# Building a PW trailer.



## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

I'm grabbing stuff as i see what we need. The hard part is deciding what type of trailer to get for the steam PW.

I have so far 4-55 gallon plastic barrels. 200' of hose, hose reels and generator.

I would like an enclosed trailer but that would mean muscling this beast in and out every time we use it. An open landscaping type would work but we have no place to store it out of the elements.

So if I'm reading others right I will need a pump and pump size. What else is needed?

How many barrels should I use for water and cleaning agents or use all 4 for water?


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## ThreeSistersPainting (Jan 7, 2017)

You'll need a hot tank http://m.northerntool.com/products/...ntent=157495&gclid=CMyCz5jYutMCFQ9EfgodFAIEXQ

They also have complete units for around $10k


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

ThreeSistersPainting said:


> You'll need a hot tank http://m.northerntool.com/products/...ntent=157495&gclid=CMyCz5jYutMCFQ9EfgodFAIEXQ
> 
> They also have complete units for around $10k


Huh? This machine already has one. Or do you mean I will need a second hot tank?

I'm not going to buy a pre built one. I have a few PW's sitting around here so I will build my own rig.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Plus all the 55 gal barrels are free which helps save a lot of money.


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## ThreeSistersPainting (Jan 7, 2017)

I did not read your post very well, did not see you HAD the machine already. 

for a trailer I would check out http://www.pulmor.com/EZTOW/EZ TOW, YUPPIE, AND VERSA ENCLOSED MOBILITY TRAILERS.htm


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

ThreeSistersPainting said:


> I did not read your post very well, did not see you HAD the machine already.
> 
> for a trailer I would check out http://www.pulmor.com/EZTOW/EZ TOW, YUPPIE, AND VERSA ENCLOSED MOBILITY TRAILERS.htm


I already know where the trailer will be purchased from. I like I said don't know what type I should get, open or enclosed. With no place to store an open trailer an enclosed is the way to go but at the same time this would have to be moved in and out while running it which it doesn't turn and it weighs a crap load.


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## Eagle Cap Painter (Nov 14, 2016)

What if you tried to sell that pressure washer to help finance one that mounts in this new trailer? That sucker looks like a tank!


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## stelzerpaintinginc. (May 9, 2012)

*Pressure Washer Trailer Material List*



cdpainting said:


> I'm grabbing stuff as i see what we need. The hard part is deciding what type of trailer to get for the steam PW.
> 
> I have so far 4-55 gallon plastic barrels. 200' of hose, hose reels and generator.
> 
> ...



Assuming you're going to be pulling up to a home, connecting water hose from the customer's spigot to your buffer tank, one 55 gal drum will typically be enough for each machine, provided the machine is less than 6 GPM. You might run into the occasional house with horrible flow, in which case you might have to wait a few minutes throughout the washing in order for the tank to catch up, but that's probably fairly rare, (unless you're pulling from a well). You'll want to get a hudson float valve for each buffer tank. The hudson float valve will stop the water from over-flowing your tank, same principle as a toilet fill valve. http://pressuretek.com/huflva.html

You'll need to install bulkheads into the 55 gal drums. You'll want to use a different drum for each chem. This might not even be applicable if you're just downstreaming, since that'd probably be easiest using 5 gals. If you use a drum for chems, be sure and order viton seals on the bulkheads, and know that any bulkhead on the bottom of a drum filled with chems WILL leak eventually. For that reason, many guys choose to use a drop stick and pull from the top, (same principle as an airless). 

If you haven't already, get some of these Jrods. You'll be able to order them for your exact machine, and they'll come with 4 tips welded together. You'll be able to change from rinsing to soaping just by changing the tips...no going back & forth to the trailer. There will be a soap low, soap high, rinse low, rinse high tip. 

http://pressuretek.com/jr4waynoho.html

Get extras of everything, especially viton o-rings. Try to buy stainless steel as much as possible, and rinse & dry them well after each use, then spray some lithium grease on them. Some guys just use WD-40 on em, but others swear that WD-40 swells the o-rings. WD-40 actually came out with spray cans of lithium grease, so it's real fast & easy to lube em up after each use. 

