Compact Pressure Washer for Clean Up

[MDrost1]

Folks,

I have a CW lot that requires 50-75" of hose to clean off vacuum islands and other extremities of my CW. Currently we just have a hose connected in the EQ room that coils up on the wall. We go through a lot of water for the clean ups, and I think it could be a bit more efficient and effective. I don't have room to set up another pump stand.

I am wondering if there are any space saving electric pressure washers and hose reel combos that might be able to get the job done for me. If we need high pressure for cleaning the extremities of our lot, we have a long hose and gun that we hook into our a bay. I'd like something that is left inline and ready to go at all times, like the hose...but high pressure and less GPMs.

I have a small space to put this in, so any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[Greg Pack]

I just put a wall mounted reel on my equipment room wall next to my door. I plumbed it to one of my SS bays. I have a ball valve cutting off flow to the gun in the bay. Would that work for you?

 

[mjwalsh]

MDrost & others,

About19 years ago we set up hi pressure 3 way valves & added some extra 3 way double pole switches & status signal lights on our 6 bay panel. The end result was that we could route any or all of the pumps into an outside reel that has 75' of 1/2" hose on it. We sized the nozzle to be optimized for 3 or 4 pumps. We can make very short work of washing down any or all of our bays ... even when they are extra muddy. The momentum is great with the same pressure but 3 or 4 times the water volume. We also use the truck bay version of the Cat variable pressure gun sold by KleenRite for this setup. There are some minor check valve technicalities involved with the output pressure water manifold & electrical rearranging to do with blinking signal lights reminding us that the valves & switches need to be set back to normal ... but not really not that tough. When this car wash forum's founder (Bill Pitzer) stopped for a visit he did see the extra worthwhile setup that was done specifically for the tougher clean up situations.

I am not saying this upfront extra setup is a good fit for everyone but we are in construction, dirt road areas, farm & hunting country & the mud cleanup can get a bit overwhelming at times. This setup has been a great help for us. It does require those specific bays to be shut down during the "hustle" cleanup process.

In our case we use the setup some for the concrete lot (what you had in mind) but mostly in the 6 bays.

mike walsh www.kingkoin.com

 

[MDrost1]

Great ideas! Thank you so much.

 

[cwguy.com]

The cheapest is just to add a quick disconnect in a bay.... putting a disconnect on each side of your wash would greatly increase the reach. It should also reduce the length of hose needed to wash your lot.

http://cwguy.com/?p=1857
That said I did purchase one of these. http://www.spraymastertech.com/store/p/1436-SMT-2000W-3-6-gpm-2000-psi-208V.html
Higher psi, electric, wall mounted and has a reel.... but it is still sitting in my basement.

 

[MDrost1]

That's a great idea, but how do you prevent people from quick disconnecting the gun and leaving with it? I like the idea, not sure how to set it up though.

 

[cwguy.com]

I have around an 1 foot hose off the 360 boom elbow.

http://cwguy.com/?p=1856
According to the date of my post I have not gotten a gun stolen since 2007.

I can pull the hose down and disconnect it.... then reconnect another hose. (But I am 6' 3".) But yes anyone could take them if they used their car or something else.... but that would be wrong and stealing.

 

[MEP001]

I had quick disconnects in the bay just like above, 12 years and not a single one ever tampered with.

 

[MDrost1]

Where do you guys get your quick disconnects? Just want to make sure I get ones that will hold up. Thanks.

 

[cwguy.com]

I have purchased some from KR and some from HD or Lowes. I would stick with the standard fittings like these: http://amzn.to/2kkeSYG You can get them from anywhere. But there are also others like Karcher.
I would also not purchase steel.... they will rust and stick together. But they do sell ss.

BTW The hoses I used for my "pressure washer" were just a couple HP boom hoses quick disconnected together. So they were extras I needed to keep at the wash anyway.... so if I needed a hose in a bay I just removed one fitting from one side and put it on the gun.

 

[DiamondWash]

With the mud from my Fleets I get I need a Fire Hose hooked up to the Hydrant to wash my bays out with! LOL

 

[cwguy.com]

With the mud from my Fleets I get I need a Fire Hose hooked up to the Hydrant to wash my bays out with! LOL

Great idea! LOL

I have actually thought of using my 3535. The added gpm would make a huge difference. (It would be nice to have as least 2x higher gpm I believe.) But for people that do not have a 3535 it is not a big deal.... they could just make a portable unit with a 25 hp motor along with the 3535.

 

[MDrost1]

I bought some quick connects yesterday. Hooked them up in the way you mentioned. Works great. Thanks! I can even change it without a stool.

 

[Ric]

I just put a wall mounted reel on my equipment room wall next to my door. I plumbed it to one of my SS bays. I have a ball valve cutting off flow to the gun in the bay. Would that work for you?

Same here. Quick, easy and stows away nicely. I have 125' of 1/4 hp hose on the reel plus the gun ready to go.

 

[Randy]

A hose with a quick disconnect on it here would last about 24 hours before it would be gone. When I want pressure wash off the vac island I take the gun off out in the bay and hook up my long hose, takes all of about 2 minutes. It’s not like I do it every day. We store the wash down hose on a hose reel something like this http://www.hannay.com/productpage.asp?IDENT=35

 

[copperglobe]

For many years I was "needing", probably more like wanting, something like you describe. Even though I can't find the exact pump that I ended up getting, this one is close but I have a Cat version:

http://www.pressurewashersdirect.com/Pressure-Pro-WM-EE4020G-Pressure-Washer/p1552.html

It takes 220v electrical hookup but it's mounted on a wall in the EQ with a water feed permanently run to it and everything else ready to go.

Then I got one of these used off ebay:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200365383_200365383

This Coxreel I mounted to the ceiling with a switch on a wall that runs the reel's motor. I have a gun always mounted on the hose dangling down.

When I need HP water/washer I just flip the switch to turn on the pump, grab the gun that's dangling down and away I go out to the vac island, parking lot, whatever and start spraying. You don't need the electric reel motor to roll out the hose- just pull the hose and walk where you need to go. When I'm done I push the Coxreel switch on the wall and the hose rolls up in the reel up onto the ceiling and it's done- out of the way.

Probably more money than should have been spent but it's sure nice to use; easy, convenient, no hassle, no work to set up each time, doesn't tie up a bay.

 

[MEP001]

I use the J.E. Adams quick disconnects available at Kleen-Rite. I had a little trouble with the brass ones becoming difficult to disconnect over a few years, haven't had an issue with the stainless ones. I got a few from Windtrax that looked identical, but that was a bad idea. The tiny ball bearings are steel and rusted, had to replace them all.

 

[MDrost1]

Folks,

I purchased these. https://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-161-quick-disconnect-38-male-socket-ss.aspx

Ever have any issues? Do they ever slip out of the connection? They look solid to me, just want to make sure they are good for bay use.

Thanks!

 

[MEP001]

Those are the ones I used for years, never had one slip apart. With the brass ones I sometimes had issues with them leaking after a while and a new o-ring wouldn't fix it, but the stainless ones never had a problem. The brass ones would also corrode and wouldn't un-couple.

Edit: those are NOT the same ones I used. They used to carry the Adams ones, and they lasted well. I got some stainless ones IIRC from Windtrax that looked the same and they were terrible. The ball bearings that hold them coupled would rust and I couldn't get them apart.