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Last week I purchased from Lori, a Delavan 5850 and a Delavan Fat boy, along with 200'  of 5/8 and 200' of 3/4 hose. Built my rig and did my first roof Sunday. Worked great, except I needed just a little more distance. Running just the Fat Boy. Today, I spoke with Lori's dad and asked him if it was possible toe hook both of those pumps in sequence. He said no one had ever tried it as far as he knew, so I tried it.  Fed the Fat Boy with the 5850, 3/4 hose in and out on both pumps. The only difference was a stronger stream,(more flow) with NO difference in distance. Flow I already had plenty, so I dismantled it and went back to the orginial set up. Guess I'll play around with tips and se if I can get another 10' distance.  Any ideas or proven info?
Thanks
Gary

All connections are 3/4", and only one 90* fitting in the whole system. I've got plenty of flow. Just need a little more distance. Probably just a "tip" issue that us "newbies" don't quite understand yet. Any suggestions?
Gary

i know some guys say it wont work but this is what worked for me when i started. take your two pumps feed each one in to the tank seperatly then connect them with a tee before the reel i was using two cheep 2.2 @ 70psi on demand northern tool pumps i kept them around for a backup untill the SH killed them 

garyw wrote:

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Last week I purchased from Lori, a Delavan 5850 and a Delavan Fat boy, along with 200'  of 5/8 and 200' of 3/4 hose. Built my rig and did my first roof Sunday. Worked great, except I needed just a little more distance. Running just the Fat Boy. Today, I spoke with Lori's dad and asked him if it was possible toe hook both of those pumps in sequence. He said no one had ever tried it as far as he knew, so I tried it.  Fed the Fat Boy with the 5850, 3/4 hose in and out on both pumps. The only difference was a stronger stream,(more flow) with NO difference in distance. Flow I already had plenty, so I dismantled it and went back to the orginial set up. Guess I'll play around with tips and se if I can get another 10' distance.  Any ideas or proven info?
Thanks
Gary

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The shorter the hose, and the fatter it is, the farther it will shoot.
I know a guy who uses a shorter, fatter, shoot hose only when he wants max shooting  distance.
He uses only 125 feet of ONE INCH Kurri Tec HOSE, and 1 inch ball valve with a small rifle type wand made out of PVC.
He swears by it.

 

idontknow wrote:

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Can I ask the question, What do you guy's think is more important, hose Dia? or pressure? in regards to getting more distance from the knozzle and wetting the roof enough to do it's work.

Is it when running lower psi pumps that the more volume provides the distance hence running a 3/4 hose or running a higher psi pump with lower volume using a smaller diameter hose 1/2 inch 5/8 etc.

Would it be that running a higher psi pump and lower flows also save on chemicals \? The reason I ask is because in another life I use to run a large air compressor with 3/4 hose on it and after a while dragging that size hose around became a real pain in the azz, a small diamiter hose would be easier to handle

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Unfortunately, the pumps we use for roof cleaning do not have much pressure.
So, unlike pressure cleaning, where you have 3000 PSI to pizz away, we need to keep flow and pressure loss to an absolute minimum.

We do this with fat diameter hose, and try to keep it as short as is practical.

BTW, it takes both flow and pressure to shoot chemical any distance.

The pressure starts the chemical shooting, and the flow maintains the stream.

I always suggest pulling all the hose you need up on the roof.
So, once you go up the ladder, go to the farthest away place on the roof from the ladder, if possible ?

Then, pull up another 5 feet of hose, just in case.

The fat hose is now on the roof, lying there like a big python snake sunning itself.

Fat hose tends to stay put on a roof, and does not find it's way under roofing shingles.

Hundreds of roof cleaners use 5/8 and 3/4 hose on a daily basis.

It is not a PITA

IMHO, a PITA is small diameter restrictive hose, that chokes your pump, slows ya down!

Every extra minute you are needlessly on a roof, your Lungs are slowly Frying!

We teach our roof cleaners speed, so they have more time to spend all that money ?

And, we want them to be competitive.

Running a dinky little pump and small hose here in Florida, is like David trying to fight Goliath w/o Gods help.

Big Pumps, Fat Hoses, Big Tanks, that is the RCIA way to clean roofs.

Many of us here at RCIA are pioneers of the roof cleaning art.

It is good you are asking questions, but you need not re invent the wheel.

Back when many of us started, there was no Roof Cleaning Forum, or anyone to answer these questions.

Roof Cleaning was a closely guarded secret, known only to a few, and they weren't talking.

Now, all ya have to do is simply duplicate the roof cleaning equipment we have, and go get paid!

The cost for all this roof cleaning knowledge is absolutely nothing.

And, if you are not 100% satisfied, we will gladly "refund your tuition"

People here operate on kind of an "honor system".

We teach them to clean roofs, and be a success, they go out and do it,.
They seem to come back and contribute to the cost of running this forum.

But ONLY if they want, it is entirely voluntary.

