Should of Would of Could of?

Should of would of could of?

I should have written a new entry in the blog. I would have written a new entry in the blog but for the lack of time. I could still write a entry in the blog but I'm heading out to a job in a short bit. So what it taking up my time that keeps me from blogging? Spring is here weather is good and folks in the Ozarks are having things cleaned, it is great.
I then come home and work on the little service truck that went down on us a few weeks back. It has taken on a whole new life and it should be back in the field washing next week. Here is a quick shot of it, before and now.

Cleaned by Pete's little service truck doing it duty.

Same little service truck with a new flat bed, new 5 gpm washer, a new look and new equipment being mounted. There is more work to be done. Cleaned by Pete updating by adding new equipment and washers to serve our costumers better.

Cleaned by Pete working on the "little service truck". Helping this world out by saving gas, oil, water, and using safe and friendly cleaners. A smaller footprint means we are doing our part to help the environment. Do you need a big truck, pulling a full trailer, with a high powered pressure washer, to wash a house? Cleaned by Pete knows there is a better way to "safely soft wash" a home call us 417.459.7869 we can show you how.

Not done yet, mounting the equipment and a newer 5 gpm washer on it today.

Have more to finish off and more to work out but it's getting ready to hit the road. I'll post up the finished photos soon as it happens. With this setup we should be able to serve our customers better and save wear and tear on the pick-up and myself too, as Martha Stewart would say, "This is a good thing".

Cleaned by Pete

serving the greater Springfield and Southwest MO area

"cleaning up Springfield one home at a time"

417.459.7869

I felt I had to add this rebuttal to the blog after a comment was made to me about not being a "professional looking" power washer cause I don't pull a big trailer with a big pick-up, cause that is what is expected. I have a larger service truck with a Landa heated 18 hp, 5 gpm, 3500 psi, with a 110 volt generator, diesel fuel heated burner, with everything needed to wash or clean most residential and commercial accounts self-contained in and on it. I also have a trailer with water tanks, 110 volt generator, lights and its' own plug ins and fuse boxes and a Mi-T-M skid, similar to the Landa described above, but I chosen to use this smaller pick-up I built instead, so I'm considered by some as a nonprofessional.
 

Cleaned by Pete is making progress on the "small footprint" service truck. Lettering on today should be ready to work this coming week.

I was told that this is too small to work out of, that a "real professional" needed a big truck and a trailer. Why I asked and the answer was "Cause that is the way it is done". Well never being one to follow along, I know there are better ways of doing things and better ways of approaching things. Let's look this over and you can then be the judge on the matter.

What do you need to wash a home the safe soft wash way? Most professionals would say you can use a smaller pump but only a 5 gpm (gallon per minute) pump would work for them. OK this pump is rated at 5 gpm. You need a buffer tank OK I have a 35 gallon tank on-board, My question is why do you want a 300 gallon to 525 gallon tank full of water to use as a buffer tank? For most residential jobs the smaller tank will work fine. Landa who make some of the best equipment only have 3 to 5 gallon buffer or reserve tanks on their factory designed skids. Why don't they have 300 gallon tanks if is such a factor. Now before you say I need to haul in water for a job and need that much to get the job done. Well if I do not have a water source I don't take the job I refer it to another local company that carries 525 gallons of water.  One thing on a side-note here is water is @ 8.33 pounds per gallon that is 2499 extra pounds of weight at 300 gallons and for a big tank (525 gallons) 4165 pounds of weight. That is liquid weight moving and sloshing around when starting and stopping. The extra wear on the transmission and drive train alone is more of a reason to downsize the "footprint" size.

The pressure required to soft wash a house is around 800 psi or less why do I need a large skid with 4000 plus psi when doing a house. I need that for washing concrete yes your right! So when I wash concrete I put on and will bring another unit that will handle that. I have several washer to serve our customers needs and I bring the ones that are needed to handle the job that I'm doing. Not having one pressure washer trying to do the needs of all jobs but having the right washer for each job. Cleaned by Pete has 13 different washer to fit different needs, if you follow the blog you know or have seen our surface cleaners. So pressure and washer size is not a problem I bring what is needed that is why there is extra room on the flatbed. One other plus to our method is if one of the washers should go down, break, or have a problem I have another one with me to finish the job.

