Showing posts with label industrial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label industrial. Show all posts
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Tips on using your pressure washer safely.
The average UK tap pressure is 4-5 bar, so with pressure washers kicking out up to 130bar and more for some commercial machines, it’s little wonder people prefer to use them for cleaning all kinds of cleaning jobs including cars, patios, garden furniture etc… While a pressure washer will give you better results in less than half the time of using a standard garden hose with great power comes great responsibility… OK that’s a little dramatic but I thought I would share a few tips on how to pressure wash safely and without damaging you, your belongings or your property.
Wear appropriate clothing. It may go without saying but a good pair of boots or wellies with rubberised souls to stop you slipping on the inevitable wet surface would be a good idea, long pants and long sleeved top to stop and flying debris and ideally a pair of goggles.
Protect your plants. Cover your prize roses or anything else that is likely to be damaged with extremely high pressure water.
Get the power washer ready for use. Plug in your pressure washer to a properly grounded outlet. Avoid using household extension cables as these can damage the capacitor in your machine. If you need more length it is always better to use an extension hose but if you absolutely need more power cable then use 2.5mm CSA flexi, this is often not available pre assembled so you may need buy the cable, plug and connections separately and assemble your own.
Fill your chemical tank. For further information on chemical use see our ‘Advice using pressure washer chemical’ blog.
Attach the proper spray tip nozzle. We will be doing another blog on which spray lance to use but for most general purpose jobs the variable lance is best for cleaning decking, cars, motorbikes and using chemical. The variable lance offers many options like adjusting the pattern and pressure of your spray. Turbo and flexi and fixed spray nozzles are also available.
Connect your water supply. Turn on the tap water when you have connected your garden hose to you pressure washer using a garden push fit connector, you should do this before turning on your machine to avoid damage to your pump. If you are using a water butt see our you tube video for further help.
Operating the power washer. Position the nozzle around a foot away from the surface to start and gradually move the tip closer to the surface so you don’t damage whatever you are cleaning. Hold the nozzle at a 45 degree angle, this will help loosen dirt and spray it away from you.
Finishing up. When you have completed your job, turn off the machine, keep hold of the trigger for around a minute or so to empty all the water in your hose and release any excess pressure. Disconnect the power and remove your water connections, take off the high pressure hose and hang up to ensure all water is drained. This is especially important if you are unlikely to use the machine again until after winter as it will decrease the likelihood of excess water freezing and damaging the internal components of your trigger gun.
Always follow your manufacturer’s instructions.
Master Space Heaters - How they work and How to fix them
Mobile space heaters have been around since the 1980's but they became widely available in the late 90's once the Italian factories started to produce them at an affordable price. Later Master Space heaters became very popular and remain so to this day.
air is blown through a metal cylinder and fuel (usually diesel or kerosene) is misted (atomized) into the airflow. The mixture is then ignited by a spark.
Air is blown through a double skinned metal cylinder and fuel (usually diesel or kerosene) is misted (atomized) into the airflow. The mixture is then ignited by a spark.The burnt fuel and air mixture is exhausted through the outer cylinder acting as a heat exchanger. The secondary air passes through the centre of the heated cylinder and exist the machine as warm air.
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The three main types of space heater are direct, indirect and radiant.
Direct Space Heater
Creates very host air but mixed with combusted fuel and can only be used in well ventilated spaces.air is blown through a metal cylinder and fuel (usually diesel or kerosene) is misted (atomized) into the airflow. The mixture is then ignited by a spark.
Indirect Space Heater
Creates warm air that can be piped to specific areas and the exhaust gasses can be connected to a flu our chimney.Air is blown through a double skinned metal cylinder and fuel (usually diesel or kerosene) is misted (atomized) into the airflow. The mixture is then ignited by a spark.The burnt fuel and air mixture is exhausted through the outer cylinder acting as a heat exchanger. The secondary air passes through the centre of the heated cylinder and exist the machine as warm air.
