[nathankaye]

 Ive recently added pressure washing to my services and mostly targeted my customers who have medium to small drives etc. So ive been happy with my 6.5hp 3000psi machine with 8lpm and addition of a 15" fsc on a 15m pressure hose. Hoeever ive asked my fellow window cleaners to put me forward to their customers for a small commision and i landed this lucrative job. (Cant show all sides due to limit on pic size upload) but on this job i would sooner have a higher litre per minute pump. But my knowledge on this is virtually non existant. Im wondering if i would simply be able to change the pump to a cat or something?? And would i be reliant on pump to suck water from a buffer tank as well, or is that pendant upon the engine as well??

[Smurf]

Hi Nathan,

The min hp petrol engine you should be looking at  to drive a higher flow rated pump would be at least a13 hp engine .  Therfore unfortunatly that engine would not be anygood if you just wanted to swap the pump over to say a 15-21 lpm pump. Also might be worth mentioning that decent flat surface cleaners don't really work with lower flow rated pumps either especially on block pavers.

Decent higher rated pumps draw from a buffer tank so yes you will need to use a buffer tank. Even if just using the customers  wheelie bin will do if you don't have the room in a van to cart a water butt/wheelie bin etc about. Just make sure you ask the customer first in advance . 

Regards to the length of pressure washer hose you use on a job then obvuoisly the more you have to get to the areas you want to pressure wash the less you will have to move the washer and buffer tank about.

Basicaly in a nutshell for cold water pressure washing the higher the flow rate/pressure the washer is set at the less time it will take to clean hard surfaces  and inbetween those hard to clean block pavers joints.

Here is a good example vid of how quick a 30 lpm washer can clean block pavers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIfOVx6oJJU

Messy old job init