4 nozzle Spray Bar feedback

FoxCPM

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I just tried for a first time the spray bar with 2 nozzles on each side of my BigGuy SC with 8GPM machine. There were stripes left behind each run. Is it because the concrete or the 4 nozzle type spraybar? If anybody else has used it, please share your feedback. Tonight I am going back to the single nozzle bar and see if its the same effect.

Thanks!
 
I just tried for a first time the spray bar with 2 nozzles on each side of my BigGuy SC with 8GPM machine. There were stripes left behind each run. Is it because the concrete or the 4 nozzle type spraybar? If anybody else has used it, please share your feedback. Tonight I am going back to the single nozzle bar and see if its the same effect.

Thanks!

I agree, more bars slower and more issues...
 
I agree, more bars slower and more issues...

Bingo. I agree with Ron. You may have a restriction in one of the tips or bars causing the striping and possibly different pressures coming out of each tip. The two bar method seems to be the most popular and that tells me that it is most likely the best way to clean and the most cost effective also because of less breakable parts. But then again I never own a surface machine that has more then two bars (Or one long bar) per spinner.
 
Each nozzle you have on the spray bar divides the gpm's, not the psi.

So on a 2 nozzle surface cleaner, you have 4gpm's hitting the surface, that is some good cleaning. When you put a spray bar with 4 nozzles, now each nozzle is only hitting the surface with 2gpm's, kind of like a homeowner's pressure washer, it will do the job but a lot slower.

I would stay with 2 nozzle spray bars unless you are connecting 2 machines together or running at least 10gpm's through 1 pump, then that spray bar will be working great.
 
Sometimes you will have weak/lowbidder/poor quality concrete that just can't handle a lot of pressure. On those jobs I lower the psi so I don't shave the cream off the top of the concrete. Not all concrete is made/poured/worked the same.....you would think it is but it is not.

A lot of unscrupulous contractors will schedule too many stops for a truck and by the time the truck gets to the last stop or two, that 2 hour concrete window is closing fast and the concrete is getting harder to work.....some of those guys will get a garden hose and add water to the mix to it is workable.......and weakens the concrete's strength.
 
Each nozzle you have on the spray bar divides the gpm's, not the psi.

So on a 2 nozzle surface cleaner, you have 4gpm's hitting the surface, that is some good cleaning. When you put a spray bar with 4 nozzles, now each nozzle is only hitting the surface with 2gpm's, kind of like a homeowner's pressure washer, it will do the job but a lot slower.

yup, that makes a lot of sense. I'll go back to bar with only one nozze on each side.
Thanks for your input guys!

Btw down here in Miami the forecast is 34 Fahrenheit during the night. For 7 years I have not seen that cold here :)..
 
Each nozzle you have on the spray bar divides the gpm's, not the psi.

That is true but take this scenario...you have an 8gpm machine with on a 4 bar with 4 tips rated at 2gpm at 3000psi and one of those tips clogs..now you have 3 tips producing only 6gpm's wouldn't that elevate the PSI a little which could cause part of the striping problem?? I know the wrong size tips can cause an increase in the PSI and now with 3 tips working and only allowing 6gpm it stands to reason that the PSI could elevate.

Either way you want the right size tips working correctly and even on a two bar system when one tip clogs the other tip now seems to be shooting out the water at a higher PSI....or maybe its just seems to because now that one tip alone is not the correct size for just one tip when its supposed to be two tips working.

What say u to that Chris??? You may be right because if the pump is rated at 3000psi for example it should stay on that when the right tips are used but with the wrong tips like a smaller 0 degree tip the PSI always seems to be greater because u are letting out a smaller amount of GPM and this is not with an unloader that will allow some water to go into by pass mode to keep the PSI the same.
 
We run 8gpm with the maxima and the ground force with single bar 4 nozzle and can fly through concrete. When we ran the single bar 2 nozzle we weren't as fast.

So on a 2 nozzle surface cleaner, you have 4gpm's hitting the surface, that is some good cleaning. When you put a spray bar with 4 nozzles, now each nozzle is only hitting the surface with 2gpm's, kind of like a homeowner's pressure washer, it will do the job but a lot slower.

Single bar 4 nozzle all the way for us! Not sure why we are opposite of you guys?

Most of the time its not the nozzles or the spray bars. I see too many guys using to large a surface cleaner for their machine.

A year or two ago there was a video on you tube where the guy was surface cleaning and his motto was "professional equipment equals professional results". Now for guys like myself that have been doing this for awhile the you tube video was a complete joke, he was moving so SLOW. His machine was to small for surface cleaner. I'm not picking on anyone but my point is make sure you are running as efficient as possible.
 
There are so many variables involved that can make 2 same brand machines and surface cleaners on 2 different trailers work totally different.

