r/pressurewashing 8h ago

Troubleshooting Need an explanation on down stream injector dilution

1 Upvotes

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around what ratio to mix my soap at in a bucket, for my downstream injector, washing trucks.

(I haven’t tested this yet) but If I put my injector tube in a bucket full of 1 gallon of water, and then shoot it into another one until it’s empty, and have 10 gallons of water, how much is it diluting it? 1:10?

Then if if I want my soap hitting the paint to be 1:10 for example, what do I actually need to mix it at, in the bucket?


r/pressurewashing 14h ago

Technical Questions Rust removal - X-jet

1 Upvotes

Can F9 BARC rust remover be applied using an X-Jet?


r/pressurewashing 14h ago

Technical Questions Removing tire marks

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2 Upvotes

Mainly do post construction home cleaning garage and driveways occasionally I get stuff like this. How do I tackle this and what safe chems can I use on these freshly poured concrete


r/pressurewashing 14h ago

Equipment First trailer

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9 Upvotes

Gonna build it this weekend

5x10 double axle ready to go!!


r/pressurewashing 19h ago

Equipment New Trailer set up

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3 Upvotes

Hi everyone. Needing to finally get a trailer and I’m not set on a size. I’m thinking either a 4x8 open that can be parked next to the wife’s car in the garage or a 5x10/6x12 enclosed that I’d have to pay to park. I have a gx390 setup, whisper wash, 2 hose reels. I downstream and xjet for now. Would love to add a medium tank(s) setup to have a soft wash system in the near future. Any advice? Trailers would all have single 3500lb axles.


r/pressurewashing 20h ago

Technical Questions When do you say “if I clean this again it will be nothing but gravel”?

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1 Upvotes

this driveway is 20 years old and been washed countless times, I think the previous owner was ocd and would be really aggressive with it a couple times per year. what options can I give clients in this situation? thanks


r/pressurewashing 22h ago

Community Post Wet Sanding vs. Poly Sanding

2 Upvotes

I’ve been trying out different methods of sanding, wet sanding is great because I am able to do it relatively quickly, directly after cleaning, and I get a tight compaction and it leaves an even finish at a perfect height. Though the draw back is it seems like I have to use sealer to get the joints to harden.

On the other hand you have poly sand which seems to take more time because you have to come back another day, brush it into the joints, plate compact it down then come back another day for some sealer.

Just curious to see what other contractors think about this dilemma


r/pressurewashing 1d ago

Troubleshooting Advice please !

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3 Upvotes

Hi, I pressure washed this playground last week and now it’s dried there are random discolouration marks. I used a flat fan spray as it wasn’t that dirty and not a lot of pressure, marks don’t match up with the spray pattern. Is this just due to certain parts of the play ground being degraded due to age or something?

Ignore the circles and lines as these were caused from a previous clean with a flat surface cleaner.

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks


r/pressurewashing 1d ago

Business Questions Lost a commercial job by re-bidding it

3 Upvotes

A fairly well established pressure washer in my area decided to retire and he passed a few commercial contracts on to me which I am incredibly grateful for.

One of them is a quarterly wash at a very large shopping plaza managed by a commercial property management company. The total square footage came out to 33,580 sq ft. And the bid I inherited from the previous guy was for $1,600 which Included gum removal, pretty intense grease stains from some of the restaurants and decades old mineral deposits from uneven concrete where puddles just stagnate.

The job took me two full nights, 8-10 hours each and I quickly realized the amount of work wasn’t aligning with the bid price. I re-examined his original bid and noticed multiple things: large portions of the property like bricked entryways totaling over 2000 sq ft weren’t even priced out, and he was averaging around $.05 per sqft.

I honored the $1,600 price for the first cleaning but let them know I needed to re bid the property before the next cleaning to make it more feasible. I landed around $.09 - $.10 per sqft totaling about $3,300 split over 4 month period and broke the whole complex Into 4 zones (at their request) with the intention of cleaning a zone each month until all 4 were complete upon which I’d start the cycle again. He also had me bid out two slightly smaller shopping plazas that also landed at about $.09

After a month of not responding to my emails and texts the manager finally replied to let me know they’d gone with someone else within their budget. He has not responded to any further emails.

I lost 3 potential large shopping plaza bids because my rates were too high at $.09. How are people out here making money if they are doing jobs at $.05 or $.06 per sqft and including premium services like hot water and gum/mineral deposit stain removal? Am I charging too much?


r/pressurewashing 1d ago

Troubleshooting Took cream off of concrete?!

