Ron,
Don't be embarassed about your set-up. My first one was an old rusty van that had exhausted inside. It wasn't a pretty sight and I wish I would have gotten pictures of it. Everything was rigged. When my customers seen it is when I was embarrassed. I started making money and was able to get my rig looking good. It only took a couple months, but I wanted to open my doors with pride. Once I had my things looking good I was able to help others. Now I don't rig anything up. I make things to look finished and neat. With that comes extra cost and time.
As far as Bigboy is concerned, well he is still working with the same stuff he was last year. Everyone has a preference and I prefer to be neat and clean and be proud to show my equipment off to my customers. Not all of us can afford that yet and each of us like things different. However, we all must change with the times and that is something that bigboy (obviously) hasn't done. People are looking to hire proffessional companies and image is important.... isn't that exactly what we are selling? It makes it hard to sell something we aren't willing to practice. Think about it, who is going to get more money for the work they do? a nasty rig or a clean rig? Who is the customer going to choose to do their cleaning? Take several estimates from several different companies and the customer sees everyone's equipment, they will lean towards the one that looks more proffessional. This is exactly why I had no competition when I was washing. Neat and clean is what all of us are trying to sell yet some of us can't even clean up and take care of our own equipment... how is that supposed to be effective?
I'm not trying to pick on anyone here. I'm just making these statements in general and I'm sure there are some guys that may think about it. Others will continue keep their stuff looking nasty. Either way it takes time and money to do this. Customers like to see that we care about our equipment enough to maintain it and put money into it. The day we stop doing this, we join the ranks of the other 90% of our industry.... Either way one chooses is up to them. That's what makes the world go around. Neither one is right or wrong, just different and that's ok.
Anway... you mentioned the machine in your post Ron. I have already built what you are talking about. One thing though that I have to disagree on is your upstream soap. I've used it. Heck my second machine I ever had was a clutch system with remote gun and it upstreamed soap. I had one button to start the pressure washer, one to engage the clutch and 2 others to select different soaps. It was great, except the upstream, from my experience in washing truck after truck, after truck, was not as effective as the low pressure soap. There was also more overspray with that kind of system and I couldn't soap at longer distances effectively enough. It also didn't foam as well. Not pulling a trigger was great too. But when I pushed the button the reaction wasn't immediate. Sometimes it would cause static on my customers' home (cordless) phone.
Another downside to that is the time it took for the soap to come out to the end of the wand. I mean, once I pushed the button on the gun, I had to wait for the soap to travel through the pump and then through the burner coils, and then through the jumper hose and finally into my hose reel where I had to wait again for the soap to travel to the end of the wand. That took too much time. So you had to get accustomed to waiting for your soap and then if you hit the wrong button, it took too much time to find out. That and you wasted chemical.
The other thing about that was the additional items that had to be worked on. You have additonal valves and plungers that go bad and always at the wrong time. You have the remote with batteries that have to be charged or replaced. There are controls and antennas and all that crap. Most remotes are line of site... how often are we out of the line of sight of our equipment? Lot's of additonal things here to keep in mind. Not only that, but the cost is much higher.
In the past I spent a lot of time washing with many set-ups and several different ways. To give you an idea of what I've washed I will tell you.... I used to wash USF Holland every weekend, all weekend. Endless amount of trucks and trailers. Sysco, Pepsi, Penske, Coke, Waste Management, Arrow Uniform, and many many smaller companies. On top of that, houses and decks. This was every day. I started with a remote system and upstream and you all see what I choose to use now. There's a reason for this and everyone will try different things but I know what I've tried and know what works and upstreaming chems to wash quickly does not work nearly as well as downstreaming.
Extension wand or not extension wand, I choose not. Why, because I have used them and through trial and error I have found that what works best for me and my customer is getting up there on a ladder with an stand-off and washing it directly and actually removing the grime. X-jet or no X-jet, I choose not to go with the x-jet because with the system I use I can get the soap to the height I need it with no problems at all.
My point being, we all have different preferences and what works for some may or may not work for others. I have founded what I have learned, not from the boards, but from experience. That is why everyone who uses my system of washing is still using my system of washing today. With the exception of the decks... my system is maninly for houses and fleets. It's fast and responsive. Our injector is on the reel and when you want soap the only travelling it does is through the hose to the end of your wand. We don't carry buckets or have expensive parts to fix and rarely do we have to leave a job due to a breakdown. That works and works well. To be neat, effective, efficient and fast is exactly what most of us want... right?
As far as the remote.... I have one. I also have a clutch that is great. Matter of fact, it wasn't only a month ago that I installed a system like you are talking about. Today we do the remotes for those who want them. They cost. My remotes aren't line of sight though. and they can go 300 or more yards. The best way we've found to use these is with the downstream system that we use. Simply start the machine with one button and change the soap with the other buttons... no clutch. Clutch can be installed and it will work well but that's just something else that has to be fixed should it break.
Anyway, I rattle on about this for a while now and hopefully I didn't piss anyone off with the downstream/upstream thing. I know we have a lot of upstream fans around this town.
Good post Ron.
Mike (oneness).... nice picture
