Concrete Company fined

Jim@Garagecleaning said:
Propane is hard to refill at 3 AM. In fact I do not know of ANY place in N. Calif. that refills tanks at 3 AM. Propane is a pane to refill.

We can use up to 90 gallons in a day in Diesel. Granted, a long day, when cleaning a garage. By this standards, we would need several tanks on standby just to make it through a 20 hour work day. Currently, propane is more expensive than diesel.
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Hi Everyone,

I would like to first off thank Jim and everyone on here because I've learned so much from you guys/gals about pressure washing from this site and how to do things properly. I do have a little opinion though in the last quote however (nothing personally to Jim or anyone else on here).

I think Northern California and Southern California maybe a bit different. I thought L.A drivers were bad until I drove in San Francisco last week :yikes:. I told the wife that all the gays/lesbians up there don't have licenses :rolleyes:

I'm going to be taking off the 50 gallon propane tank I have and putting on a 100 gallon tank here in the near future on my Silver Eagle unit. You can do it without needing a hazmat endorsement.

I only pay $2 a gallon for propane versus $2.89 a gallon for diesel in my F-350. I can get propane at 3 Am if I need it and my guy doesn't charge me the normal $100 to get up out of bed.

Jim, I don't think this topic has been brought up, maybe it has though. How do you and your company deal with carbon monoxide poisoning from the machines inside the parking garages while you're cleaning them?

Vince Wood
Diamond Bar, Ca
562-331-0301
 
Vince Wood said:
Hi Everyone,

I would like to first off thank Jim and everyone on here because I've learned so much from you guys/gals about pressure washing from this site and how to do things properly. I do have a little opinion though in the last quote however (nothing personally to Jim or anyone else on here).

I think Northern California and Southern California maybe a bit different. I thought L.A drivers were bad until I drove in San Francisco last week :yikes:. I told the wife that all the gays/lesbians up there don't have licenses :rolleyes:

I'm going to be taking off the 50 gallon propane tank I have and putting on a 100 gallon tank here in the near future on my Silver Eagle unit. You can do it without needing a hazmat endorsement.

I only pay $2 a gallon for propane versus $2.89 a gallon for diesel in my F-350. I can get propane at 3 Am if I need it and my guy doesn't charge me the normal $100 to get up out of bed.

Jim, I don't think this topic has been brought up, maybe it has though. How do you and your company deal with carbon monoxide poisoning from the machines inside the parking garages while you're cleaning them?

Vince Wood
Diamond Bar, Ca
562-331-0301
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GREAT QUESTION !!!! I do not believe anybody has asked me that, or if they did, I just do not remember.

All underground garages could be a problem. We have the fans on full one whole day before we arrive. This gets as much clean air inside as possible, Then....You call Jim@GarageCleaning.Net LOL

Seriously, call me and I will be happy to tell you how to overcome this issue in Parking Garage cleaning.

If anyone else who has an expertise in garage cleaning wants to take a crack at it, jump in. THIS IS A REALLY GOOD QUESTION.

Parking Garage Cleaning.
 
The big garage that was busted was a Harris County building. When they posted a notice of the garage cleaning, the DA called the enforcement dept. and asked for them to stop in and take a look. I don't know all the details, but we had bid to do that garage but did not win the bid (for obvious reasons).

The second location was at a very high end hotel. They were fined $450.00 plus the cost of the drain cleaning. est $2500.00.

We have lost several jobs recently to the "lowball" bids. Hopefully some of these big parking companies will take notice now.
 
AlwaysAqua said:
My Dad worked in the gas field for over 30 years and they as well as every other gas company filled tanks way after dark. Even in the Winter in Florida people needed gas sometimes as late as 1AM. They paid the extra fee if they were not on keep full, but if they had the money they got the time.

Where is it illegal?
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Yep, and it is also illegal to wash without recovery equipment. I know that it is illegal for certain in Arizona, and most of the surrounding states.
 
The fans are an air exchange system. Turning the fans ona day ahead of time does absolutely no good. We do make sure the fans are on the day we are cleaning the garages though. Most of the garages I clean have CO sensors, so that I know when there is a dangerous build up of CO. It has happened once in twenty years, and I clean about 8 million square feet of parking garages a year. (go ahead, get out the calculator Jim) It is a hazard, and you really need to make sure that the fans are on when you are cleaning.
Keep in mind, that the smaller engines that we are all using generate much more CO and other noxious gases than larger care engines. There are estimates that a lawnmower engine creates as much as 20 times the amount of CO and NOx as a full size V-8 with pollution control equipment.
 
One of the reasons for putting them on the day before is so that the operator of the garages can confirm that the fans are correctly in the OVER RIDE mode and the automatic shut off switches are disengaged. Also we want to make sure that the fans are in good working order. By having them run 24 hours or so before your start time, and with no cars running, we then know that the senors are off, that the fans are in manual mode, and thirdly that the fans can handle running continuously for 24+ hours. To many times in the past we thought the CO sensors were working, or the fans can handle being on for 72 hours straight. It's always on Sunday that those fans would shut off and there is no maintenance guy there to turn them back on or understand how they work.


So thats the reasons for having them on the day before.

What is the next step....
 
That is not what you stated in your original post.

