admin The X-Jet is named that because it is an “external” injection system, introducing the cleaner to the water after all of the hoses and fittings. Using an X-Jet prolongs the life of all of your wear items such as hoses and quick-connects.
Always soap from the bottom up and rinse from the top down. You can apply a strong cleaner to the surface of the house and let it sit for about ten minutes before rinsing it off.
You can accomplish the job with many different ingredients, but degreasers and sodium hypochlorite are the primary ingredients that most professionals rely on. Our experience led us to preference for a butyl-based degreaser for its terrific results on the hydrocarbons that make the atmospheric dirt stick to the House Washing surface.
When power washing with an X-Jet, you automatically dilute the cleaner at some ratio. If you have to dilute a product before you run it through your X-Jet, the math can get pretty confusing. Let’s start with the basics of x-jets, and advance to Combination Ratios.
The X-Jet is simply a chemical delivery system disguised as a pressure-wash tool. While keeping you off of ladders for housewashing, it will deliver any chemical to places up to 40 feet up in the air without requiring that chemical to go through the pump, hoses, fittings, etc. The term we have coined for this is “external injection”. Instead of replacing brass QC fittings in as little as three months or replacing hoses as frequently as once each year (which happens when you downstream strong cleaners) these wear items can last for years when all they ever touch is water. In the end, owners of X-Jets stay off ladders more often, save lots of money on replacement parts, and save time and labor dollars.
We even demonstrated the X-Jet for our Work Comp carrier and got our premium reduced because it indicated that we would not normally use a ladder for a housewash job.
There are two inherent difficulties to overcome when you begin using this tool, however. One of these problems is the math of double dilutions. The other is mobility while working on large areas (like washing houses).
The double dilution math problem happens when you must first dilute a concentrated cleaner before putting it through the X-Jet (which dilutes the product a second time). Some of us have a hard time with ratios and proportions and proper dilutions, and double-dilutions are doubly hard to think through.
When you use an X-Jet (and you are using detergent concentrates for their cleaning power and low cost) this can all be just too much math. Many contractors just experiment until they find a mix that works, but there is a better, more exact way to look at these complex dilutions.
Let’s say you want to use Power House siding cleaner (which is so concentrated that the label advises not to use it on painted surfaces at a dilution less than 15:1). That means 15 parts water to one part detergent. With an X-Jet and this powerful cleaner, you have several options to get the desired results.
We will figure on using our 4 GPM power washer. (X-Jet proportions change according to the GPM of the equipment.) Let’s also not worry too much about being exact. If we are aiming for 15 : 1 and can easily get to 16 : 1, then we just ought to accept 16 : 1 as “close enough”.
