Help! The lines continue!

MHasterok

MHasterok

New member
Here's a couple pics of recent work I have done. The before conditions were pretty greasy in these areas.

I am still getting lines, sometimes very noticable, from the path I take with the surface cleaner. Here's the process I use: Rinse with wand, spray on degreaser with hand pump sprayer, dwell a few min, run surface cleaner, then rinse with wand. Usually on a 3 ft wide sidewalk, the first run is awesome (I start on the high side so the water always runs down away from what I just cleaned), the second run( middle of sidewalk), then the last on the other side. The middle usually has about a 12" wide path mark that is darker than the two sides. I have tried to go over it again, and it doesn't help or get that middle run much cleaner.

In another post, someone mentioned chlorine to spray down after the fact. I am trying to keep costs down, so I honestly have not tried that yet. I have paid attention to overlapping, which still did not help. Maybe is it because my surface cleaner is 24", and I'm only getting about 5gpm out of my pw at 3000psi?

Anyone else have this issue??? Thanks!
 

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Are you using Hot Water? If so you need a heavier concentration of degreaser buy the receiving door. Chlorine applied afterwards will work well on mildew or heavy mold spores left behing after cleaning, but it dont work on grease. Use a good Butyl Degreaser and let it dwell for awhile, some times if it's heavy i will brush it in and re apply before running heat over it.

I have had some heavy black areas to clean, and no problems with lines, in this video I only used heat and it was black.
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Last edited:
How many feet of hose are you running?
Are you using Hot water?
What tips are you using?
Have you Checked the PSI right before the SC?
What Chems/how strong?
How old are your tips?

I have the same problem and what from what I've heard "its the nature of the beast"
On walkways I just use a wand and blend in. I run 8gpm on a big guy and get them. but when i use my 20" SC they dissapear. so you may want to go down to a 20" or try a diff. pattern when you clean.
 
The Cleaner said:
Are you using Hot Water? If so you need a heavier concentration of degreaser buy the receiving door. Chlorine applied afterwards will work well on mildew or heavy mold spores left behing after cleaning, but it dont work on grease. Use a good Butly Degreaser and let it dwell for awhile, some times if it's heavy i will brush it in and re apply before running heat over it.

I have had some heavy black areas to clean, and no problems with lines, in this video I only used heat and it was black.
</EMBED>
Click to expand...

Nice video, Nick is that a 8 gpm, one arm (2 nozzle) 20" SC? What make?


El Flojo said:
How many feet of hose are you running?
Are you using Hot water?
What tips are you using?
Have you Checked the PSI right before the SC?
What Chems/how strong?
How old are your tips?

I have the same problem and what from what I've heard "its the nature of the beast"
On walkways I just use a wand and blend in. I run 8gpm on a big guy and get them. but when i use my 20" SC they dissapear. so you may want to go down to a 20" or try a diff. pattern when you clean.
Click to expand...

Good questions. I have found there are always levels of clean, you may well have one of the problems that El Flojo describes , the section that is cleaner is exposed to the same impact for more time, hence the first pass looks clean against the wall, but the overlap says that it could get cleaner.

You have a few choices,
1) clean it cleaner (increase the impact, use stronger chems, scrubbing, more heat, check for worn nozzles, use smaller angled nozzles, move slower, check system pressure loss, go over it at your current speed a second time),

2) reduce the over lap.
 
I'm using 100ft of hose. Usually clean the light soiled areas around 140 degrees, 176-245 degrees for heavy soiled areas. I think the tips are 25's. The Landa guy said the ones in it are the right size for my pw specs. Currently using Landa's Dynamite detergent around 1 part degreaser to 4 parts water in a hand pump sprayer. I've tried going slower and it doesn't help. When I can afford it, I was thinking about getting a 16-20" whisper wash.
 
El Flojo said:
How many feet of hose are you running?
Are you using Hot water?
What tips are you using?
Have you Checked the PSI right before the SC?
What Chems/how strong?
How old are your tips?

I have the same problem and what from what I've heard "its the nature of the beast"
On walkways I just use a wand and blend in. I run 8gpm on a big guy and get them. but when i use my 20" SC they dissapear. so you may want to go down to a 20" or try a diff. pattern when you clean.
Click to expand...
I've tried to blend in the lines afterward with a wand and a 15 tip, and that doesn't even work. It's like the passes seal the line into the concrete. My customers are happy with the huge difference it shows every two weeks, but I want it to come out better without the wide lines.
 
Try 15 degree nozzles. The spray pattern may be hitting the edge of the cover, making it spray straight down.
 