Radiant
Air and fuel is combined and ignited then blown against a large metal surface, The surface is a heat exchanger and often glows red with heat. The heat is the radiated to heat the close proximity.Construction of a space heater
The smaller models tend to have 15 litre fuel tank with a 100 x 30 cm long blast tube. The system is powered by electric which drives a small brushed motor. The motor is centrally mounted with a fan blade close to the blast tube and an air pump at the outer end. The air pump is a small vane compressor that pumps air to the fuel injector. The fuel injection nozzle uses the venturi principle to draw in fuel from a central pipe as air flows through it.
Larger space heaters use a gear type fuel pump to force the fuel directly into the atomizing nozzle. The flow of fuel is usually controlled by a magnetic solenoid valve controlled by a common universal burner control box. The control box has a safety lock-out system that uses a magic eye (optical sensor) to sense light... Process - press the start button and the motor begins to rotate, blowing cold air through the blast tube. The fuel pump is also spinning and priming itself. The control box electronics wait a few seconds then power the solenoid valve, opening the port, allowing fuel to the atomizing nozzle. The electronics then power the ignition module and start to time while the optical sensor tries to detect light. If the combustion is successful the sensor will detect light and remove power from the ignition module. If ignition fails the timer will expire (5 seconds approx) and the machine will shut-down in failure mode. Many control boxes use bi-metallic mechanical sensors that need to cool down before the system can be re-started (2 minutes)
Popular UK Space Heater Brands
Andrews
Sial
Munters
Draper
3FBCV66J9KDG
3FBCV66J9KDG
Pressure Washer water connections for water inlet and water outlet
The basics
Your pressure washer water inlet is almost always larger in diameter than your outlet connection.Water In
Water Inlets are generally 3/4 inch BSP and measure 25mm in diameter approx.Some larger Industrial Pressure washers from the Karcher brand have 1 inch BSP water inlets that measure approx 30mm in diameter.Example of some common water connections :
- Left - Claw fitting known as GEKA
- Middle - Garden style fitting made popular by gardena and hozelock (also available in brass)
- Right - Click-on fittings with ball bearings inside are made in many slight variations but KEW use NITO
The inlet thread usually has some kind off click-on coupler to allow a tool-free connection to the water supply hose. The most common connector is the plastic garden coupler from brands such as Hozelock or Gardena. KEW pressure washers chose the NITO brand for the durable industrial metal quick connectors. Some people like to use the claw fitting too.
Water Out
Most power washers have a threaded water outlet and the common thread type is M22. Metric M22 is used by Karcher MAC Powerbase Champion and more although the internal bore of the connect maybe 14 or 15mm in diameter. Nilfisk Alto KEW use an imperial 1/2 inch BSP thread, on the domestic range, that is very difficult to differentiate from the common M22 thread. WAP use M24 and M28 metric threads with the machine thread being female rather than male.
See our other Blog - How to Identify your thread
How to clear a blocked drain.
In this blog I would like to talk about one of the many uses of your pressure washer, drain cleaning. Save money on expensive plumber call outs and unblock your drains or toilet using your pressure washer.
To unblock your drain or toilet all you need is a drain jetting hose, this attaches to your trigger gun in the same way as your existing lance accessories, whether this be with a screw thread or a bayonet ‘push and twist’ connection.
So what makes the drain jetting hose different to your existing hose? Well it has a special nozzle with four backwards facing jets and one forward facing jet. This propels the hose down your drain using the power of your pressure washer dislodging and washing away all those drain nasties as it goes leaving you with a clear drain and a without a huge plumber call out fee.
Drain hoses are available for most brands of pressure washer like Karcher who do a 7.5 meter and a 15 meterversion. Drain hoses can be made to measure with durable steel braid hoses for brands like Kew , Nilfisk Alto, MacAllister, Black and Decker, Stihl, Lavor, Bosch.
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