X-Jetters

Hook and Ladder LLC

Hook and Ladder LLC

New member
Ok I love my x-jet. However, I am still trying to find that perfect, non-plant killng and one app solution to clean these nasty houses. I have been mixing...well yesterday I mixed 1:1 15% SH and threw in some detergent. I get mixed results and I am TERRIFIED of killing another plant. (even with min of constant drowning of the plants.) Throw some reccomendations out PLEASE!!!
 
Nate,
You are doing about all you can do if you are pre-rinse. Rinsing right after the chem app, and post rinsing. Adjusting your mix to a weaker strength may help ( and still work on the resi) but simply may take a little longer dwell time.

Constant rinsing of the plants and lanscape is the key. Most species of plants will not mind all the extra attention.

Some may say to cover the plants with painters plastic, which IMO, seems to serve better in the Winter vs. Summer months because they can be burned up within minutes.

Rinsing is the key. If you do not see an instant injury to the foliage from your mix overspray, then you are ok in most cases. If you have a helper, he should or can be rinsing during the entire process and well as serving as a swamper and hoseman for you while you are cleaning.

just my.02
 
If you are talking Sodium Hydroxide then what Adrian is advising will help the most!!

If you are talking bleach then your solution (I am assuming that is what you mean by SH (Sodium Hypochlorite)) should be in the range of 1% to 2%. Anything over that is in the paint prep range and that is damaging to anything. If you are mixing your 15% bleach 1:1 that is cutting it in half making it 7.5%. If you are using an X-Jet with no proportioner on a 4 GPM machine that is still only diluting it 1.6:1 so that makes it 4.68%. Which is way too strong. Cut it 1:1 and then use a black proportioner would give you 1.5%. Or if you don't have a proportioner, cut it 5:1 and then run it throught the X Jet with no proportioner.

I have attached the X Jet sheet that has the proportioners' ratios based on GPM.

Hope this helps!
 

Attachments

  • INSTRUCTIONS- X-JET.pdf
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I dont Xjet or DS, so I cant help. But we use a much stronger than 1-2% and never have issues. It is all about dilution.
 
Nicole is right. Dont go using the proportioners. just mix at the most 1 gallon in a five gallon bucket.thats for a 5gpm, use a little less for smaller machine. make sure you put some soap in it too.
 
Nichole, Thanks a ton. In fact I bought my x-jet from you guys. No proportioner. I think also I am getting impatient as well and maybe not letting it soak long enough. I tried the instructions with the x-jets recipe and it seems to not tackle the hard mildew. I have resorted to making a strong 1:1 of Sodium HYPOchloirte (bleach) in an idustrial pump sprayer for direct application to like facial boards on these 30-40 ft freakin eaves of these houses in the gated communties with a layer of mildew. It sucks tasting the bleach in my mouth when it rains back down but....oh well. I may try the proportioner to tinker with it.
 
we have DS'd the bleach from big lots and got really good results before so your should weaken your mix a little bit
 
You must be washing some really dirty houses. Your chemical is probably stronger that necessary. I dilute my Chlorine 50/50 with water and D/S or just use regular bleach and D/S with a little soap. Occasionally I'll have a house that I won't dilute the chlorine first but only if it's real nasty....good luck
 
For house wash we DS at 8-1 and start with 2.5 gal 12.5%, 1 gal water and 2 cups SCherry. Pre wet everything within range and have never killed anything. I think dwell time is important. 15-20 minutes unless it's drying out too fast. No dragging buckets etc. You can be 200' away and control everything with just swapping tips. I've never tried an x-jet so I can't say which is better.

I will say it's very important to know what rate your DS injector is actually mixing at or you're just guessing.
 
The most important thing you can do first is Pre-Soak all vegetation!! A root system will only take in what it needs so once you soak the roots you dont have to worry about the run off.

You do need to have a ground guy rinsing off the tops of the plants and shrubs as you go so not to burn the leaves and flowers which are more likely to be harmed if not rinsed.
 
Great info guys. This makes me feel more confident for this upcoming job. I will get some pics in the AM and hopefully postem by tomorrow night. Just a side note.....D/S??? what am I missing here?
 
I think a little got lost in translation here. I believe this thread was about house washing and not roof washing correct? DS = down streaming. If not I misunderstood. I've never heard of anyone x-jetting a roof clean, maybe some do. I posted DS info so you could get an idea what the final mix out of our gun was for a basic house wash.
 
Ahhh I see said the blind man (slaps self)
 
IndyExterior said:
I think a little got lost in translation here. I believe this thread was about house washing and not roof washing correct? DS = down streaming. If not I misunderstood. I've never heard of anyone x-jetting a roof clean, maybe some do. I posted DS info so you could get an idea what the final mix out of our gun was for a basic house wash.
Click to expand...

JL Xjets roofs. Im not sure how to get a strong enough solution w/ an xjet though.
 
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