Small Gas Pressure Washers: why we use them

Small Gas Pressure Washers: why we use them

Blog entries earlier we discussed why we we use certain types of gas powered power washers. We used them for different reasons from how much they heat the water, how much pressure they provide, and how many gallons of water they use. Electric washers were used for portability, inside use, and they are quite. In this last blog on gas washers we will discuss why we have these "smaller" gas powered units and why the large ones don't fill in all the needs that we have encounter or will encounter.

Cleaned by Pete's propane heated pump used for smaller jobs and as a back-up.

Cleaned by Pete has this small footprint pump to do jobs that don't require high heat or great pressure, its does not take a lot of room and is carried along as a back-up pump in-case something happens to the larger units while on the job.

Having the right washer not only saves us time but saves our customers and clients money. The unit above has a smaller footprint and is lighter to move around. When you are a "mobile contractor washer" you need to be flexible and mobile means able to reach places to clean that are sometimes not too accessible. I'm trying to say this company washer is better than that companies, these are the washers we have, we uses, and have built. The red one pictured above has propane heated burner and reaches a temperature of 150 degrees, with a 6 horse power gas engine and drives a 2700 psi pump all in one package. This is a good unit for small jobs we really like it for washing cars and the bus fleet we wash. Easy to add hot water when needed for cleaning. One plus we found is we have on demand hot water without  running the engine or running it through the pump. You don't always have access to allow the larger pumps and their footprints when cleaning. So we have this unit for smaller jobs that require heat and can be done with less pressure. The pump is not of a commercial quality but when and if it goes out we will replace it with one but till then we have an option to use this pump. We also take this unit along if we travel some distances for a back-up in-case our larger washers may fail.

Cleaned by Pete built this unit for cold water washing having lots of pressure (4000 psi) and good flow (4 gallons per minute). It is very easy to push around mainly used in our media blasting and concrete cleaning services along with our propane heated "Gumbuster" attachment.

Two gas driven and one electric pressure washers on a job site. Cleaned by Pete

This is a cold water unit that Cleaned by Pete built out of commercial applications and has commercial rated components. A 4000 psi @ 4 gpm AR nickle plated pump driven by a 16 hp gas engine, on a custom built frame with pneumatic tires. We built this for the media blasting service but also use it in concrete and sidewalk cleaning to run the 20 inch surface cleaner and the propane heated "Gumbuster" attachment (written about in an earlier entry). The big plus of this unit is the size and it has the smallest footprint of all the wheeled mobile units but still is one of our most powerful washers. We built it to the specs we needed for certain jobs most units of this size will have just two wheels and a leg on their bases sometimes a bit unstable with the type or topographer we have here in Southwest MO. I hope you are starting to see why we need and have so many different styles and types of pressure washers.

The small unit with the blue gas tank in front of the media-blasting unit and the yellow Cam-spray unit is our smallest gas driven pump at 2500 psi. Cleaned by Pete

This little gas driven pump was built because it features a very small foot print and is light.  It offers the ease of movement but powerful enough to wash what was needed which was a vent system and fan. Since it was an oven not a fryer or grill it we could use warm water from the sink to run thru the pump. We had a regular scheduled cleaning job on the roof of a mall complex for one of the stores inside. When they refinished and refurbished the exterior of the mall we could no longer bring a high-pressure hose over the edge for cleaning. The mall mangers now did not want any thing brought up or lowered over the edge of the building not even at the docks. No easy access to electrical plug-ins on the roof electric washers were out of the question. Having to carrying or raising all equipment up the access ladder to the roof hatch inside the mall. Things had to be small, compact and light. We would run a water supply hose up the exhaust shaft, this small unit was the only thing we could use. It was built it with a small 6 hp gas engine driving a 2500 psi pump on it. It also has a small base not pictured to keep it stable. The pump is what we call a wobble pump to drive its three compression pistons. We don't use this pump much since the company we were cleaning for moved, and we do not clean hoods any more but is is handy to still have. You'll never know when there is that one special job we could use on again, it has paid for itself, so like they say it does not eat anything so it does not cost anything to keep it around. It's still a better quality unit than anything you can by today at the "big box store" in its class size. It is the same thing for the electric unit with the C shaped metal handle over it, both holdovers from the hood cleaning days. Having the right tools to do the right job is what we always say.