Instead of asking questions, mining for information, making it appear you know the answers, why don't you give some answers? I know the answers, and do not need to pass your silly little quizzes to prove my industry knowledge, since I proved it long before you even realized what, and where this BBS is.
 
Scott Stone said:
That is not what you stated in your original post.

Instead of asking questions, mining for information, making it appear you know the answers, why don't you give some answers? I know the answers, and do not need to pass your silly little quizzes to prove my industry knowledge, since I proved it long before you even realized what, and where this BBS is.
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What are you talking about Scott? I did not ask any questions, only that others in the field should jump in to help answer his question... A question was directed to me and I answered it in a limited thread, I wanted to share the thread and not take it over as some who clean garages say I tend to do.

I then asked the person to call me for the full answer in depth since the question has many reasons why to put a fan on a full day before we enter the garage.

However, since NOW you are saying that I am " mining for information, making it appear you know the answers, why don't you give some answers? APPEAR, APPEAR, huh... I will give you some more answers since you do not believe in your 10 years that a fan has no value in being on the night before you work in the garage. However, I am not giving you all the answers.

You stated off my thread the following

"The fans are an air exchange system. Turning the fans on a day ahead of time does absolutely no good."

This statement was based on my thread which I stated about turning on the fans a day before. I did not comment on anything about your thread other than the above statement which was directed to mine.

Based on my experiences, not all fans are maintained and / or maybe at their " End of Life ".

Based on the garage layout, the fans may not be efficiently designed to replenish the air with fresh air in all areas of a Parking Structure ( Curves, walls, etc) in a few hours. You want the air from, the coolness of the night before, to be inside that garage. There are other reasons as well...

All I did was responded to your statement above of which I respectfully disagree based on my 21 years of Cleaning Parking Garages and only Parking Garages unlike some other companies who diversify into many other fields of pressure washing. A smart move if they simply cannot make the income they want from Garage Cleaning. As many know on this board, I do not do fleet washing or KEC. I know nothing about those fields. I only clean Parking Structures. This account for 99.3% of my income.


There are many other factors involved for having the fans on the night before, but maybe I should just shut up and let you answer them from now on. I am tired of people getting upset because of issues like these. I am sure that your experience is based on your 10 years of cleaning Parking Structures ( Based on a previous thread you wrote on 7/31/09 Parking Garage Guys check in).

You are a smart man. However if I acted this way to you, I think you would be handling it differently.

I am sorry that you feel this way. I really do respect you and your opinion, but it is clear that you have some issues with me that you need to work out.

To much drama for me.
 
Scott and Jim are both great guys, but it is too funny to see "When Ego's collide VI"

The new Saturday night ppv thread should be called "When Ego's collide"

It would be a doozie :)
 
Jonathan Ellis said:
Scott and Jim are both great guys, but it is too funny to see "When Ego's collide VI"

The new Saturday night ppv thread should be called "When Ego's collide"

It would be a doozie :)
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You're to late Jonathan I'm already working on "Dust Off in the Desert".It going to be all industry related cage matches and will be held in the Vegas desert.
It will be 4 smaller cages surrounding 1 lager cage.As a fighter defeats his foe he will move to the main cage for a 4 way brawl.The winner will take the belt.
 
Thats great, I want in the planning. the belt could be a coiled up 50 ft hose ?!
 
Ok Jim, who do you want to be in a cage match with on your one round? hahahahahahaha

It will not be the 50' hose in case you did not understand. hahahahaha j/k.
 
Yeah, I have always demonstrated being full of ego.
Yep, I clean multiple things. I would go nuts doing the same thing all the time. Since I actually go out and do the work, handling a wand, and surface cleaner on a consistent basis, I think that I have a ton of practical experience. Just this past month, I have cleaned 1.5 million feet of garages, which is 6 different garages. All environmental, and I consulted on the construction of all but one of them, and it was built while I was still in High School. Want to guess which one always gets the dirtiest and is the most difficult to clean? I will stand by my experience.
 
Jim@Garagecleaning said:
Wow, California, then Al's state, then Texas. Looks like the laws in California are sweeping east.

A few months ago, a company was fined 18k for pressure washing a parking structure without a filtration unit. Plus his legal fees.

It wasn't to long ago, some on this board said these enforcements would never leave California. These same laws which have been enforced since 1992 here in California. Granted, 17 years ago, but it is finally is heading eastward and soon will be in every state.

For those who do not know us, we have been capturing run off and using filtration units since 1992. That's longer then some have been in business.
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Thats great Jim
 
I got an email back from the State about using a fire hose for cleaning, rinsing or for other purposes other than preventing fires or fire fighting in parking garages and he told me that it is illegal here in Texas, on the phone he mentions that it is illegal in most if not all states but also mentions that if they catch you there is a fine and possible jail time.

I could post the email but don't want to as that would start a barrage of harassing emails and calls to the guy because stupid people don't believe a state official when contractors are doing illegal things and promoting that it is ok in certain situations but in reality it is not at all ok to do and their common sense does not kick in.
 
This thread makes me think back to years ago when the contractor was calling the PD and ratting out contractors, trying to get rid of his competition or for whatever reason. I wonder if they are still ratting out other contractors there in Houston?

I think that they should be more professional and just move on, if you lose a bid then you lose a bid, don't take it out on contractors that do a better job, are better at selling or are just liked more because they are not out ratting out contractors instead of working for a living.

Just my opinion.
 
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