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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Lots Of Upcoming Pressure Wash Events!

Well, I have tons of news to tell you about. First of all, we are going to have a Grand Opening celebration for our new store in Lawrenceville on March 19 & 20. We’re proud of our new digs and would love to have you all come and see them.

We have incorporated a Roundtable theme to this event, and have some great speakers lined up. Our focus for these speakers is Building Sales, and I think every contractor will get something solid to help him grow his company.

We will feed you and we have a lot of outdoor demos and some incredible sale prices to offer. These deals will be the best prices of the year, so if you are in the market for anything bring your Visa card. If the speakers and the sale prices and the warmer weather aren’t enough to get you to drive to Georgia, how about a 50” Panasonic plasma HDTV or a new Wii console? Those are the prizes we will be giving away on Saturday. You will get an entry to the drawing for every part of the event that you participate in, so if you start out Friday morning with us your chances of winning will be outstanding!

We will also be offering a new one-day class for contractors. The class will cover everything from starting up a company to environmental cleaning techniques, along with outlines of residential and small commercial specialties like house washing, roof washing, and deck restoration. Here’s the best part: this class is being sponsored by Sun Brite, so instead of the normal $199 tuition, the class will be FREE.

That’s far from all of the news. We will also be in New Orleans for the great NOLA Roundtable in February and offering the same class there. Sign up SOON for this one! We will try to be at most of the National Cleaning Expo events this year to hang with our friends and meet some new ones.

On top of all that, we are giving away a brand new hot water skid again in September as part of the NCE Roundtable in SC. We had so much fun doing that last year that we just couldn’t help doing it again! Rumor has it that we are going to top last year’s prize, but we’ll leave that as a rumor for the time being.

When you attend any NCE Roundtable you are entered into the drawing for this skid, so try your best to go to as many Roundtables this year as possible. To sign up for any NCE event, click here. To sign up for our Grand Openeing stuff, click here. I’ll see you!

Pete

Friday, January 22, 2010

What Performance Should You Expect From Your Vacuum Surface Cleaner?

It seems that most contractors who make the investment in a waste water capture system expect perfection from their equipment. One area they often complain about is their vacuuming surface cleaner.

Contractors would like nothing less than a completely dry surface after they are done passing over it and cleaning. While a 100% pickup rate is the expectation (and a miserable 95% rate might be acceptable) no one ever actually achieves that kind of performance. Real-world results are often a lot closer to the 80% range.

Could these tools be better? I don't think that is possible with today's technology - with one exception I will tell you about in a minute. In order to achieve 100% capture of the water used, a surface cleaner would have to achieve a perfect seal between the brush skirt and the pavement being cleaned. In that event, you would not be able to move the surface cleaner without incredible force. Considering that every paved surface is by nature uneven, this perfect seal is simply not physically possible.

In fact, in order to move the surface cleaner easily without dragging the brush skirt we adjust the height of the surface cleaner upwards (leaving a small gap). That gap and the uneven pavement is why we must accept performance around 80% efficiency in capturing wash water. This means we will capture about 4 out of 5 gallons used with most surface cleaners.

Most of that last gallon will likely flow to our low point where we have set up a second capture point with oil socks & berms and a second vacuum hose. The rest will evaporate.

The one important exception I promised to tell you about is the Lubova we carry. That particular piece of equipment includes a plastic "wiper" on the inside of the brush skirt. That wiper forms a better seal even if the brush skirt is slightly raised. We have found that we can move the cleaner around with little friction and still achieve much better vacuuming. I am reluctant to over-promise, but I think we pick up as much as 90% of the water used with this tool.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Getting outstanding results cleaning wood decks & fences

We are coming into the time of year when people start looking critically at the appearance of their wood decks and fences. Whether you are a contractor offering this service or a property owner considering doing this work yourself, there is a lot to know before you break out the pressure washer. Several years ago we published a paper on the topic of cleaning wood properly - low pressure, strong cleaners, etc. Here is that paper:

When you clean decks great surface preparation is the KEY to outstanding results. Prep right, and the deck will turn out GREAT. Rush through prep, skip a step (or two) to save money and/or time, and the deck won’t look nearly as good.

Thorough cleaning of the deck or fence is essential to get good results. If the deck was previously sealed, you must strip off the old sealer rather than just clean the wood. If any old sealer remains, it might interfere with the sealer soaking into the wood and adhering to the wood. If the deck has not been sealed within the last five years, a deep cleaning is probably all that is needed. If you are not sure if the deck or fence must be stripped, a simple “splash” test is all you need to find out. Sprinkle a little water from your fingertips on to the dry wood. If the droplets soak into the wood right away, you don’t need to strip. If they form little droplets on the surface, you do have to strip. Try this test in various spots, particularly on vertical surfaces like posts.