Get plenty of extra injectors. Even if your machine is 4 or 5GPM, get an assortment of injectors ranging from 2-3GPM to 3-5GPM. The 2-3GPM will pull much more soap, although they will also restrict flow, so it's a trade-off, (unless you purchase & install an injector bypass).http://pressuretek.com/adamsinjector.html

All these things can be purchased at www.pressuretek.com

Bob is amazing. You might find slightly cheaper prices elsewhere, but you'll never find better customer service and sound advice. 

Also, get some high pressure ball valves. In addition to other things, they will allow you to change guns without having to turn the machine off, or you can switch from a gun to surface cleaner.http://pressuretek.com/hedubava.html

Make sure you're running a bypass line from your unloader on your pressure washer back to your buffer tank. This will keep cool water cycling through the machine, and it allows you to not have to pull the trigger every 30 seconds or risk burning up your pump. When plumbing your bypass back to the buffer tank, make sure the bypass is on the opposite side as your water feed. This will prevent any air bubbles from getting into the feed, which could potentially damage your pump via cavitation.

You can PM me anytime if you want any advice or suggestions. I can also send pics of how I have my rig layed out if it helps.


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## stelzerpaintinginc. (May 9, 2012)

Dave, a few more things I just thought of...

Install water filters...usually running from the water feed right before your tank, and then another between feed from tank to pressure washer.
http://www.pressuretek.com/clbowafi.html

Keep the length of feed from tank to machine between 4-7'. Using 1" is ideal, but 3/4 will work. Try to get the spiralflex hose for feeds rather than polybraid, since polybraid isn't flexible and it sucks. Whatever you use, make sure your feed line is made from a non-collapse-able hose. 
http://www.pressuretek.com/gospagho.html

Last thing I wanted to mention is that you might want to make sure your machine is capable of pulling water from a tank. If you have a belt drive, no problem. If you have a direct drive, certain pumps won't pull water from a tank. Elevating the tank, keeping the fill hose shorter than 5' from tank to pump, and increasing diameter of fill hose all will help in the event you have a pump that doesn't easily pull water from a tank.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

stelzerpaintinginc. said:


> Dave, a few more things I just thought of...
> 
> Install water filters...usually running from the water feed right before your tank, and then another between feed from tank to pressure washer.
> http://www.pressuretek.com/clbowafi.html
> ...


Troy thanks you for this great info. I will be checkout trailers today and see what will work best, i'm going with a landscapers trailer I found a 16' for under 3k. new. I will be picking up a belt drive soon. I figure for now I can build the rest of the trailer with what I have and the other stuff needed then gran the pump by mid to end of the season. But that also depends on how many houses we do, we may get it sooner.

Which belt drive pump would you recommend? H.P. and GPM?


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## stelzerpaintinginc. (May 9, 2012)

*Pressure Washing Shopping List*



cdpainting said:


> Troy thanks you for this great info. I will be checkout trailers today and see what will work best, i'm going with a landscapers trailer I found a 16' for under 3k. new. I will be picking up a belt drive soon. I figure for now I can build the rest of the trailer with what I have and the other stuff needed then gran the pump by mid to end of the season. But that also depends on how many houses we do, we may get it sooner.
> 
> Which belt drive pump would you recommend? H.P. and GPM?


I now have a few pressure washers above 5 GPM, but this is the latest one I bought:

https://www.powerwashstore.com/P/2837/EagleSeriesBeltDrive5.6-2500NoEB5525HG


For the money, you can't beat the specs. 5.6GPM Belt Drive for $1,225. Yes, it's only 2,500psi, but the only time you'd ever need more than 2,500psi is if you were doing a lot of commercial concrete cleaning. With residential concrete cleaning, I usually set my surface cleaner to 2,100psi. Most of my house washes are done at about 1,500psi and decks & fences around 800psi.

