flow valve setup

water can and will do things you have never imagined, DO NOT take it for granted.
two options that could be kind of cool. install a site glass on the outside of the trailer, it would end up being a conversation piece, or you could install an actual gauge like on a fuel tank.
I do not like any type of float valves. it can and will go wrong when you least expect it in the worst possible time. If you have a float valve you will think you don't have to worry about it anymore. what happens if it gets stuck closed by some stretch of the imagination? talk about problems. Don't use a float valve, take a 30 second break every once in a while and look at your tank. after a while you will know exactly how long you have left on the tank, the overflow system does sound like a good idea hovever. be careful if you leave the valve open to drain while driving. you will get stopped and the cops will think you are draining dirty water or chems and you will be in for the longest stop of your life, especially in Jersey.
what size tank to you have and what is the flow of your rig?
 
I tought I had the timing down. I had three houses to do on the same street. I let the tank fill to about 150 gal. than started washing. I went back to check on the tank a few times and everything was fine. I moved on to the next house and hooked up my water. This house must have had better flow rate because before I new it the water was coming out of my truck. I have a box truck, thank God the corners of the truck have some openings or the cab would have gotten the water.
 
Mark:

Yep, happened to me a few times too. I was doing an office park and they had one heck of a flow rate., probably 8-10 gal/minute. Not a happy feeling to look over and see water cascading out of the doors of the trailer. I don't have to worry about stuff getting wet since everything that can be damaged is off the floor, but it can't be good on the frame/floor of the trailer to keep filling it with water.
 
Interesting thread. We have used Hudson float valves for years and never had any instances of it failing other than getting a bad one from new.

As far as debris getting in the valve and having to clean it out, I haven't had to do that either and we've never had an overflow problem. Of course we filter the water going into the tank and also run it through a water softener so that eliminates many of the problems most mobile guys have. Most that have these kinds of problems happen because of no prevention.

With soft water we don't get the scaling in the burner coils that many others do. And with filters we don't get the problems with the float valves. Isn't there something said about an ounce of prevention....

Hudson float valves are good and have no mechanical components and work well for our industry if your equipment is set up correctly. Once again, I speak from experience because I've used them for about 6 years. I've also used soft water for about 6 years and it makes all the difference in the world.

Good luck.
 
Justin,

I disagree with the Hudson not having any mechanical parts.

Maybe not on the ouside but how about the inside?

And on the pretense that it does not have moving parts why filter than.

You are assuming that no one esle filters the water going to the tank. Hmmm

Never seen anything that says the Hudson valve is for soft water only.

Are you saying that all of the trailers you sell have softwater units in them? If you don't use soft water are the valves destined to failure including the ones you installed?

Hudson valves are widely used for livestock, and a pig or cow does not get soft water or a filter. lol!

A far as real world experiance goes is that not what the previuos authors wrote about?

Lets not argue but deal with facts only.

Most pressure washer rigs are sold without soft water wouldn't you agree? Even though there a benefits, costs is usually the determining factor.
 
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From what I've seen of the rigs Justin has advertised here and elsewhere, they all have softeners in them. It looks like a nice unit, compact but with a fairly high rating for grains of hardness.

It appears Just in also speaking from experience.

thanks for the tip, Justin, I will install a filter on mine this week. Hadn't thought of that. It is filtered after the tank, but not before.
 
Justin,

The previous post was not meant to question your abilities.

If the valve only works best with with soft water I find it useless to me.

I do agree with filtering incoming water and utilize that practice.
 
Justin,

The previous post was not meant to question your abilities.

If the valve only works best with with soft water I find it useless for my application.

While soft water has benefits it does not fit into my applications.

If guess if the water here was bad or extremly hard I would think otherwise.

I do agree with filtering incoming water and utilize that practice.

I do appreciate your comments and enjoy seeing the pics of the equipment you offer for sale!
 
Beyoung,

Not a problem. Your post isn't taken the wrong way so dont sweat it.

As far as mechanical components being in the hudson float valve, there isn't any. I have included a picture and what you are seeing is a thin rubber diapram that shuts the water flow off. On the inside of the float valve is a small, round float that is freely suspended inside and filled with air. When that little buoy (sp?) rises with the water, it puts enough pressure against the thin diaphram and the flow of water stops.

When I refer to mechanical components I mean screws, joints, parts fastened together, etc... mechanical components. When traveling down the road, there is nothing to break. All parts are independent of each other and nothing is fastened.

When it comes to the quality of water and the comment about the water softener, you made it sound like it's a huge expense. A water softener runs $750.00 and then the only other cost involved is adding salt which is $6.00 a bag. 10 years can pass before you need another.

They may or may not be needed in your area. I'm not sure what kind of work you do but if you wash houses or trucks then I would say you could use a water softener. I would be willing to bet there are homes surrounding you that have water softeners and I'd be further willing to bet that the water in your area isn't soft to begin with. I'd also think that if you are washing trucks, cars, boats, houses, etc... that soft water would only improve the quality of your work.