This is the only picture I could find of out "trash pump" I could have run outside and grabbed a quick photo of it but is is snowing here in the Ozarks. This is a group picture of our latest dry steam cleaner purchased for a back up and the trash-pump, fire-hose, cam connectors and a nozzle.

You might be saying how in the world do you consider that orange Multiquip "trash pump" a power washer. It moves water, which is put under pressure due to the vain type of construction in its pump, it has a hose, we can nozzle that hose and thus control its flow, all the aspects of a power washer so basically it is a power washer as we us it. This unit has a 7 horse gas Robin motor equipped with a 2" inlet and 2" outlet pump. Why do we use it? It moves large volumes of water with a good stream of water pressure. Not a small pencil stream under extreme pressure, like our traditional pressure washers. You need your drive-way rinsed off or part of the parking lot rinsed off, red clay, sand, dirt or some mud tracks these are hard to move with a pressure washer and time consuming to do with a pressure washer. You move it form here to there and the water fan may not be the best thing or powerful enough to remove it. This bad boy hooked to one of our big water tank totes and using the 2" fire hose, with the old nickle plated fire nozzle, rinses with a greater volume of water. It will move that sand or red clay off the surface. Plus we can refill tanks with water supplied from farm ponds or streams if needed by reversing the hoses. Another plus is with a trash pump we can pump out flooded basements. Pump out fish ponds or garden ponds for the residential customer for cleaning always looking for any service we can offer to a customer. We got the idea of using a trash pump for cleaning and rinsing larger areas after seeing a portable "brush or bush" fire fighting rig.

Fire pumps and reels: 1000L UV protected tank, 6.5hp Pump, 36m hose reel, 50mm tow hitch

 http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/mundijong/miscellaneous-goods/fire-fighting-trailer/1010803147#

 Also from an other business that was here in town which was using a set up like this to seed and fertilize yards and business after new construction. He was seeding and fertilizing with it, this would in-bed the seed and fertilizer in the soil because of the water pressure, and water it in one step. While we were cleaning that day, boom the idea we could use the same style of system for cleaning this mud off the walks and the concrete slab too. While we don't use this pump a lot, it is a very useful tool to have in ones arsenal of equipment too. We also have 100 foot of 2 inch fire hose, 50 feet of low pressure flat pump out lead and around 50 feet of "hard line" all with "cam" locks for pumping or drawing water.

 Just because these small gas units are not what we call our bread and butter machines they have there place and we can use them to do what the competition can not, or has never thought about doing in the field of exterior cosmetic cleaning. Doing thing with water pressure that others have not thought about is another thing we take great pride in. Cleaning out a fish pond or fountain in a garden have you ever thought about it? We have. We also have a plan and own the equipment to do it too.

This raps up "Pressure Washers: why we use them" you can see that we use them for different reasons from heat to size. Each washer has a good point as well as bad points but we have and use each for its unique cleaning capabilities it possesses. Cleaned by Pete has built, rebuilt or modified them to match up with our cleaning needs and styles of cleaning. Our needs may not be your needs. Picking one pressure washer for all your cleaning may not be easy but you can find something close. You can use a large pressure washer to do small jobs you can always turn it down or use nozzles to lower pressure. Doing large jobs with a too small washer can be a challenge, we are in the power washing business and time is money this is why we have several washers. Cleaned by Pete has different services, these different power washers make our job easier and that results in your job being done quicker with the best outcome. Having the right tools and equipment to do your job, this is also what we take pride in. Call and see what we can do for you.
417-459-7869

Please visit our web sites and facebook page for more information on Cleaned by Pete links listed on the side of this page. If you would like any more information on gas pressure washers leave us a comment and we'll see if we can help. Thank you for viewing our blog stay tuned for more on power washing form Cleaned by Pete