But there's disadvantages to getting a machine bigger than 4GPM that needs to be considered before deciding. Not being able to just connect to municipal water supply is one. Having to make time & space to plumb a buffer tank is another. You also lose the option of just sending an employee out with a pressure washer to go clean a home, since they'd have to pull the trailer too. If you're planning on doing a lot of washing though, the advantages will clearly outweigh the disadvantages. 

As far as which pressure washer in particular, only you can decide, based on your needs. The name or brand of cold water machine doesn't mean much to me. Lots of companies make them, but most all pull from a collective list of pumps, engines & unloaders. I have washers with Vanguard & Briggs & Stratton motors, and they're fine, but I'm pretty partial to my rigs with with Honda 13hp GX 390 motors. 

Just so I don't have to start a new post, while I'm thinking of it, 3 more things to add to the list is a pressure gauge, a Mosmatic Swivel, and a few 2 wire whip lines. The first few feet and last few feet of pressure hose take the biggest beating, so it's easy & cheap to replace a 6' whip, (just an extra length of hose attached at the end of your pressure washing hose). A swivel between the whip hose & gun makes it much easier to use. Here's a link to the swivel:

http://www.pressuretek.com/modgvsw3x3.html


Last piece of advice is make sure and buy pressure washing guns rated at 10-12GPM. I can't tell you how many folks complain about their downstream injector not pulling soap, only to realize they're using an 8GPM gun. It absolutely makes a huge difference. FWIW, my 2 favorite guns are the Sutner 2305 Relaxed Action & 2605 Easy Pull. Links here:

http://www.pressuretek.com/susteapu.html

http://www.pressuretek.com/sustreac.html


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

I was looking at washers today at lunch with Carly. We were looking at a similar model PWS CONTRACTOR SERIES BELT DRIVE [email protected] #PWS-5525HG. I think to start out this one you mention is what we will grab. We just landed a big concrete floor to epoxy so right now on the fence over the washer or a concrete grinder. Since we have some washers I think the grinder this week and by the end of next month this washer will be bought, maybe sooner. We weren't planning on investing so much this year but looks like another 5-10 grand will be invested. I've been wanting to build a PW rig since I joined here and this year we will build one.


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## ParamountPaint (Aug 25, 2016)

Does anyone think that the ready-to-roll washer trailer setups are any good? I know everyone has their own preferences, but I like the idea of someone else doing the work.

Simpson 4200 @ 4GPM, trailer mounted for $4500? That's one that popped up on a quick search. Seems like a decent setup for paint prep, but not full time washing.

I greatly admire all of your setups, but I can hardly find time to get anything done, let alone build out a washer trailer.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

ParamountPaint said:


> Does anyone think that the ready-to-roll washer trailer setups are any good? I know everyone has their own preferences, but I like the idea of someone else doing the work.
> 
> Simpson 4200 @ 4GPM, trailer mounted for $4500? That's one that popped up on a quick search. Seems like a decent setup for paint prep, but not full time washing.
> 
> I greatly admire all of your setups, but I can hardly find time to get anything done, let alone build out a washer trailer.


There are some great pre built set ups to buy. Some of those cost big bucks $10k +, I'm not ready for that type of investment. We are offering washing as an addition to painting. Around here only a couple of guys do it full time. I would like a chunk of this pie. We lucked out and got this PW and one other expensive one for free from a great customer and yes both work great. I've wanted the steam PW for years and now have one to play with. As for the building one we all want the set up to be just as we want. I've looked at a few used ones but they want a couple hundred less than new price. For that little difference I will buy new.


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## stelzerpaintinginc. (May 9, 2012)

ParamountPaint said:


> Does anyone think that the ready-to-roll washer trailer setups are any good? I know everyone has their own preferences, but I like the idea of someone else doing the work.
> 
> Simpson 4200 @ 4GPM, trailer mounted for $4500? That's one that popped up on a quick search. Seems like a decent setup for paint prep, but not full time washing.
> 
> I greatly admire all of your setups, but I can hardly find time to get anything done, let alone build out a washer trailer.