Professional use only the best equipment  and belt driven pumps are the industry standard. OK the main unit on the "small footprint" little pick-up is a Mi-T-M twin belt driven General Pump. The other pump I take along for house washing and general washing is a Hypro geardriven pump. Along with our Landa and Mi-T-M heated skids Cleaned by Pete has other belt driven units as well as direct drive units both gas and electric. All falling into the commerical if not industrial level of quality. Just because it is not on a skid does not mean it is not quality.

You don't have heat we have heat on our trailer! I have one heated unit that I can load up on the flatbed and it will maintain around 150 degrees of heated water using diesel fuel to heat it. I also have a propane heated unit and 3 dry steam or vapor cleaners I can use. I don't have to take them unless I need or may need hot water. I have an option and I still keep the "footprint" small. I have mounted a hosereel pictured below, and will have the entire truck plumed with a water supply provided by the external tap on the homeowners house or business location. 

I have another big advantage with the small "footprint" Friday I did a job where parking a truck and trailer on the street was not feasible.  Running hose to the home and backyard was also not really feasible, though it could be done with around 500 feet of hose which is no problem for Cleaned by Pete. Running it around the landscaping and all the plants and irrigation system at this home would make it hard. The drive way went up at close to 30 if not 40 degrees with no area to turn around or level out to park a trailer and truck on. I could how ever pull up the small pick-up and park in the far corner to work out of and the customer was able to get by when needed. If you are doing soft-washing and down-streaming your soap and cleaner 500 feet of hose would not draw. Gas is going up thus making a smaller footprint a big impact on the environment by using less gas and oil. It seems like a no-brainer here. There are places here in the Ozarks where you could not drag a trailer in and expect to get back out. We're are mobile cleaning / washing contractors getting to the job is part of what we have to do.

I guess I might just turn the question around, Why do you need a 4x4, crew cab large box pickup and a 16 foot trailer to pull to each and ever job, with that hot water, high pressure skid on it? When a "smaller footprint" would do "Earth-friendly" and helping to save money and time is more important to me than "A real professional needed a big truck and a trailer cause that is the way it has always been done". Sorry just maybe it is time to change, and change is coming more manufactures and power washing houses are offering smaller but as powerful washes that fit in to a standard pick-up bed. More contractors are looking for way to serve their customer base better with better cost effective means. The smaller "footprint" is coming.
I believe I have answered all the major issues that were put before me when I started to build this little service truck.

Now with all this being said is there a need for large trailers with powerful machines and large water tanks? The answer is yes there is we need these cleaners and there large service trucks to pull them. There are jobs that require there special designs and what they do. I am not saying get rid of trailers and pressure washing skids, I don't want to get rid of mine I need it at times. What I'm saying is you need what you have for what you do, I need and have what I need for what I do. Why do you look down on me, refer to my service truck as a low baller, why did you feel you had to refer to it as non professional? Is it because I'm doing things differently then you scared of change? Or maybe you see things starting to change but you don't want to, or have you put yourself so far above everyone else? It has always been funny that a few seem to know more about how you should run, work and what you should do with your business, as well as what will work for you even if they don't live here or do what you do. 

On a side-note; driving this around town the last couple of days it has drawn quite a bit of attention and lots of positive remarks. Most of the people who have seen it, think is is a neat looking rig. Getting alot of double takes which should help in the advertising area, the more visible and memorable you are the better. My idea was to be able to work with this but also to have a impact that appeals to others that will help promote our business. Everything form the vintage rotating caution lamp, the aged lettering, the vintage saltflat discs to the washer and tank placements are all set up to get the biggest and best attention to help remember it. Being able to park it up front at stores, instead of along side the building or out in the parking lot where a large truck and trailer always seems to be in someones way, is a good thing too. Still a bit of work to do but it should all come together soon.

Cleaned by Pete adding a hose-reel on our "little service truck"

Just Another Dumpster Pad Cleaning

Just Another Dumpster Pad Cleaning

 

Dumpster pad cleaning, this is one dirty job but has to be done and done right. Most of the time you see pictures posted as a before and then a great looking after. What about the work and the measures we go through to clean and keep our waste-water as clean as possible. I thought I would show some of these photos, the ones you don't see that often.

