x- jet or down stream

ARCPW said:
Xjet is good for applying degreasers and acids. I prefer ds for house washing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

+1.
DS for houses, multi-family and certain buildings. X-jet for dumpster pads and nasty driveways that need a strong bleach mix. We don't own or use roof pumps anymore.
To me theres not right or wrong method. They are both tools for your arsenal.
 
Doug Rucker said:
Just use a low pressure rinse tip, or crack your ball valve, or use adjustable wand, with your 25 or 40 tip and just don't turn wand so much that the chem comes out, to rinse. No need to go back and forth to truck. I DS through 200 feet of hose at 8gpm. It takes exactly 10 seconds for the water to go from applying chem to clear water or vice versa. I just change my tip about 10 seconds before I don't need chem or do need it. Average 2500-3000 sq ft take less than 5 gallon of HW mix.
Click to expand...

Ok, so maybe I do need to re-think my setup and get back into having the ability to use ds or x-jet depending on the situation. Thanks for being so detailed and not biting my head off... I know this is one 'debate' that gets guys a bit heated sometimes :)

Sent from my Galaxy S3 Android
 
I too carry an x jet at all times. There are certain applications I will it use for, it's usually only in times I need to get my chem on a surface a little stronger. I never say there is one way. Proper cleaning technique is what matters most.
 
cameronqueen said:
Am I missing something about downstreaming? I'm genuinely asking - has something changed in the last 2 years since I had a ds setup?

You still have water 'turned on', wet plants decks etc... Walk back to truck and connect chemical then soap everything... Walk back to truck and switch to water again to rinse.... Otherwise you'd have to be doing steps 1 & 3 (pre-wet and rinse) at high pressure, not low pressure, right??

Sent from my Galaxy S3 Android
Click to expand...

There are many ways to do this.

You can use a remote control so less walking, a some guys use this but in time, probably a few years or less they wear out, need replacing, etc..... but save a lot of time and effort.

If you have a helper, you can have him go back to the truck or trailer and switch or do it yourself. I do it this way. When you soap a side or two of a house, give it some dwell time while walking to go switch then rinse then go switch back to soap, etc..... It is all how you look at it.

You can just use high pressure nozzles so the injector will not pull chemicals but I prefer to use the low pressure nozzles because of hanging plants, windchimes and other things that they don't want moved, said they would move and did not move or just too big (huge planters that usually crack when you try to move them) to move so you work around things. I like the low pressure nozzles so I can rinse everything without damaging them, blasting them around or pushing more water where you don't want it or need it.

The X-Jet, X-Jet M5 and downstream injector debate has happened dozens of times on most of the forums, plenty to read about if you want to, some are numerous pages of info that is still accurate today so no debate needed.

There are many soaps talked about recently and they are great, I would stay away from those that are not popular as the popular are tried and true and time tested.

I use my X-Jet M5 probably every 2 or so years, last time I used it was over 2 years ago, I looked at it recently and the plug rusted away. I hardly ever use it since I prefer the downstream injector.

I have 200' of hose on the hose reel and like I have mentioned in the past, this is enough to do most small to medium houses. Some houses need 100' to reach the house from the street in a lot of cases so I end up using another 50' or 100' of hose to go around the house to wash it all.

Most of the time I use the 8gpm machine but once in a while I use the 5.6gpm machine with all that hose and it is all 3/8" but I do have 1/2" hose when needed for higher pressure cleaning on concrete.

Hope this helps Cameron. If you have questions, ask.
 
There are tricks like using smaller orifice injectors when you run longer hoses for downstreaming so that they will pull chemicals, you can use different brand of injectors (I stay away from the adjustable injectors), don't buy stuff from Northern Tool if you think it will be commercial quality, most of their stuff is not that durable.

I have run long hoses and was able to downstream, 500' and 600' on some big projects. A couple years ago I washed an apartment complex (Joe Ortiz from Extreme helped me for a week on that job) where I had to string out almost all my pressure hose and that was 1225' of pressure hose and downstreamed everything. I tried the X-Jet M5 on that job and went back to downstreaming. Maybe I did not rinse out the X-Jet after that job, maybe that is why the plug rusted away? We had to run a lot of pressure hose as the front parking spaces in front of the buildings were not blocked for the truck and trailer so we can do the job (it was in the proposal and we reminded them but ultimately we had to do what we had to do to get the job done) so we ran a lot of hose around buildings and up into the walkways 3 floors high from one end to the other to get things done.

There are many ways to downstream, sometimes you can move the injector closer to the work if you have to, you can keep the chemicals on the truck or trailer, you can keep the chemicals with you to X-Jet, etc.....whatever it takes to get the job done.
 
Christopher said:
There are tricks like using smaller orifice injectors when you run longer hoses for downstreaming so that they will pull chemicals, you can use different brand of injectors (I stay away from the adjustable injectors), don't buy stuff from Northern Tool if you think it will be commercial quality, most of their stuff is not that durable.