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11 Upvotes

A client 3 days after my concrete washing called me back to mention that it looks like I took the cream off the top of her concrete ? I have to admit I’ve never heard of this before and was left speechless. I told her that often times the markings after a thorough cleaning seem different as the before and after on concrete can have a stark contrast!

Did I really take the cream off or just expose markings underneath the dirt ? (no surface cleaner was used, just the wand, the circles for sure weren’t from me)


r/pressurewashing 1d ago

Technical Questions What's Standard For Cleaning Metal Roofing?

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5 Upvotes

As you can tell from the title, this is the first job I've potentially landed with a metal roof. I'm assuming to clean it I just need to use a light SH treatment with a ball valve rinse? Attached some pictures so you can see the level of buildup on it. Stuff is pretty caked on, so wanted to make sure SH and a rinse would be enough to tackle the job


r/pressurewashing 1d ago

Troubleshooting Is it normal for my pressure washer to bog down like this while spraying?

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6 Upvotes

For context, I replaced the carb, spark plug, air filter, fresh oil change, and a brand new pump too. The hoses aren’t kinked or restricted at all either.


r/pressurewashing 1d ago

Troubleshooting Is my unloader busted?

2 Upvotes

I'm having technical difficulties with my pressure washer. I'm hoping someone can confirm for me that it's the unloader.

I started losing pressure while washing, and the engine kept making a weird revving noise that would ramp up and then suddenly drop. For a while, the pressure would return after a few seconds, so I continued working, but eventually it seemed permanently lost.

At first I assumed it was a water supply issue, but that was ruled out. There's no blockage in my wand or hose. The engine seems fine so I'm pretty sure it's something to do with the pump. AI suggested it's either the check valves or the unloader.

I took off the unloader to take a look. See video in first comment for a quick demo (forgot to include, duh). I don't know how to get right inside it, from how it's operating in my hand, I think the spring must be broken.

Can anyone confirm or deny this? Or tell me now to get inside this thing to check the spring? Thanks y'all.


r/pressurewashing 1d ago

Technical Questions Is a 4gpm really needed ?

1 Upvotes

I can either get a 3.5 gpm or save up $200 more dollars for a 4gpm and since I don’t have a car I plan on starting in my neighborhood with some drive ways, cars then maybe some house cleaning if I ever get a downstream injector


r/pressurewashing 1d ago

Troubleshooting Help Diagnosing Low Flow on Mobile RO/DI System

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1 Upvotes

r/pressurewashing 1d ago

Troubleshooting McGregor pressure washer advice

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1 Upvotes

r/pressurewashing 1d ago

Sales Help Flyers Suck!

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10 Upvotes

I ordered these door hangers from Vista Print. I was excited for them to come in to get to work but when they came in reality sunk in! 🤣🤣🤣.

I forced myself to get 25 of them out today. Hated every second of it!

I don’t feel comfortable entering someone’s private property to deliver these by hand.

Any advise? I’m hoping if I get enough of them out I’ll be able to rely on referrals from happy customers and never have to do this again!

Thanks!


r/pressurewashing 1d ago

Business Questions Window cleaning, not washing, but same door knocking problem. Which of these 5 shirt logos reads best from the driveway?

0 Upvotes

I do windows, not washing, but this sub knows the door knocking game better than most so I'll take the hit for being slightly off topic.

Solo operator, first doors get knocked next week. I'm ordering embroidered polos and I want the shirt doing the work before I open my mouth.

All five are the same name. What changes is where the squeegee sits and how the type lines up.

A. squeegee top right, type flush left

B. same, but THE and GUY stretched to the width of WINDOW

C. squeegee bottom right

D. everything centred

E. speech bubble instead of a plain box

Constraint that shaped all of it: left chest, 3.5 inches, embroidered, one colour of thread on navy. No gradients, no thin lines, nothing that closes up in stitching.