 Cleaned by Pete did a pad cleaning today. To set this up this pad had a leaking grease collector in it, it also had had garbage packed in and the lid could not close properly. Rain water could enter and would force the grease to the top and over the edges collecting on the asphalt. Please think about this if we as power washers did not go in and clean this up, the greases and cooking oils, plus what liquid is thrown in the dumpster would continue to; leak out, wash-off and run-off. The only way to insure this not to happen any more is to power wash and clean this dumpster pad up.

Cleaned by Pete goes trough great measures to help contain what washes out and off. Professional power washers use safe specialized cleaners and contain what they can to keep our environment and water ways clean. To add to this mess today someone has been trowing used grease from an oriental cashew chicken place over the fence in 5 gallon containers. The  broken and burst containers were leaking out on the asphalt too. In hopes to stop this the owner removed the grease-trap this week and we headed in to clean up the mess. The pictures show grease sitting inside the dumpster area. Here is what we could do today, we will go back in one month to clean up some more. We treated the grease that did not wash off today or that is still deep in the asphalt and making its way to the surface. It will start to dry and harden over the month but still keeping it from running off in the rain, until we're able to return to do the next cleaning. There are also a few pictures further down showing some of the ways and measure we go through to help contain runoff. It may look like quite a mess but with containment we reduce what would be running off with the rain or general washing being done. Cleaners help loosen the grease hot water liquifies it and the socks let the liquified grease to attach to them. Stopping and using brooms and shovels along the way picking up grease and any helps keep any thing form running off.

Some before pictures this is grease sitting on the surface. To start with Cleaned by Pete uses shovels and scrapers to pick up as much grease as possible. The surface is slick and smooth with grease and cooking oils.

After shovelling and cleaning up the old grease and spills the surface will be prepped with EBC an environmental bio cleaner, safe and friendly to the environment. The shine is from grease sitting on the surface.

Sprayed on the EBC and let it start to work on the grease and grime we could not remove with the shovels, scrapers and brooms.

Brooming the cleaners in to the surface you can start to see something is working here! Cleaned by Pete uses the best cleaner that are environmental safe when cleaning

Getting ready to hit this area with some hot water and pressure you can start to see how the bio cleaner is working on the grease and oils. Cleaned by Pete dumpster pad cleaning.

Cleaned by Pete the other half of the dumpster pad after cleaning.

Cleaned by Pete the other half of the dumpster pad after cleaning.

After the first washing the grease is knocked down and pad is clean. Brown colored areas are rust areas where the old grease-trap and dumpster sat.

Pad after cleaning while drying.

Pad after cleaning while drying.

These pictures show some of the measures we go through to help contain what is washed off during the job.

Don't think Cleaned by Pete will just let that soap, cleaners and grease just run off. We use oil and chemical socks to slow down the wash. Slowing down the runoff gives the socks a chance to absorb the greases and oils.

You can see what has washed up, Cleaned by Pete will sweep and scrap to see what comes up and remove it before washing with the hot water.

Sweeping and cleaning up sediments that collect during the cleaning process. Stopping and sweeping picking up sediment and grease during the cleaning process. We do this several times helping to keep runoff water clean.

Slowing water down and have it run through this dam of gravel helps the removed greases will attache to the gravel to help remove it and sediments will deposit in front of the dam for cleanup after drying occurs on-sight.

You can see what collects on and in the socks. This is one line of defence Cleaned by Pete uses when cleaning.

Another view of the grease and oils that have attached to the sock and the chemical treated filler in the socks is working too. Environmental cleaners, sweeping, shovelling, damming, filtering, using heated water (hot water will clean faster thus using less water), and the socks help us to keep runoff clean and at a minimum.

A professional power washes does care about his or her environment and will do what it takes to keep it clean. This job took a little longer to keep the run off to a minimum but it is worth it to help our water ways and environment. Everything we did and used to clean this pad to day helped keep what would have run off out of our water ways. The owner should be thanked here also he could have had someone with a pressure washer come and wash all this down the drain, or let it continue the way it was but he looked us up talked it over and decided it was worth more to have us do it the correct way.