Welcome to the Forum, and we will help and guide you to being equal to the best roof cleaners in your area, IF there are any in your area.

 

idontknow wrote:

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Chris,

I realy appreciate your comments, reading through this board I can understand why every one likes you, you seem like a hell of a nice guy and the information you share is worth it's weight in gold, Thank you

Now with out sounding like a wanker, the reason I am asking these questions is that here in the land down under things are a bit different, for instants the Delevan fatboy pump you guy's pay $200 for costs me $850, but for around $250 I can buy a new diaphragm type sprayer pump used for weed spraying and spot spraying. Delivering up to 30 litres per minute (8 gpm) at pressures between 10 psi and 250 psi the pump is fitted with a contol and bypass valve that allows the variations required for different conditions, with out drive motor of course, So I figured if I could use it at say 100 - 200psi pressure then I could reduce the hose size a little.

I live in a semi tropical environment with a steady 80 deg temp all year through (shorts & T shirts all year) roof cleaning is almost non existant around here but "every roof" I see has dirt & mold on it (mostly tiles) as far as I can see if I get get my act together I could create my self a nice little earner. when I first came across this forum my eyes bulged out like some one had stod on a frog I saw the potential roof cleaning could have around here, just have to try and set it up for the right price.

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Most diapraghm type pumps will not hold up, except air powered diapraghm pumps.
And yes, with that amount of pressure, 1/2 inch hose will work fine.
1/2 inch hose will even work on an air diapraghm pump like the Yamada's and All Flows.
5/8 and 3/4 hose just work much better .

Roof Cleaning Australia looks like a Mate could earn him a Fosters or two ?

Speaking of Australia, I was just listening to the AUSTRALIAN BANDS "Midnight Oil" and "Men at Work"

I think Chawamba or Chawabamba is also an Australian Band.

Remember them ?

" I get knocked down, but I get up again" and then the girl sings "Pizzing the night away, pizzing the night away"

I think they are from Australia too ?

Let's hope they aint Kiwi's ??

No Worries !

Roof Cleaning Toledo Ohio (419) 265-3306 wrote:

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Mike can you explain to me why there is so much hipe about using 3/4 inch hose with this pump.  I bought one a month ago and the manufacturer says 1/2 inch hose is fine. I bought 5/8 hose just to be sure, but when I was hooking it all up the inlet and out let are 1/2" now that would tell me that the flow is going to get restricted right of the bat.  Also all connections like hose reels or ends are 1/2" so I would say 3/4 will give you more volume. I don't know how it works.  I do know that my pump doesn't shoot 25 feet.  Maybe 15 feet and I'm using 5/8 hose. Any thing you can do to clear this up for me would be great. Thanks,Doug

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Here is a good way to "convince yourself ?
Take some 3/8 garden hose, 100 feet of it, and hook it to an outdoor spicket ?
Then, take the same lingth of 5/8 garden hose, and watch the difference ?
Now, the inside water pipe is the same, smaller diameter,, butthe bigger hose works better.
Why ?
Because the TOTAL resistance to flow is expressed  as a series equation, where every component in the flow chain makes up only a small part of the whole.

So, the 28 inch long 1/2 inch diameter manifolds of our Titan Hose Reels only make up a small fraction of the total 300 foot hose length.
5/8 hose will work good on a delavan, 3/4 even better.
1 inch better still.
But we reach a practical hose size, that I feel is 5/8 for MY use.
IF I were using a delavan, I would use 3/4 hose, because it has less pressure to pizz away the  air pumps we use.


 

 

Roof Cleaning Toledo Ohio (419) 265-3306 wrote:

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Mike can you explain to me why there is so much hipe about using 3/4 inch hose with this pump.  I bought one a month ago and the manufacturer says 1/2 inch hose is fine. I bought 5/8 hose just to be sure, but when I was hooking it all up the inlet and out let are 1/2" now that would tell me that the flow is going to get restricted right of the bat.  Also all connections like hose reels or ends are 1/2" so I would say 3/4 will give you more volume. I don't know how it works.  I do know that my pump doesn't shoot 25 feet.  Maybe 15 feet and I'm using 5/8 hose. Any thing you can do to clear this up for me would be great. Thanks,Doug

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No hype, just physics.

Compare these two fittings:

1/2" Male pipe thread x 1/2" barb with a 1/2" Male pipe thread x 3/4" barb.

You will see exactly what I am talking about.

1/2" MPT X 3/4" barb is what you need to connect your pump to your hose.

Like Gary said, the problem might be your nozzles, valve, wire or battery, and your hose.

Install it exactly like I suggest, and you won't have problems.

Mine is still going strong since I bought it last year.

-- Edited by Roof Cleaning Pro Greensboro NC (336)362 7659 on Friday 4th of December 2009 11:33:34 PM

This is probably the best thing out there showing how to hook up your roof cleaning pump.  This is Bob from Pressure Tek.  He sells the Fat Boys and is very knowledgable. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGu3Lyr6B_c