The size of supply hose to the pump, size of pressure hose, the amount of 90 degree bends in the system, size of pressure hose on the surface cleaner, running guns and ball valves or just ball valves, good condition swivel vs. worn out swivel, good nozzles vs. old, worn nozzles, etc....

Unless both guys are having the same setup on both trailers with the same tech operating one then the other, chances are the results will be different.

Dimitar, what size of pressure hose are you using?
Wesley, same question?

Both of you, explain your rigs based on this info from up above, maybe the solution is there, maybe not.

With the path of least resistance comes better flow and then better, faster work, maybe too many restrictions in the system on Dimitar's truck?
 
That is true but take this scenario...you have an 8gpm machine with on a 4 bar with 4 tips rated at 2gpm at 3000psi and one of those tips clogs..now you have 3 tips producing only 6gpm's wouldn't that elevate the PSI a little which could cause part of the striping problem?? I know the wrong size tips can cause an increase in the PSI and now with 3 tips working and only allowing 6gpm it stands to reason that the PSI could elevate.

Either way you want the right size tips working correctly and even on a two bar system when one tip clogs the other tip now seems to be shooting out the water at a higher PSI....or maybe its just seems to because now that one tip alone is not the correct size for just one tip when its supposed to be two tips working.

What say u to that Chris??? You may be right because if the pump is rated at 3000psi for example it should stay on that when the right tips are used but with the wrong tips like a smaller 0 degree tip the PSI always seems to be greater because u are letting out a smaller amount of GPM and this is not with an unloader that will allow some water to go into by pass mode to keep the PSI the same.


That is a good question.

Since the pump can only push water so fast and build up only so much pressure through the nozzle, the excess water will be bypassed back to the tank or suction line depending on how it is setup.

If the pump can only make 3000psi then using too small of a nozzle will cause the pump to bypass so the pressure does not overload the system.

I am not the expert but this is my guess, Russ would know the right answer.
 
4 nozzle Spray Bar feedback
I just tried for a first time the spray bar with 2 nozzles on each side of my BigGuy SC with 8GPM machine. There were stripes left behind each run. Is it because the concrete or the 4 nozzle type spraybar? If anybody else has used it, please share your feedback. Tonight I am going back to the single nozzle bar and see if its the same effect.

Thanks!

With the 4 nozzles on two bars, the path behind the 'inside' nozzles is getting cleaned twice so that could be where the stripe is coming from
 
4 nozzle Spray Bar feedback
I just tried for a first time the spray bar with 2 nozzles on each side of my BigGuy SC with 8GPM machine. There were stripes left behind each run. Is it because the concrete or the 4 nozzle type spraybar? If anybody else has used it, please share your feedback. Tonight I am going back to the single nozzle bar and see if its the same effect.

Thanks!

With the 4 nozzles on two bars, the path behind the 'inside' nozzles is getting cleaned twice so that could be where the stripe is coming from


That is a good point, it could be the concrete or the area being cleaned twice.

I have cleaned some concrete that was not really weak but where I overlapped the surface cleaner it was cleaner on the overlap.
 
I just found out my problem with the big guy leaving "stripes" I run 8gpm and no matter what i did it left stripes then it hit me one night i had to change a tip. the o-rings always get eaten up on the jumper hose to the reel. and there was a lil piece of o-ring there on the tip. i dont use a filter before the SC. the tips i was using were cheap as hell (made in china) but i bought the GP tips and like em. tips would go out as quick as 2-4hrs. now its running perfect and i can run with the SC and my jobs are going much faster.
 
You should use a filter somewhere on that surface machine before the water hits the nozzles. Sometimes water here has sand in it and one sand pebble can clog a Nozzle. These Filters work good and they catch alot of sediment but I have to say some of my surface machines have the filter on it and some don't. This year I plan on putting filters on each seperate surface machine.
 
I don't have filters on any of my surface cleaners and I do get a rock or other trash in the nozzle once in a while.

I see the small filters like what you put on the turbo nozzles but I have not seen a larger filter out there in a long time, maybe there are some out there to be found?
 
Bingo. I agree with Ron. You may have a restriction in one of the tips or bars causing the striping and possibly different pressures coming out of each tip. The two bar method seems to be the most popular and that tells me that it is most likely the best way to clean and the most cost effective also because of less breakable parts. But then again I never own a surface machine that has more then two bars (Or one long bar) per spinner.


If one of the tips were clogged, that wouldn't allow the bar to spin balanced. The effect would be vibrating surface cleaner or not spinning bar at all, so that was not the reason. I am saying that because last night I did have a clogged nozzle and that's what happened.

To the main topic: I did changed the 4 nozzle bar to the old one with 2 nozzles and there were no stripes. So now we have very opposite experience with 8GPM machines :).. I guess different machines, different characters, go figure.. :))
 
I run the 2 tip spray bar and i saw the diff. sometimes the tips are defective and that may be what happened. I have heard from alot of people that the 4 tip bar is the way to go but Im old skewl.
 
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