non-pressure cleaners

A

Ashley PW

New member
Hi
does anyone have any info on non-pressure cleaners. A lot of guys in my area which is SC have gone to these type products. I cant seem to find out very much about it.
 
Are you saying this because your competitors advertise "No pressure, washing"?
You need pressure to wash away the dirt and grime.
As far as your question I have not heard of non-pressure cleaners. I can get my machine down to very low pressure to rinse or apply soap.
 
From my understanding some of my customers are telling me that other cleaners are just sparying there roofs and sideings and walking away the only draw back is it takes awhile for the cleaners to work two to three weeks.
 
Oh boy, hear we go!

I believe that would be a sodium hydroxide based cleaner applied and left. The soap will work when it is wet - so as long as it is not nuatralized it will continue to work every time it rains or gets condensation. thus it will seem to work after they leave. The only thing I would be concerned about is what it is doing to the roof shingles (this cleaner also breaks down rhe asphalt - petrolium based products).

I think I've heard people also do this with sodium hypochlorite???
Tim Mcculla
609.597.4449
 
John Orr said:
While pressure is needed, if done properly, you don't need much. I wash almost every house by downstreaming chems on and rinsing the same way. No more than garden hose pressure - and have been doing so professionally for almost seven years.
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I am not a pressure washer, only a roof cleaner.
But here in Tampa, one very sucessful P/W who is now retired used a big John Bean piston pump to clen houses with.

I do not mean to sound ignorant, but why not just use a high GPM pump like a John Bean ?

I think it can go almost to 1300 PSI, but at many more GPM's then most P/C's.

If you were ONLY residential house washing, what would you get ?
 
Apple Roof Cleaning said:
I am not a pressure washer, only a roof cleaner.
But here in Tampa, one very successful P/W who is now retired used a big John Bean piston pump to clean houses with.

I do not mean to sound ignorant, but why not just use a high GPM pump like a John Bean ?

I think it can go almost to 1300 PSI, but at many more GPM's then most P/C's.

If you were ONLY residential house washing, what would you get ?
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When I first started, I did not use a machine at all. It took longer, but it worked. (I still have many customers from 6 and seven years ago.)

I have found that 4 to 5 gpm is about the limit for downstream washing. As the volume goes up (my rig is 8gpm) the force exerted on the surface also goes up, thus causing some of the problems of higher-pressure washing. I have also found that 120* water makes a big difference. I've tried it cold for a few years and now hot, and 99% of the time, I use hot. (Also, the heat works better for applying the wax. I include a hot wax rinse for each home.)
 
John Orr said:
When I first started, I did not use a machine at all. It took longer, but it worked. (I still have many customers from 6 and seven years ago.)

I have found that 4 to 5 gpm is about the limit for downstream washing. As the volume goes up (my rig is 8gpm) the force exerted on the surface also goes up, thus causing some of the problems of higher-pressure washing. I have also found that 120* water makes a big difference. I've tried it cold for a few years and now hot, and 99% of the time, I use hot. (Also, the heat works better for applying the wax. I include a hot wax rinse for each home.)
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You mean you do not use a chem pump ?
I was told not to use hot water on a home, something about windows ?
 
Kory said:
Hot water and mainly pressure on double pane windows is bad.
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That's what I was told too, but I have great respect for John.
He has been Low Pressure cleaning for A LONG time.

He must have discovered a way around this.

Maybe when they told me about hot water dangers they were refering to hotter water ?

John only uses it at 120 degrees.
 
120* is not much hotter than a hot tub, so you can run your hand in the stream without pain. Also, 120* will not burn the lawn, or your hands while pulling hose. It is almost unnoticeable in the summer, and most welcome in the winter. In my opinion, heat has more of a positive effect for those of us that downstream.

In "season" (March through October) I was at least 2 houses/day (depending on size) and sometimes 3. Five, and sometimes six and seven days/week - and have never had a problem. I wash windows that have rotted sashes all the time, without water infiltration.

I have never used a chem pump on a house, other than the roof. Back in the day, I used a garden hose-end sprayer to apply my mix.
 
taselton2 said:
We call this "softwashing" in our area.
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Be real careful using the term "softwashing" ?
It is a trademark of a friend of mine in Tallahassee Florida ....
 
John Orr said:
120* is not much hotter than a hot tub, so you can run your hand in the stream without pain. Also, 120* will not burn the lawn, or your hands while pulling hose. It is almost unnoticeable in the summer, and most welcome in the winter. In my opinion, heat has more of a positive effect for those of us that downstream.

In "season" (March through October) I was at least 2 houses/day (depending on size) and sometimes 3. Five, and sometimes six and seven days/week - and have never had a problem. I wash windows that have rotted sashes all the time, without water infiltration.

I have never used a chem pump on a house, other than the roof. Back in the day, I used a garden hose-end sprayer to apply my mix.
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forgive me John for being ignorant to P/W terms, but by downstreaming you mean you carry the chemicals to the house ?

Why not have them on the trailer or truck ?

Oh, but then you would be drawing through lots of hose ?

I seems lile a chem pump might be simpler with a remote control valve that would switch to water when rinse is desired ?

Like I told Tim Asleton, I am almost being forced into house cleaning!

Believe it or not, we have cleaned houses with just our chem pumps and a garden hose ?

I bet a medium pressure diapraghm pump with remote control tanks would be neat ?

Oh, just thouight of something!

With 300 feet of hose, it would be a long time until you see the rinse water ?

Screw that!

Hey, what about a double hose, one for chemicals and one for water with a dual trigger gun ?

Is there such an animal ?

Pleasa, bear with me guys, and excuse my ignorance, I have only cleaned roofs all these years.
 
Speck_Chaser said:
That is funny!
:p
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Thought you would get a kick out of that!
Actually, Tim has really developed that terminology in his area.
His URL reflects that.

My URL is "saferoofcleaning.com"
We have a 4000 PSI 6 GPM machine, BUT, we turn it down halfway, LOL

Gotta addd we are JUST kidding!

We Never use pressure on any roof.
 
Some people may think softwashing means turning down the psi on a p/w. Softwashing houses and roofs does not include the use of a pressure washer. We do use high-flow pressure washers for flatwork. Our process uses chem solutions and high-flow pumps only capable of building 150psi.
 
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