The Cleaner said:
Are you using Hot Water? If so you need a heavier concentration of degreaser buy the receiving door. Chlorine applied afterwards will work well on mildew or heavy mold spores left behing after cleaning, but it dont work on grease. Use a good Butly Degreaser and let it dwell for awhile, some times if it's heavy i will brush it in and re apply before running heat over it.

I have had some heavy black areas to clean, and no problems with lines, in this video I only used heat and it was black.
<object height="344" width="425">


<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yQmJ0ZslXe0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></object>
Click to expand...


Hehehe you said Butly.

 
MHasterok said:
Here's a couple pics of recent work I have done. The before conditions were pretty greasy in these areas.

I am still getting lines, sometimes very noticable, from the path I take with the surface cleaner. Here's the process I use: Rinse with wand, spray on degreaser with hand pump sprayer, dwell a few min, run surface cleaner, then rinse with wand.


Anyone else have this issue??? Thanks!
Click to expand...


Why are you rinsing first? I always spray chemicals on a dry surface. They will actually work better that way. The better your chemicals work, the less app. the stripes are to appear.
But it is still going to happen at times. The dirtier the concrete, the more likely it will occur.
You'll also notice you can clean a little more faster and efficiently with a 20" s.c.'er. I wouldnt get a 16" but thats just M.O.
 
Mike, Change your tips...:yes4: Do like Russ Johnson said and try the 15deg tips. I recently changed over to 1502 tips and it has made a huge difference.
 
Johnson said:
Why are you rinsing first? I always spray chemicals on a dry surface. They will actually work better that way. The better your chemicals work, the less app. the stripes are to appear.
But it is still going to happen at times. The dirtier the concrete, the more likely it will occur.
You'll also notice you can clean a little more faster and efficiently with a 20" s.c.'er. I wouldnt get a 16" but thats just M.O.
Click to expand...
I usually rinse first because of all the leaves, dirt in the expansion joints, etc. Just a quick rinse. Sometimes I use a leaf blower.
 
Larry Millette said:
Mike, Change your tips...:yes4: Do like Russ Johnson said and try the 15deg tips. I recently changed over to 1502 tips and it has made a huge difference.
Click to expand...

Were you having striping issues Larry?
 
Johnson said:
Were you having striping issues Larry?
Click to expand...

Yes, but it seemed as though it was only on certain types of concrete. I changed over to the 1502's and haven't noticed it happening anymore.
 
I agree with not rinsing before cleaning. Your diluting the ration of your mixture. I would seriously do some research on this board about chemicals and either come up with a home brew or purchase something more potent. What are the DS ratio's of that chemical from landa, have you ever thought about DS'ing the chemical onto the surface.


I always clean from the bottom up then rinse from top down to allow the chemical on the top of the slope a longer dwell time. If your cleaning from the top down then your rinsing the chemical off of the areas below the slope thus making them less effective where as if you start on at the bottom of a hill and work your way to the top of the slope you will have a longer dwell on the top of the hill.
 
Chris Tharpe said:
I agree with not rinsing before cleaning. Your diluting the ration of your mixture. I would seriously do some research on this board about chemicals and either come up with a home brew or purchase something more potent. What are the DS ratio's of that chemical from landa, have you ever thought about DS'ing the chemical onto the surface.


I always clean from the bottom up then rinse from top down to allow the chemical on the top of the slope a longer dwell time. If your cleaning from the top down then your rinsing the chemical off of the areas below the slope thus making them less effective where as if you start on at the bottom of a hill and work your way to the top of the slope you will have a longer dwell on the top of the hill.
Click to expand...
Don't know the DS ratios since I just use a hand pump sprayer. I'll try from the bottom up next time like you said. Thanks Chris.
 
MHasterok said:
I'm using 100ft of hose. Usually clean the light soiled areas around 140 degrees, 176-245 degrees for heavy soiled areas. I think the tips are 25's. The Landa guy said the ones in it are the right size for my pw specs. Currently using Landa's Dynamite detergent around 1 part degreaser to 4 parts water in a hand pump sprayer. I've tried going slower and it doesn't help. When I can afford it, I was thinking about getting a 16-20" whisper wash.
Click to expand...

Your diluting down your chem way to much IMO.It already has water in it coming from Landa and you are watering it down a lot more.Flip your mix ratio and see if that doesn't make an improvement.
If you are trying to cut costs why are you buying premixed degreaser from a Landa dealer(they are chraging you retail).A guy like Russ Johnson can sell you high quality chems at a lower price and he's only a phone call away if you need advice on application or mix ratio.
I cut degreaser cost a long time ago when I started using caustic.If used properly it's one of the lowest cost,quickest degreaser available.

1 more thing....stop farting around with your thermostat.Set it around 185 - 190 and leave the darn thing alone.
 
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