 2 nozzles in on my gauge the psi is 3,000, its confusing me i still need to call Russ i adjusted the unloader the best i could.
 
Pressurewasher2014 said:
when i have those 2 nozzles in on my gauge the psi is 3,000, its confusing me i still need to call Russ i adjusted the unloader the best i could.
Click to expand...
If your machine's specs are 3500psi @ 5.5 gpm, and your gauge reads 3000 psi with 2 025's, then your unloader is set to 3000 psi. With those nozzles , your gauge should read 3500 and your unloader would be bypassing probably a half a gallon. You have to set your unloader to the correct pressure and use nozzles to reduce or increase pressure.

Also , you are reading the gauge at the pump? and not at the gun, right?
 
i was reading with the gauge at the gun but ill move it to the pump side, yea i need to get the unloader set correctly i been workin with it like that.
 
Pressurewasher2014 said:
when i have those 2 nozzles in on my gauge the psi is 3,000, its confusing me i still need to call Russ i adjusted the unloader the best i could.
Click to expand...

When oraface stays the same the second nozzle doesn't change the PSI. But it takes half the water flow. So on your machine you're getting 2.75 GPM out of each nozzle.

Concrete hardness seems to be different in different areas of the country. Ralph and others have mentioned that it's soft in Florida. Around here pressure doesn't seem to bother it unless of course it's really old.
 
Ralph Q said:
If your machine's specs are 3500psi @ 5.5 gpm, and your gauge reads 3000 psi with 2 025's, then your unloader is set to 3000 psi. With those nozzles , your gauge should read 3500 and your unloader would be bypassing probably a half a gallon. You have to set your unloader to the correct pressure and use nozzles to reduce or increase pressure.

Also , you are reading the gauge at the pump? and not at the gun, right?
Click to expand...

I never touch my uploaders. Just change nozzle sizes.
 
yea most concrete around here is pretty tought and some is soft i see. i need to order the right nozzles and not adjust my pressure threw the unloader. working on that
 
Rapid HotClean said:
When oraface stays the same the second nozzle doesn't change the PSI. But it takes half the water flow. So on your machine you're getting 2.75 GPM out of each nozzle.

Concrete hardness seems to be different in different areas of the country. Ralph and others have mentioned that it's soft in Florida. Around here pressure doesn't seem to bother it unless of course it's really old.
Click to expand...
He should be getting 2.75 gpm's out of each nozzle, but the nozzles he is using are too small.
With 2 25025's he's only getting about 2 gpm's coming out of each nozzle and he's bypassing the rest. If his unloader is set to 3000 psi, then he should be using a #6.5 nozzle. 2 25's is only a#5 nozzle. Whatever he is doing, his unloader is working overtime!
 
i build race cars but yet i cant figure out how to adjust a unloader properly. lol crazy! ill figure it out the only thing that was confusing me is with this unloader it doesnt spike when u let off the trigger it drops straight down to 0.
 
Pressurewasher2014 said:
i build race cars but yet i cant figure out how to adjust a unloader properly. lol crazy! ill figure it out the only thing that was confusing me is with this unloader it doesnt spike when u let off the trigger it drops straight down to 0.
Click to expand...

That's question for Russ. Just call him tomorrow morning. Like he said either number in his signature will get him. If your unloader is bad, no matter what you do you won't be able to set it right. I had a bad unloader on my machine and it was only 4 months old. I couldn't set it. Got a new one and had it set in about 30 seconds.
 
yea its fighting me, thanks tho for the more info ill let u know how it works out, i have a house to wash and a driveway tomorrow! gota make it happen somehow.
 
Just a reminder,..using the proper cleaning solution on concrete will make the cleaning much easier. Years ago I started treating dirty concrete before doing anything else,..then when the house wash, or whatever is done,..the concrete has now had lots of dwell time, and will clean up fairly easy.

Jeff
 
It helps a lot to always test the concrete in a place out of the way to see how much pressure it can handle.

It does not vary city to city or state to state, it varies from job to job and contractor to contractor depending on if they are in a hurry, too much work to do, their attitude, etc.....

I have seen very hard concrete in residential that I could not damage and then some where the cream came up with only 1800psi that was many years old so you just never know or assume you have good concrete, always do a test spot so you don't go and carve into some concrete that looked strong and lose a customer or end up in court or worse.
 
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