I actually took the time to do a search in Texas and it's interesting to find so many Culligans. There were also a number of other water softenening businesses in your area... open your yellow pages and call one of them and ask them about the minerals in your water. If your area didn't have a need for softened water then there wouldn't be so many business that sell it... know what I mean?

Anyway the softened water decreases build up of minerals in your equipment. It also decreases mineral build up on flimsy rubber diaphrams in float vavles. Even though they are easily cleaned, soft water makes all the difference in the world.

Anyone that is washing what I stated above and says they don't need or couldn't use soft water, hasn't done their homework. I don't know of any communities that city water comes out pre-softened for you. If it did, the cost would be tremendous.
 

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Justin,

Culligan is like WALMART, they are everywhere.

I don't disagree that soft water has benefits. I just choose not to use it and incurr the extra expense. I think to expect tens years of life from the salt would highly optimistic.

Again for my application I don't see the need. Side walks, store fronts, houses, parking lots ect. won't get any cleaner.

I descale my coil as needed. Use only s.s. hose ends. All of the rest of my fittings are brass or pvc. No galvanized or black pipe used.

I filter the incoming water and also filter again before the pumps.

As far as the Hudson goes the valve or buoy must wear or they would not sell replacements.

Maybe you can get Mike to do a poll on who uses soft water.
 
beyoungsr:

The salt isn't what lasts ten years...the softener should last that long, if properly used and maintained. The salt you have to add weekly/monthly, depending on the hardness of your water and how much water you're running through it.

It isn't that soft water gets things cleaner. It will cause you to require less chemicals to do the same job. I'm not saying that this will be the determining factor is prolonging the life of your valve, and it certainly isn't a reason to spend hundreds of dollars to save a $40.00 float valve.

I do plan to use soft water, but not primarily for its effect on the equipment, but rather its effect on chemicals and cleaning.
 
Oneness,
I know that soft water has benefits ie soap goes a lot further, less build up in plumbing, coil descaling may not be needed.

Again it does not fit into what I do. I am not interested in adding in the expense be it upfront or not.

What is the monthly, quarterly, yearly cost of salt?

How many gallons of water will one charge treat. Do you install a gauge to monitor gallons treated? Do I have to carry spare salt with me?

Is diposal involved?

Does the unit automaticly bypass if it fails or do you pump salt water through your pump and coil? Does salt water get sprayed on the 250K house you are washing at that time?
 
beyoungsr:

I wasn't trying to talk you into it...you were pretty clear you didn't want it.

The cost of salt depends on how much the softener is used, and how hard the water you're using is. My understanding is that the unit Justin sells uses 6lbs of salt per regeneration. Let's say you have to regenerate every night...that's 30lbs of salt/week, 40lbs is you're working weekends. The salt runs $5.00 - $6.00 per 40lb bag. So, worst case, $300.00 or so/year.

The amount of water treated depends on the hardness of water. Softeners are rated in grains of hardness they can remove before needing to regenerate. I think the one justin sells is rated at around 27000 grains, but it may be more. For most locations, this is plenty to run a 5 or 6 gpm unit all day. No, you don't need to carry extra salt with you, the machine has a tank where salt is stored. I believe his unit also has a gauge to determine how much water has gone through the machine, but again, on that I'm not sure.

During regeneration, salt water drains from the machine. That would typically be at night.

The unit can't fail in such a way as to spew salt water from the outlet side of the softener. The water runs through the filter, so if the system were to fail, the only thing you'd have would be a softener that would gradually give you less and less soft water. It could feasibly stop in the middle of a regeneration cycle and leave you without water, but that's easily solved by plumbing in a bypass, which you'd do anyway so if you ever wanted to run non-soft water for any reason, you could. So no, there's no risk of damaging someone's house with using a softener.
 
Thanks Justin,

Great info for those interested.

Did you ever sell insurance?

Ok lets have a poll and see how many of us are using soft water.

Lets ask how many jobs you lost because you didnt have it!

What is your average annual costs.

How many dollars have you saved in chems and soaps after the first aniversary.

Well come on Mike-please run the poll!
 
...."Great info for those interested"... interested in what.... tools that provide benefits for you and your customer... how can anyone not be interested. come on.

No, I haven't sold insurance and I'm not really trying to sell this either. I'm trying to educate. It was clearly obvious that at the begining of this thread beyoung, you knew nothing about softened water, it's use, or reasons to use it. Many of these pressure washers on the boards don't know the true benefits.

The poll won't do you much good. 95% of the pressure washing companies today don't use soft water. That's alot. The success rate in this business is very little because people don't use the better tools to do the job. They just get by. They get by only for so long and then they get headaches. Not that soft water will solve your headaches but it will help.

If after everything I've taken the time to explain on this subject, you still don't understand the benefits, then there is nothing I can do to help. I know most will now consider it but it's clearly in black and white and don't forget, I washed houses, and fleets just like you. I don't anymore but what's become of what I started is very successful and it could not have happened like it has without the use of soft water.

I think I've spent enough time on this subject.
 
by the way, how many jobs can you say you lost because you didn't have soft water? "oh customer, by the way, I don't use soft water." You can't put that in a poll.
 
OK guys, my flow valve problems are over! :)
 
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