Hot water vs Cold water

cajun cleanin

cajun cleanin

New member
I would like to know everyone's opinion on this.Just house washing.

I here the arguments about washing your clothes ,or hands,or yourself in hot water vs cold.But if you factor in the upfront cost,fuel,upkeep,etc on a hot water machine would you buy one or go with a cold water machine.

What is the rate of return if you just wash houses,driveways,decks is it 2,3 years?Is the time savings going to justify the costs upfront for a hot water machine?

The reason I'm asking is I'm thinking about buying a hot water machine and I want everyone's 20/20 hindsight that have already bought one.Do you use the hot water enough to justify the cost if your not doing commercial flatwork and other things where the hot water is obviously a big advantage?
 
If you have to choose between hot water and things like, insurance, truck lettering, professional lettering/forms, extra hoses etc... I think cold water will get you started and cleaning just fine.
If you don't have any of the aforementioned things, well, you probably shouldn't be trying to start a business anyway.
 
As everyone has, and will say, its not that you CAN'T clean with cold, it just cleans faster with hot. Heat an volume - get as much of each that you can. I do 99% residential, running 8 gpm with heat, and can usually clean 2 or 3 houses per day (including driveways) by myself. (Assuming typical 2000 to 2400 sq ft.)

There is an on/off switch for the heat, so if you have a lightly soiled house, only use the heat for the driveway. Is there a local company you might be able to rent a hot water skid for a day? (In my area, the Landa dealer will rent customers a trailer - ready to go.)
 
cajun cleanin said:
I would like to know everyone's opinion on this.Just house washing.

I here the arguments about washing your clothes ,or hands,or yourself in hot water vs cold.But if you factor in the upfront cost,fuel,upkeep,etc on a hot water machine would you buy one or go with a cold water machine.

What is the rate of return if you just wash houses,driveways,decks is it 2,3 years?Is the time savings going to justify the costs upfront for a hot water machine?

The reason I'm asking is I'm thinking about buying a hot water machine and I want everyone's 20/20 hindsight that have already bought one.Do you use the hot water enough to justify the cost if your not doing commercial flatwork and other things where the hot water is obviously a big advantage?
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I personally love Hot water and its about all we use , we have 5 hot water washers and 1 cold , the cold never gets turned on , I use it from time to time but when I am cleaning I always run the hot, just cleans better and faster and leaves very little residue on surfaces + it looks more professional to me as well , almost anyone can afford some type of cold water washer but the hot water washer raises your worth when you pull up and usually removes the curiosity by the homeowner if you are a serious contractor or not ...... image is everything sometimes
 
For house washing only, I'll take GPM over heat. I think you'll get a quicker return on your investment with an 8 gpm cold water machine over a 5 gpm hot water.
 
Do you need hot for resi, no, I would want GPM, but the one thing you have to think about is, yes you just say residential work. But what if you get a call for a concrete job commercial a decent sized one. Are you really going to want to pass on a project that could bring in $2000, $3000 or more$$$ for one days work. If you dont have heat you may have to pass on some big money. Dont ever say never, you may find like many others that commercial is the way to go

I say get heat if you can afford it, but definitly get GPM 5.5 at least
 
We only clean residential applications and roofs

We use 1/3 or the detergent with hot water and the job comes out better than with cold.

I spend over 20k per year on deisel to heat the water and if I could do without it I would.

I developed a no touch method of cleaning gutter exteriors back in the early 90's and you have to have hot water to do it.

Last year I timed how long it took to clean a 36 foot section of filthy black streaked gutter on the second story, 22 seconds and it looked brand new.

I have read ridiculus posts on this board about how siding can melt and plants will die from hot water. That's total nonsense and urban ledgend probably from posters that don't even have hot water to begin with.

We run the water at 150-160 at the gun and in 18 years I've never melted siding or damaged a plant.

If you can afford a hot water machine get one, have extra money, get 2.
 
my cold water house washes come out excelent, i was gonna add a hot unit this season but had to spend the money on dumb stuff like food and bills, boy am i pissed.
 
Hot or

cajun cleanin said:
I would like to know everyone's opinion on this.Just house washing.

Do you use the hot water enough to justify the cost if your not doing commercial flatwork and other things where the hot water is obviously a big advantage?
Click to expand...

Opinons are like belly buttons, everyone has one.

For just house washing, No I wouldn't bother.

BUT, why just house washing. I guess if I could stay booked solid with as much business as I wanted I might be of a different opinion (belly button).
There is a big differance in the kind of jobs you can take on succesfully, portraying a different image (as mentioned prior), charging more money, building a bigger business and clientel. So yes I'd get hot as soon as I could afford it. At which point you'd better find enough work to justify the cost of paying/storing and maintaining it.

That's my at even par Canadian .02 cents
 
Great feedback guys and I agree image is everything as far as I'm concerned.I only work and bid jobs in my uniforms,truck and trailer is lettered up,got the hats ,pens to give away and all that.Trailer has the reels,ladder racks everything nice and neat I just don't have the big hot machine strapped to her.

I guess its like the old saying if you want to run with the big dogs you gotta get off the porch.(I think my credit card just groaned)
 
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