surface cleaner

If there's a lack of communication on their part it may be a bad sign. I had this problem with a guy on craigslist a while back that had a skid priced about a thousand bucks too low. Needless to say, I was on top of it with many calls and emails. When I finally talked to him he (not stereotyping) sounded like a straight up thug, knew nothing about the machine, or the business, and had to "holla back at me" later. Few days later there was another ad running on craigslist about a STOLEN skid - same model reward if found. I gave the guy the information from the first ad and few days later both ads were taken down..... I don't know for sure but I'm assuming he got his skid back.


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Hopefully the guy got his stuff back. You really have to be careful on craigslist, its full of flakes. This guy has the surface cleaner listed but has no contact info in the ad so you have to email him through craigslist. I'm guessing all my emails are sitting there in his junk/spam folder.
 
I would ask to see it operating first, I had one of those and the swivel did not last at all, even the brand new spare swivel I bought did not last a few days on commercial hot water concrete cleaning.

It is not hard to video it and put it up on youtube to see it working so you know it works, otherwise I would figure on rebuilding that swivel or buying the Mosmatic kit to swap over to the Mosmatic swivel and spray bar.

That is not a bad price if the swivel is good but the shipping can be up to $100 because of the weight and size of the box, more if they take it to the UPS Store and those people box it, been there and done that years ago. Brand new the boxes are efficient and sized good so the shipping is not that bad but nobody keeps the boxes, I know I don't.
 
If I cant get a hold of the guy, whats a good one to get that wont put to big of a dent in my wallet?
 
If you want quality that will last, it cost more than the cheaper units, Whisper Wash, Steel Eagle and Mosmatic are great quality brands.

First you need to size the surface cleaner to your pressure washer or you will be throwing away money and end up buying another surface cleaner no matter what brand you bought first if it is too small or too large for your pressure washer.

You did not mention your pressure washer so it is hard to just guess at what size surface cleaner you need for your pressure washer.

If after sizing up the surface cleaner to your pressure washer and realize that a quality brand is out of your budget, you can buy a cheap brand and when the swivel goes out you can complain about the cheap brand and buy another cheap swivel for it or save up more money and buy a quality brand surface cleaner that will last.

This has happened to a lot of guys here, some will listen to advice, some will go the cheap route, that is up to you how you spend your hard earned money.

Read some of the older threads and see what has happened to other contractors before you spend a dime if you want to learn from other people's mistakes.
 
Thanks for the info, I have a Landa 3500 psi.
 
Christopher said:
If you want quality that will last, it cost more than the cheaper units, Whisper Wash, Steel Eagle and Mosmatic are great quality brands.


This has happened to a lot of guys here, some will listen to advice, some will go the cheap route, that is up to you how you spend your hard earned money.

Read some of the older threads and see what has happened to other contractors before you spend a dime if you want to learn from other people's mistakes.
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Listen to Chris. I opted for the cheap route, it ended up costing a lot more than if I had just went with a Classic (whisper wash) in the first place. If you look hard enough you can find a whisper wash classic for $575. Buy a professional grade surface cleaner, you won't have to worry about the swivel exploding in the middle of an important job. Been there, done that!
 
It is the gallons per minute that help you size the surface cleaner, you can have 2.5 up to 10 or more gpm's with a Landa.
 
Christopher said:
It is the gallons per minute that help you size the surface cleaner, you can have 2.5 up to 10 or more gpm's with a Landa.
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I'm not sure of the gpm. Its a general pump t2021
 
More than likely you will have either 5 or 5.5gpm so I would stick with about a 19" Whisper Wash Classic or a Mosmatic 21" as any larger than that you will be walking very, very slowly. You can find them used all over the place, just make sure the swivel is still in good shape. Good luck.
 
Christopher said:
More than likely you will have either 5 or 5.5gpm so I would stick with about a 19" Whisper Wash Classic or a Mosmatic 21" as any larger than that you will be walking very, very slowly. You can find them used all over the place, just make sure the swivel is still in good shape. Good luck.
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Thanks, I'll keep my eyes open for one of those. So...If my pump is 5 gpm I need to find something that is at least 5gpm? What if I find something that says it has an 8gpm rating?
 
Christopher said:
More than likely you will have either 5 or 5.5gpm so I would stick with about a 19" Whisper Wash Classic or a Mosmatic 21" as any larger than that you will be walking very, very slowly. You can find them used all over the place, just make sure the swivel is still in good shape. Good luck.
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Read this again, maybe a few times so you understand it.

There is a rule of thumb that has been correct for many, many years. About 4" of surface cleaner deck for every 1 gallon per minute of flow from your pump.

Again, since your pump is about 5 to 5.5gpm x 4" = 20" to 22" of deck, stick to 20" of deck or smaller.

Most swivels are rated to about 8gpm, I have not seen any rated for more gpm's but some of us run more through them.

If you buy a larger surface cleaner than 20", again, you will be walking very slowly and then posting here about it crying on how slow you are working when you were told in advance what would happen. The choice is yours.
 
Christopher said:
Read this again, maybe a few times so you understand it.

If you buy a larger surface cleaner than 20", again, you will be walking very slowly and then posting here about it crying on how slow you are working when you were told in advance what would happen. The choice is yours.
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Hey Chris, lighten up on the guy. After all, that's how you 'earn your stripes' in this biz. LOL
 
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