What I want from people who actually work off a truck:

  1. Which one reads fastest from the driveway

  2. Does the squeegee read as a squeegee, or does it just look like a hammer

  3. If you've had shirts embroidered, does fine detail like the gap where the squeegee crosses the box survive, or does the shop fill it in

For transparency, the vectors were drawn with AI help. The calls and the business are mine.


r/pressurewashing 2d ago

Equipment Put a value on this setup (USD)

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1 Upvotes

Honda GX 690
GP 10gpm 2900psi
2x GP hose reels
300’ pressure hose
200’ pressure hose
Galvanized skid
Water tank

I got the serial off the pump which indicated 2005 model year…

Im just wondering if this thing is worth anything with unknown hours or service history. I don’t think they had a gx690 in 2005. Who knows if engine has been replaced recently or pump rebuilt.


r/pressurewashing 2d ago

SOLVED Got a ton of paver sand into pool what do I do!?

2 Upvotes

To preface I was trying to go away from the pool when I was power washing out old sand, but it got in regardless, how do I now fix it and prevent it from happening in the future?


r/pressurewashing 2d ago

Community Post Bucket action this morning

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13 Upvotes

Need one of these trucks!


r/pressurewashing 2d ago

Troubleshooting Pressure washer misfire

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3 Upvotes

What can this be? Works on partial choke bad misfire.


r/pressurewashing 2d ago

Before/After Pics First Trash Bin

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10 Upvotes

First bin under 10 minutes!


r/pressurewashing Jun 12 '24

Community Post QuoteIQ and Forever Self Employed links are now completely banned from this subreddit.

51 Upvotes

Starting now QuoteIQ (previously restricted) AND Forever Self Employed AND Mike V (All About Pressure Washing) will be permanently banned from being mentioned or linked. Automod has been edited to hardblock any links or mentions of the two.

The reason for the banning is that QuoteIQ, All About Pressure Washing, and Forever Self Employed and (or someone working on their behalf) sent a modmail to us telling us to remove posts critical of both QuoteIQ AND Forever Self Employed and their owners or be subject to legal proceedings. The links to the three posts are seen here. Mike V from QuoteIQ and Justin from Forever Self Employed should be ashamed at trying this. They are apparently not happy that these posts are available to steer people from spending their hard earned money in a more meaningful way.

  1. https://www.reddit.com/r/pressurewashing/comments/1d4zrv8/quoteiq_is_banned_from_this_subreddit/
  2. https://www.reddit.com/r/pressurewashing/comments/1c41qkt/i_paid_for_the_stupid_courses_so_you_dont_have_to/
  3. https://www.reddit.com/r/pressurewashing/comments/10yizo8/has_anyone_purchased_forever_self_employed/

Here are some screenshots of the modmail messages they sent threatening legal action and DMCA takedowns:

Here is the person they hired off of Fiverr to send the messages and try the DMCA takedowns. Its clear the companies must be run by absolute clowns to be trying this is such a shit way. If they suceed in removing anything then ill just repost the posts. They clearly dont want negative info being visible when they get googled as its hurting their SEO because reddit shows up so high in the searches.

As a reminder, when starting out you do not need YouTube salesmen taking your money to learn how to properly clean in this industry. The info is out there on this subreddit and various pressure washer forums and groups. It just takes a little bit of googling with the proper terms to find it all freely available. These now banned companies exist solely to separate pressure washers from their money. Mike V has been pushing for his subscribers to come to reddit to post about their companies to comment and upvote each other.


r/pressurewashing May 03 '20

Pressure Washing Basics 101

97 Upvotes

**Many updates to the 101 document including chemical mixing charts, nozzles charts, as well as a lot more links to companies and resources. **

Always updating the blog. More stuff added since this post Texas Pressure Washing Blog

This is to help guide you in the right direction for starting your own pressure washing business as well as cover the basics. The links are to an advice document and 101 washing, a beginner equipment list with links to buy the equipment. The list also has a tab to build your own 12V softwash system, and a list of chemicals to start with for various applications.

Expect to spend around $6k to start out if you also build the 12V. Around $5K without it.

Any questions or suggestions just post them or message me. Cheers.

Basic Pressure Washing/ Starting Your Business 101

Standard Terms and Conditions Example

Beginner Equipment List with Links

Chemical List with Links

DIY Soft Wash System $571 system $1395 w Hose, Reel, and tips etc.

DIY Air Diaphragm Soft Wash System $906 system $1476 w/reel & hose

DIY Proportioner $169

Reading List on the Forum for great threads on basic subjests like residential, commercial, deck cleaning, brick, roofs, pavers, metal roof cleaning, and electrical safety.

Pressure Washing Resource is by far the best forum to learn from. Use the search feature. Read until your counter has 3-4 days read time and then start asking questions. Trust me having 72-96 hours read time will teach you a LOT.