How many feet of hose?

Nigel, I was saying I could feel a pretty substantial difference with the 1/2". I will try and test them both tonight.
 
I used to keep 100ft on my reels and add as I needed it....now I keep 150 ft on them and add as I need it, but I see myself goint to 200 ft......just seems the jobs keep coming where I need more and more hose.....LOL
 
I keep 500' of 3/8" hose on my reel. I pull off what I need and hook it to the output of my unloader. You never know when a hose will blow and you need a spare. I like using 150' - 200' max at a time otherwise you get zebra stripes from your surface washer. I am also putting out 8.5 gal/min @ 3500 psi. If you are putting out 4000 psi @ 4' gal/min you need to use less hose due to the pressure drop. I will take gpm vs psi any day of the week.:winknudge:
 
Marcus said:
I keep 500' of 3/8" hose on my reel. I pull off what I need and hook it to the output of my unloader. You never know when a hose will blow and you need a spare. I like using 150' - 200' max at a time otherwise you get zebra stripes from your surface washer. I am also putting out 8.5 gal/min @ 3500 psi. If you are putting out 4000 psi @ 4' gal/min you need to use less hose due to the pressure drop. I will take gpm vs psi any day of the week.:winknudge:
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I don't usually have a need for anything over 2,500 psi or so. If I have 2,500 or so at 8 gpm I an good.
 
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I like to spray with 100', and my hose is not on a reel. I will say with the 3/8", there is a noticable drop at 200', and a really noticable drop at 300'. I wonder how big a difference the fittings make compared to one length?

Nigel, I'm going to do 'research' this weekend when I'm off. I want to get a bathroom scale like you used to really see the differences. I think that may be the most accurate measure of performance.
 
That sounds like a good idea, measure the "kick" pressure of what comes out of the gun.

I was thinking of the idea of a large "storage reel" where there is no swivel but either motorized or large with a large handle kind of like the large 2" vacuum hose reels that the carpet cleaners use. Maybe just do like Marcus does, take what you need then connect to the unloader.

Sounds interesting if you do large shopping centers, large properties or have multiple machines and not a lot of room for hose reels.
 
tomtucson said:
I like to spray with 100', and my hose is not on a reel. I will say with the 3/8", there is a noticable drop at 200', and a really noticable drop at 300'. I wonder how big a difference the fittings make compared to one length?

Nigel, I'm going to do 'research' this weekend when I'm off. I want to get a bathroom scale like you used to really see the differences. I think that may be the most accurate measure of performance.
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Looking forward to it Tom, I meant to put the scale on the 8.5gpm twin pump setup but there was a storm brewing outside. I even intended to put the plastic surface cleaner on to show how you would have to log a flight plan to run it at 8.5 @ 3500psi. But again time constraints.

I would like someone to explain the fluid dynamics in nozzles (in depth) and to do a surface cleaner rpm battle test.
 
That would be interesting to see, how fast different brand swivels turn the spray bar with a set gpm and psi from a pressure washer.
 
For the last 17 years or so, we always ran 1/2 inch hose. My pump runs easier, which I credit part to the 1/2 inch hose thus giving us a longer life of our pumps.The flow is " a Fuller Flow Feeling" and of course you get more pressure vs 3/8. We lose about 110 psi more or less of pressure in 200 ft of hose and our pump works less.

1/2 will also have less heat loss vs 3/8 hose especially if it is a cold environment. The only two things bad about 1/2 is the price and the weight, however we found it seems to last longer than 3/8.

As all may know, we use industrial pumps with 30 mil shafts, not the 24 mil shafts. Though the pump costs as much as a 1/3 or more then the commercial pumps, the industrial pumps tend to last longer. We had our first industrial pump and it lasted over 12 Years before it had to be rebuilt. In 20 years we only had to rebuild 1 pump and only one time. That I believe was in 2001 / 2002 ish.

Now I do not know how long a commercial pump will last, and I am sure it depends on if it is an open gun, hours of off and on use with the trigger, continuous hours of use etc. However, 12 years having them run as long as 14 hrs non stop per day without a problem or any loss in pressure is great in my book. Now if I could only get my nozzles or O rings to last that long, that would be great!!!
 
Jim@Garagecleaning said:
For the last 17 years or so, we always ran 1/2 inch hose. My pump runs easier, which I credit part to the 1/2 inch hose thus giving us a longer life of our pumps.The flow is " a Fuller Flow Feeling" and of course you get more pressure vs 3/8. We lose about 110 psi more or less of pressure in 200 ft of hose and our pump works less.

1/2 will also have less heat loss vs 3/8 hose especially if it is a cold environment. The only two things bad about 1/2 is the price and the weight, however we found it seems to last longer than 3/8.

As all may know, we use industrial pumps with 30 mil shafts, not the 24 mil shafts. Though the pump costs as much as a 1/3 or more then the commercial pumps, the industrial pumps tend to last longer. We had our first industrial pump and it lasted over 12 Years before it had to be rebuilt. In 20 years we only had to rebuild 1 pump and only one time. That I believe was in 2001 / 2002 ish.

Now I do not know how long a commercial pump will last, and I am sure it depends on if it is an open gun, hours of off and on use with the trigger, continuous hours of use etc. However, 12 years having them run as long as 14 hrs non stop per day without a problem or any loss in pressure is great in my book. Now if I could only get my nozzles or O rings to last that long, that would be great!!!
Click to expand...
We have some AR pumps that are over 5 years old w/o any rebuilds, the Generals are almost as good, just built one the other day that was purchased in late 2005, come to find out it didnt even need it, we thought it was loosing pressure and the set screw on the throttle had let the arm slip just a tad lowering the engine RPM's, it was funny when we figured it out. Its always nice to be able to laugh at yourself.
 
Hose ( Lets see 200 foot solid 5400 psi R-2 ) I also have started adding an extra 50 foot of cheap hose at the end of the run for those really nasty hood cleanings, That way I dont get the 200 foot hose too dirty with grease .. But as luck would have it , I am alomost ready for another 200 feet of hose..
 
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