Good Morning!!!! 73F @ 4:00AM. Sunny. Hot. High near 100F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
And the heat goes on...
I agree completely with that. When you consider that flow is the mass of the water and pressure is the velocity, it’s like comparing swinging a sledge hammer slowly to a tack hammer really fast. The weight is more useful than the speed for most tasks. After about 1500 psi, look for as much flow as the power system will allow. For a 115v motor, that’s about 2 gpm at best.
It's the same argument old timers make when comparing 45 ACP to 9mm Parabellum, or 7.62 NATO to 5.56. In the
videos I linked earlier, the car detailer explains that the pressure rating can be "customized" by choosing orifices of different sizes, and that the sweet spot for automotive cleaning is about 1000 PSI @ 2GPM. For the little Ryobi units selling in the $100-$180 range, that is accomplished with a 2.5 or 3.0 orifice. If you need higher pressures for tough jobs like cleaning off sidewalks or loose paint, you can get a smaller orifice and bump the pressure up by maybe 30%, so that's what Ryobi does to reach 2000 PSI.
Amazon sells different tips if you wanna play around with that. Not sure the offer is still good, but a couple weeks ago, Ryobi was offering that pressure washer for about a hundred bux at Home Depot. I bought one, and I really like the way it works. A lot easier to manage due to the wheels, handle, light weight, and small size, too.
Some progress yesterday. Escrow did open, so I was able to setup a wire transfer for the deposit. Also received a Natural Hazards Report, which struck me as a canned version that was not specific for any particular address. It didn't contain any hazards I wasn't aware of, other than three trucking companies that apparently are run out of the driver's house. Or are they bringing hazardous waste home with them? Or is it a case of stupid computer programming?
Also learned that the loan on the house isn't a traditional second mortgage, but is instead a UUC-1, which is a lean against the solar power equipment. In the fine print I found a clause about a lower interest rate for the first 18 months to allow filing for a 30% federal tax credit on the system, and then a higher interest rate if the tax credit isn't applied to the system. From the balance due on the loan it's apparent the tax credit wasn't applied, and the seller failed to disclose that condition. So we're not out of the woods on this deal yet.
A building inspector showed up for the final on the wind damage repairs. That was going fine until he asked to come in the house and verify that smoke detectors were in place. I asked what that had to do with the scope of work, and he explained that has been a requirement in the county for quite a while. I acquiesced under protest; more government overreach. The rest of the inspection went fine.
Got about a half hour of spraying done before the side-by-side overheated, then spent the rest of the morning installing drip tubing back on the house. Got two of the five circuits done, and got a start on a third one. Hardest part was getting some of the fittings disconnected to shorten some of the runs. That half inch drip tube does not want to come out! Was finally able to overcome it with a pair of ViseGrips and a bucket load of elbow grease.
Spent the rest of the day inside unearthing the above info on the new house. Oh, and scheduling a home inspection for Friday. The recommended provider charges a whopping $450 for the service, and I figured if he can do four a day, he'd be knocking down almost a half million a year. Where can I get a job like that?
