[drive surgeon]

spoke to somone on the docks, he said he dipped his suction hose in the dock so he had a water supply to clean stuff down there, anyone done this? is it any good for the machine?  sounds a good idea if you live by the sea but dont know about the salt running through the machine?

[steve doyle]

cant see it being a problem untill the equitment dries out, then there will be salt residue left and that cant be good. I dont think the salt would corrode anything (poss rubber seals?) as a one off but prolonged use might.

As a one off, If everything was completely rinsed out with lots of water it would probably be fine but would you really want to risk it?

Not me.

[BDCS]

Hello, I did a week cleaning pontoons at a marina , they insisted I used sea water because of the water rates. I run 200 ltrs of fresh water through the machine at the end of the day and everything was fine. I had to unblock the suction strainer and filter regularly.The bottom photo are the pontoons http://www.bdcleaningservices.co.uk/blockanddrivecleaning.html

[Jeremy]

The secret to using sea water is good filtration and never leave the machine without flushing with normal water after use.

[Cleaning Resource]

I wouldn`t fancy keeping my boat at that marina, that pontoon looks rather rickety to me, 

[Cleaning Resource]

although it is nice and clean 

[drive surgeon]

i thought it would cause some damage to the seals or pump with the salt inside it? would need to speak to the maker of the pump i suppose, its a direct pump.

[BDCS]

Tech clean supplied interpump, they were ok with it. it was 3 years ago and its still ok. Theyb were at Ramsgate marina and they charge loads to use those pontoons

[Cleaning Resource]

I got a contract for a marina down here in devon and they have just replaced all of their pontoons, the ones they threw away were in better condition than ramsgates.

How is Ramsgate anyway, I moved to devon from margate, i`d suggest anyone living there to do the same.

[John Kelly]

Salt water wouldn't damage seals but will corrode brass and other metal fittings. Not a problem as long as its washed down afterwards with plenty of fresh water.
Liken it to an outboard engine, this is cooled using sea water but flushed through afterwards to get rid of any salt deposits. Mines about 10 years old and still going strong, outboard that is.

[drivewasher]

The rules for pumps like ours with ceramic pistons are No chemicals through it whatsoever with the EXEPTION of salt water.

Chemical should be added downsream to the pump as owt in the pump like tfr or disinfectant will damage the seals.
Some agricutural users who need an exact % of solution (like say 10 liters of chicken house cleaner to 1000 litres of water)will mix it in a ibc tank to the correct strength, and drop the suction hose in the tank. This causes seals top wear quickly but they say its cheaper to fit new seals twice a year than to get the mix wrong as the stuff is very expensive and has to be exactly mixed to do its job to defra specs.
Adding the chem downstream is very hit and miss

[John Kelly]

Our Prowler truckmounts use Hypro pumps with direct chemical injection via the pump head. We use a variety of detergents and disinfectants. I have one which is 3 years old and has been well used and has never had a set of seals.

[drivewasher]

Don't know about carpet cleaning pumps, but they are most liklely designed for that purpose where as interpump  plunger pumps aren't.
Just looked at the hypro site at plunger pumps, they are very expensive compared to the pumps fitted to drivewashing machines, it's most likley the material the seals and packers are made of

[John Kelly]

The Hypro pump fitted is rated at 2000 psi and we use it was washing down as well. Not really powerfull enough for out and out drivecleaning but ok for flood cleanups.

[ace jetwash]

this is crazy, so you all saying that my brendon p/w that has a pipe for chemicals on the suction side of the pump cant be used ?

[drivewasher]

If youre useing your machine as it was purchased then it should be ok.
Interpump and comet pumps have the chem added on the high pressure side as thats what the manufacturer recomends. This means that the chem can only be added when when the pressure is reduced usually by a dual wand arrangement.
If you can only add chem when on low pressure then its added after the pump

[Roger Oakley]

Simple answer, build yourself a shurflo system for chemical applications, about £150.00 and keep the pressure washer for what it was intended, pressure washing.

[ace jetwash]

makes more sense now, i was worried i was ruining my p/w but the reason why i bought it was to use tfr at 3000 psi.