Surface Cleaner

B

bigelowc

New member
We will be doing residential house washes along with driveways and walkways. We are looking for a Surface Cleaner.

We are are hoping to be running 4.8 GPM @ 3000psi


My budget is around $800.00
 
For some reason the floater models do not appeal to me. What is your opinion on the Legacy Cyclone or the Lil Big Guy?
 
bigelowc said:
For some reason the floater models do not appeal to me. What is your opinion on the Legacy Cyclone or the Lil Big Guy?
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Try it first, I think you'll change your mind. If your just doing residential, floaters allow you to get closer to edges and are more maneuverable in tight spaces. They also work much better on uneven surfaces. This makes a difference when you have to go back, and get all the missed spots. Get a classic from Russ. You won't be sorry.
 
I would also say to get the Classic, it is one of the most popular, reliable and commercial quality surface cleaners out there.

There are other brands about the same size but a lot of them don't have good swivels (rotary unions) on them, you can search and see how many bought the cheaper brands and ended up spending more money on them to modify them with a better swivel so they can use them, in the end it was almost the same money as just buying the right surface cleaner in the beginning.

Sure, some guys like to brag about how little money they spent but most of those cheap surface cleaners have a cheaper quality swivel that will not last in comparison to a commercial quality swivel like the classic has. A lot of them end up spending another $200 to $300 for a better swivel, adapter plate and spray bar to use the same surface cleaner but now it will last a lot longer.

It is your money, you can learn from other's learning experiences or just buy a reliable machine of better quality, not deal with the downtime, the regret of buying a cheap surface cleaner and wondering when it will break, the choice is yours.

Good luck.
 
Christopher said:
I would also say to get the Classic, it is one of the most popular, reliable and commercial quality surface cleaners out there.

There are other brands about the same size but a lot of them don't have good swivels (rotary unions) on them, you can search and see how many bought the cheaper brands and ended up spending more money on them to modify them with a better swivel so they can use them, in the end it was almost the same money as just buying the right surface cleaner in the beginning.

Sure, some guys like to brag about how little money they spent but most of those cheap surface cleaners have a cheaper quality swivel that will not last in comparison to a commercial quality swivel like the classic has. A lot of them end up spending another $200 to $300 for a better swivel, adapter plate and spray bar to use the same surface cleaner but now it will last a lot longer.

It is your money, you can learn from other's learning experiences or just buy a reliable machine of better quality, not deal with the downtime, the regret of buying a cheap surface cleaner and wondering when it will break, the choice is yours.

Good luck.
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I have been using the same BE surface cleaner with the original swivel for about 4 years now. Just put a squeeze of grease in the grease fitting once a month, and you're good to go. I have never used a Whisper Wash, but I can't imagine it would be worth nearly double the BE for residential cleaning. I think the Whisper Wash is rated for hotter water though. I'm guessing that is why some people have trouble with the BE. Works just fine with my cold water though.

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JDhomeservices said:
I have been using the same BE surface cleaner with the original swivel for about 4 years now. Just put a squeeze of grease in the grease fitting once a month, and you're good to go. I have never used a Whisper Wash, but I can't imagine it would be worth nearly double the BE for residential cleaning. I think the Whisper Wash is rated for hotter water though. I'm guessing that is why some people have trouble with the BE. Works just fine with my cold water though.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk
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Most of the time that I have heard the BE, Whirl A Way, Hammerhead, etc.... swivels crap out is with cold water but when running hot water they die even faster on commercial hot water concrete cleaning.

I have had a couple die when using hot water, a good friend got 2 of the hammerheads and was running cold water (no hot water machine) and they did not last a week, each one of them and had issues trying to get replacement swivels and finally gave up and bought a classic and never looked back.

Another good friend of mine down in Brownsville, Tx was using the stainless steel surface cleaner with the castor wheels and that new machine did not last a week in hot water drive thru cleaning, his spare (also new) did not last a few days. He also had issues getting a replacement through the distributor (not one of the great distributors that post here regularly) unfortunately. He also finally gave up and got a classic and no more problems.

I am guessing the problem happens faster with hot water washing based on what I have heard, but knowing that now, I would never buy those brands and stick to what works for hot water washing.
 
Andy Hinson said:
I have the Big Guy. Had it about a year. I have used it with a 4000 psi 4 gpm machine, but its too big. Finally bought an 8gpm and I believe it will be a money maker
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I have two of those for large concrete cleaning jobs and love them. Did you get the 4 nozzle or two nozzle??
 
JDhomeservices said:
I have been using the same BE surface cleaner with the original swivel for about 4 years now. Just put a squeeze of grease in the grease fitting once a month, and you're good to go. I have never used a Whisper Wash, but I can't imagine it would be worth nearly double the BE for residential cleaning. I think the Whisper Wash is rated for hotter water though. I'm guessing that is why some people have trouble with the BE. Works just fine with my cold water though.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk
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Agree about BE. We run hot water through them and no problem. Just replaced a swivel and only $129 from Russ.
 
Rapid HotClean said:
Agree about BE. We run hot water through them and no problem. Just replaced a swivel and only $129 from Russ.
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Same here. Ive had mine 6 years and have been through 2 swivels that Russ sent me. Other than that I've had to replace the o-ring inside the swivel a few times. Especially running anything over 8 GPM.
 
I don't know why people always seem to put BE's and Hammerheads on the same category. The BE has a much better swivel with vs grease fitting. I have heard plenty of people say they are happy with their BE. On the other hand, I have never heard anyone have something good to day about a hammerhead. Crazy, since they cost about the same.

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JDhomeservices said:
I don't know why people always seem to put BE's and Hammerheads on the same category. The BE has a much better swivel with vs grease fitting. I have heard plenty of people say they are happy with their BE. On the other hand, I have never heard anyone have something good to day about a hammerhead. Crazy, since they cost about the same.

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I love my hammerhead....when it's working!
 
I've been using Hydrotek's 28" surface cleaners for years, never had any problems with them really. An occasional swivel going out, replace the caster wheels once a year and I'm good.
 
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