There are some good quality pre-assembled washer/trailer combos, if you're willing to pay the mark-up. Although it's time consuming and frustrating, the best thing about building your own rigs is that you're capable of fixing it if & when something goes wrong, and so you can purchase & install exactly what you want where you want. I've never seen a pre-assembled trailer that I'd want exactly as it was listed.


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## stelzerpaintinginc. (May 9, 2012)

cdpainting said:


> I was looking at washers today at lunch with Carly. We were looking at a similar model PWS CONTRACTOR SERIES BELT DRIVE [email protected] #PWS-5525HG. I think to start out this one you mention is what we will grab. We just landed a big concrete floor to epoxy so right now on the fence over the washer or a concrete grinder. Since we have some washers I think the grinder this week and by the end of next month this washer will be bought, maybe sooner. We weren't planning on investing so much this year but looks like another 5-10 grand will be invested. I've been wanting to build a PW rig since I joined here and this year we will build one.


Wow, you must be doing a lot of concrete work. For me, it's a no-brainer to rent a grinder and buy the washer. I wouldn't get enough mileage out of a big grinder, (although it'd be very cool to have for sure). 

On a side note, if you decide on an open trailer, be sure to mount the reels on the passenger side. That way, they're always on the side you'll be pulling them from, since typically we park on the right side of the street. If you move to England, you'll have to switch em to the driver's side though, so don't move there.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

stelzerpaintinginc. said:


> cdpainting said:
> 
> 
> > I was looking at washers today at lunch with Carly. We were looking at a similar model PWS CONTRACTOR SERIES BELT DRIVE [email protected] #PWS-5525HG. I think to start out this one you mention is what we will grab. We just landed a big concrete floor to epoxy so right now on the fence over the washer or a concrete grinder. Since we have some washers I think the grinder this week and by the end of next month this washer will be bought, maybe sooner. We weren't planning on investing so much this year but looks like another 5-10 grand will be invested. I've been wanting to build a PW rig since I joined here and this year we will build one.
> ...


Grinder costs us $275 a day to rent. We found one for just under a grand, we have 4 floors so far with 5 bids out. The machine we rent isn't available for two floors so we decided that buying one would be a good investment. As for washing jobs we have 4 lined up besides the washing we do to our exteriors before painting.

My first thought was hose reels mounted on the gas tank but figured they would hit the ground, I looked at the passenger side and think that will work. If Top Gear had the original 3 hosts I would consider moving there but since they left the show I'm staying on this side of the pond.


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## ParamountPaint (Aug 25, 2016)

stelzerpaintinginc. said:


> On a side note, if you decide on an open trailer, be sure to mount the reels on the passenger side. That way, they're always on the side you'll be pulling them from, since typically we park on the right side of the street. If you move to England, you'll have to switch em to the driver's side though, so don't move there.


Now that is a good piece of advice that I probably would've overlooked. Thanks!


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## ParamountPaint (Aug 25, 2016)

The last grinder I used was 240V, which required some shenanigans and a spider box. They are an all-around PITA with the replacement blades (grits).

I want one, don't get me wrong, but I have very little use for its maintenance. I think (suspect), you may have to certify them from time to time because of the water/electricity deal. I know the rentals are touchy on their included GFCI protection.

If you've got the work, by all means. If you have to break even on something to pay for it, I'd have hesitations.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

ParamountPaint said:


> The last grinder I used was 240V, which required some shenanigans and a spider box. They are an all-around PITA with the replacement blades (grits).
> 
> I want one, don't get me wrong, but I have very little use for its maintenance. I think (suspect), you may have to certify them from time to time because of the water/electricity deal. I know the rentals are touchy on their included GFCI protection.
> 
> If you've got the work, by all means. If you have to break even on something to pay for it, I'd have hesitations.


The jobs we have will pay for its self. The question is will we land more or just these jobs. We seem to do 3-4 a year as with PW we are now branching out to soft wash, we PW all of our exteriors already but that's to remove paint not just clean. 

The grinders we rent are 110v I think. They don't have a 220 plug.


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