High-pressure washing of wood decks is not necessary or advisable. Instead... (continued here)

Why is a Lubova Vacuum Surface Cleaner the best choice for contractors?

Vacuum surface cleaners are expensive tools. You start out with a standard flat surface cleaner and modify it to attach to a vacuum and suck up the used wash water before it leaks out and runs down the drain. We sell and service several brands, which gives us a good feel for what is on the market and which company is innovative.

Many vacuum surface cleaners begin their lives as standard surface cleaner models that are modified for vacuuming. If you start with a quality tool, the initial cost to purchase is a sizeable chunk. Then, you take it apart and re-build it with modifications to make it a vacuum surface cleaner, there is a lot of labor and custom parts that go into the finished product. It is not unusual for theses vacuum surface cleaners to have pricetags that approach $2000 each.

When someone like us sells equipment, we get to compare the differences between different brands and models.

As much as we have specialized in environmental cleaning equipment for the last five or six years, we have seen just about everything on the market. When it comes to vacuum surface cleaners, we choose to recommend the Lubova because we think they are the best - judged by design, performance, quality, and value.

Let’s look at design first. All designs have an inner pan that delivers vacuum to the outside edge of the body of the surface cleaner. The Lubova models (which are made by Mosmatic) only have a single vacuum port. Other brands tend to have two, three, and four vacuum ports. An inexperienced person looks at models with a larger number of ports and thinks “It must be better because it has more”. That just simply isn’t true.

Brands with multiple ports are made that way to deliver an equal amount of vacuum to the entire diameter of the body of the surface cleaner, which sounds great. A single port used with their inner pan would unevenly distribute the vacuum. Lubovas have a very different inner pan, which distributes vacuum only around the outside edge diameter, not in the center area. Not only does this make the force of the vacuum more efficient, it does that with fewer parts and less weight. The result is superior performance with fewer parts.

From a performance standpoint, Lubova’s unique ‘single-port-and-unique-inner-pan’ design allows you to use a slightly smaller vacuum to get the same result. Less weight, easier maneuverability, and uses a less expensive vacuum. Hmmmmm.

From the quality standpoint, this is an area where the Lubova (by Mosmatic) shines. The body is all stainless steel, and the spinner (the heart of any flat surface cleaner) is Swiss-made and extremely high quality. The bearing is sealed and never needs lubrication. In all the years we have sold Mosmatics, we have never had one returned with a manufacturing defect, either. Now that is quality we can live with.

Finally, let’s look at value. A 21” Lubova goes for about $1200, compared to smaller multi-port models that sell for hundreds more. That’s value you can take to the bank.

We have had contractors shy away from the Lubova models because of the single port design, but once we are able to show them the performance characteristics and show them the differences in design we always win the sale.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Hydrofluoric Acid – Dangerous!

Those of you washing fleet vehicles know that hydrofluoric acid is the fastest aluminum cleaner/two-step acid available. Our hydrofluoric acid product is Aluma Brite.

Caution must be used when using products like this. Hydrofluoric acid that comes in contact with your skin will dive underneath your skin and head straight for your bones looking for calcium. Any exposure can be fatal.

We recommend caution when you use Aluma Brite, and advise every customer to purchase a tube of special First Aid ointment along with the product. This special ointment contains loads of calcium, which causes the acid to reverse direction and start heading back towards your skin (away from your bones). This simple ointment is expensive, but it will buy you a lot of precious time for medical efforts to save your life.

As an alternative, we have a much safer, less aggressive acid cleaner called Aluma Safe.

Be careful out there.

New Cold Water Portable Pressure Washer

Sun Brite Supply is rolling out a new cold water portable pressure washer with an 18 horsepower Vanguard engine. Mounted on a lightweight rugged aluminum frame, this machine uses a General pump to deliver 5.5 GPM @ 3500 PSI.

The important thing about this 5.5 GPM pressure washer is that it is portable. Roll it up to the work and feed it with the hose and then start working. Most cities provide as much as 7 GPM through the hose, so this machine is about as big as you can go in a portable design without worrying about starving your pump.

What makes this machine so special? Well, consider this. The unit is priced at $2499, about $1300 more than a similar 4 GPM machine. The twin-cylinder (electric start) 18 HP model will get jobs done 37.5% faster than the 4 GPM model, which means you get 60 minutes worth of work done in 44 minutes. If your target gross earnings is $100 per hour, this machine will get you to $137 per hour from Day One. In less than 5 days of operation, this beast will make up the difference in cost. From that day on, it starts paying YOU an extra $37.50 per hour!

The professionals know that bigger is better. The more GPM, the faster the job. As I wrote in the last Sun Brite newsletter, the guys with the big equipment set the prices for all jobs.

If you want to take a look at this new monster, click here.