I have run long hoses and was able to downstream, 500' and 600' on some big projects. A couple years ago I washed an apartment complex (Joe Ortiz from Extreme helped me for a week on that job) where I had to string out almost all my pressure hose and that was 1225' of pressure hose and downstreamed everything. I tried the X-Jet M5 on that job and went back to downstreaming. Maybe I did not rinse out the X-Jet after that job, maybe that is why the plug rusted away? We had to run a lot of pressure hose as the front parking spaces in front of the buildings were not blocked for the truck and trailer so we can do the job (it was in the proposal and we reminded them but ultimately we had to do what we had to do to get the job done) so we ran a lot of hose around buildings and up into the walkways 3 floors high from one end to the other to get things done.

There are many ways to downstream, sometimes you can move the injector closer to the work if you have to, you can keep the chemicals on the truck or trailer, you can keep the chemicals with you to X-Jet, etc.....whatever it takes to get the job done.
Click to expand...
Wow so you have down-streamed with 1250 ft. of hose? That's crazy I wasn't sure if it would work with over 200ft of hose. At what length hose do you usually have to replace injectors to get to pull chemical?
 
I usually string out 500 to 600 feet of hose and downstream with chemical on the trailer. More than that I will usually put the injector closer to the work. I have not tried at 700' away from the trailer to see if the injector would pull from at the trailer, I was guessing it might not but if it did, the mix might not be as strong so I did not try so on the long runs of hose I will put the injector closer to the work.
 
I'm new to this so gotta try everything once but doing a house last week with my new M5x-jet, I found it to be a pain in the ass with only 12ft of soap hose when I have 200 ft of freedom on the gun. Today, I had a house that has an 88' x 44' footprint (gotta love McMansionville) and DS'd the whole thing never having to move a bucket and only moved pw but once and only about 50 ft from the trailer.

BTW, I read it on here and went and bought it a Lowes and I love it. They have a 2 story soap tip and rinse tip for about $18 and I think it works great.

I did use the xjet to shoot the gutters with chem and that is probably the best use I've found for the xjet so far.
 
You can add more hose to the X-Jet, I don't think anyone uses the hose that comes with it when new, way too short for professional cleaning.
 
Christopher said:
You can add more hose to the X-Jet, I don't think anyone uses the hose that comes with it when new, way too short for professional cleaning.
Click to expand...
Thanks Chris, I figured I could and you just confirmed. Since the 2-story soap nozzle I got from Lowes can hit the peaks I've had to deal with so far I haven't bothered. Will def do just so it's set-up better for when I do use it with chem. With a few houses under my belt and doing it solo, I've learned to be set-up for anything and have it ready to go right off the trailer. Being new to the biz still, the night before a job, I'm constantly fiddling and tweaking, checking things twice and adding something else to the trailer "just in case", need a bigger trailer LOL
 
It is always a good thing to be properly prepared, just don't buy a lot of stuff that you don't need (read the forums and use the search button for tools and machines you think about buying and see what people say about it to get informed before you purchase), don't go out and buy stuff. It would be a good idea to go train with a company for 2-3 days to see how they do things and dramatically shorten the learning curve, it will save you a lot of time and money instead of learning by experience and the hard way.

There are a lot of tips and tricks throughout the site if you start looking, you will find things that will help you save chemical, time, money and aggravation. You will see threads where guys that were in your position last month, last year, years ago, etc.... that have asked questions that you will be soon asking and see answers for probably most of the things you will be asking about. There is a huge wealth of knowledge here, all free you to use.
 
Christopher said:
It is always a good thing to be properly prepared, just don't buy a lot of stuff that you don't need (read the forums and use the search button for tools and machines you think about buying and see what people say about it to get informed before you purchase), don't go out and buy stuff. It would be a good idea to go train with a company for 2-3 days to see how they do things and dramatically shorten the learning curve, it will save you a lot of time and money instead of learning by experience and the hard way.

There are a lot of tips and tricks throughout the site if you start looking, you will find things that will help you save chemical, time, money and aggravation. You will see threads where guys that were in your position last month, last year, years ago, etc.... that have asked questions that you will be soon asking and see answers for probably most of the things you will be asking about. There is a huge wealth of knowledge here, all free you to use.
Click to expand...

Thanks Chris, Been on here a few months now and everything I've needed to learn came from this board. My mixes, the chem sprayer I built, even how I configured my trailer came from the tidbits I've read on here. My sisters neighbor in NC that does KEC sent me this link when I told him I was getting in the biz and I lurked for awhile then joined. All I've done are houses and roofs so far and so far, because of the info here, they have all gone smoothly with great results and happy home owners. I did buy training dvd's and experimented with my mixes on friends houses but the actual process, for houses at least, I don't think training with a company is needed. I am heading to NC in June and will be doing some KEC and on the job training with my sisters neighbor. He's been doing it 20+ years and has a nice outfit. I just need to step up the marketing & sales effort and train a helper.
 
Doug Rucker said:
Spoken from a true veteran. If you can't find it....CHRIS HAS IT...LOL
Click to expand...

Chris has every tool made by man. It wouldn't surprise me if he has the first club made by a cave man stashed in his closet.
 
I remember about 4 yrs ago when Chris was coming to Tampa for the Tampa round table event. I told him I was going to go get a Delavan pump. He called me back 20 minutes later and said he found a brand new one in the box under his bed. Needless to say, he brought it with him and gave it to me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top