Here’s a quick little video on downstreaming and soft washing. Nothing too fancy, I didn’t even use chlorine in the mixture like I generally use – because the purpose of the video is to show how you can leave the cleaners on the truck/trailer and also how soft the spray is.
Man…you didn’t waste any time delivering the video you promised us did you!
Thanks and a very informative video.
I’m not sure if you leave your machine on the truck/trailer or not. For those of us that do leave our machines on the trailer it would be a drag to have to go back to the trailer to take the hose out of the soap bucket every time we want to rinse.
I guess to remedy this we can switch to a high or low rinse nozzle or better yet switch to the X-Jet M5 since it will not draw chems from a downstreamer even with the hose in the soap bucket.
I’ve been planning on getting my feet wet with downstreaming for a while so I can leave the soap bucket on the trailer. The time has come. The next house wash I do will be downstreaming instead of X-Jet. But I will use the X-Jet M5 for rinsing.
Thanks for making this great video! Great job!
That was awesome Micah! If you were doing a 3 story home would the hose barb tip be sufficient?
Great Video Micah!!
How did those bids go on those big Buildings??
windowman
Nuvu, Yes I leave the pressure washer on the truck, I’ve got 200 feet of hose, so I’m generally good. It’s not really all that bad to pull the hose out. I generally soap down 2 sides of the house and then allow 5-10 minutes for dwell time. During this dwell time is when I’ll pull the intake hose out of the cleaner and drink gatorade. If that trip to the truck is too annoying, they do make 12v solenoid valves that could be operated by remote control… that’s a whole nother story though.
Mr. Squeegee, the barb pictured won’t hit all 3 stories, especially if theres a slope away from the house. I had a barb that would hit 3 stories perfectly, but I couldn’t find it before making the video, so I had to settle on this one. A 10 foot lance could be used for a 3 story house to get that extra reach. Or when I find that hose barb that hits 3 stories, i’ll let ya know what kind it is.
Thanks Charlie,
I’ve put all those bids in – and then some! Still waiting to hear what happens though. I got a feeling I won’t get them until one day - then I’ll get them all, and won’t know what to do with all the work… not that I couldn’t figure it out though… haha.
Good vido !! That first tip looks a lot like a ladder saver?? The spray looks a little wimpy? Would it do better with a lance ?? I used the ladder saver tip to remove dirt dobbers nest 2 story type. But i’m only 2.5 gpm. I had to use a brush on a pole. Boy those nests are hard to remove !! Now on the 12 v remote control thing ?? Thanks, stan
The video does not accurately portray some of the spray. Nevertheless, wimpy is not always a bad thing - we’re not going to blast siding off, or force water under the siding with a “wimpy” spray. 
I’ve read about the remote control valve. As nice as it would be it seems a bit extreme plus you have to have a fresh battery at all times.
They make nozzles for rinsing that will not draw chems from the downstream soap bucket, so you don’t have to walk back to the truck and pull the soap hose out of the bucket. And if you already have an X-Jet M5 you can just switch to it for rinsing and it will not draw chems from the soap bucket via the downstreamer even with the soap hose still in the bucket. That way you don’t have to walk back to the truck every time you want to rinse the soap off or wet down windows & vegetation.
At any rate, I enjoyed the informative video and can’t wait to downstream my next power wash gig. Thanks again for making the video for us!
Hey Nuvu,
The reason I don’t like switching to a nozzle that won’t pull chemical through the downstreamer is because they’re technically “high pressure” nozzles. I’m not sure if those nozzles are safe enough to be sprayed on the hand, I’ll have to hook into that. If they are, look for another video!
Micah, I’ll be ordering some high and low rinse nozzles from Bob at Pressure Tek this week so I"ll check them out too. I’m not sure how strong the spray is with those nozzles. But if they are too strong I’ll just rinse with the X-Jet because I know it’s not too strong when fanned out and it won’t draw chems through the downstreamer.
Micah thanks so much for making that vid. I really appreciate you putting in the time to do that, it really helps me make better decisions as to how im going to operate the power washing part of the biz.
What size of hose barb is that? 3/8 maybe?
In going from 2.5 to 4 gpm it seems like a little short. The video that ladder saver has looks like a lot more water going up ??? Yes i would have liked to have blasted the nests off but that’s another story !! I i mainnly want to get the cob webs and dirt off with out a ladder. They make a pole that goes up to 24 ft that would do a little better job i think ??? From looking at the video’s it looks a little different. Any who good video !! Stan
Micah, we use the identical pressure washer as you do.
Get the 4-way nozzle holder from bob and put on a 0010 for rinsing high and 0040 for soaping high and 2510 for rinsing low and 2540 for soaping low.
The 0010 is still a softwash, it puts you around 700 psi but I still wouldn’t put my hand directly next to it, but you can about 18 inches away. That way you don’t have to run to the truck to pull the chem out. It way easier than searching in your pockets for the right nozzle too. And no, it doesn’t add much weight to the tip, they are just nozzles. It probably less weight than having a hose dangling off the end of your gun like with the xjet. Also, you should put a 12’ flexi wand on the end of your gun cause it gets the stream of chlorine mist just a little farther from your face and its nice for under first story eaves. That’s less pressure and more flow than an xjet m5 from my understanding. Bob has a psi chart that you can use to compute the nozzles and flow of your machine to determine the pressure.
sweet tip about the pvc tube, I’m def gonna use that, it sure beats my rock that’s duct-taped around my chem tube.
Great video Micah,
Glad you pointed out the PVC tip. I’ll have to do that. Thanks!
Good stuff Micah. I’ll think I’ll stick to my X-Jet. 
Nice video, i called you to see if you could do a window demo in Myrtle Beach…
Nice Video by the way, I posted some other places. very Nice
Sorry, Ron.
Gotta come to New Orleans for the window cleaning stuff.
Nice try, though.
Thad, by chance did you get any video of Micah’s WFP presentation at the New Orleans PW’ing convention?
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HAHW4LDfAw]YouTube - House Wash with a Ball-Valve and down-streamer[/ame]
Some of these guys Like Ball Valves
