pressure washer cleaning solutions

Aluminum likes ammonia just fine.

from http://www.instructables.com/community/Ammonia--Aluminum/:

"NASA approves of using ammonia, NH3, a great refrigerant, in their aluminum heat pipes. But they say, "trace amounts of water in ammonia can lead to a reaction with the aluminum container and the formation of hydrogen gas." This is where I learned it at: http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/llis/0698.html"

See if you can purchase a chemical injector for your pump, (that's what I use). It connects to the outlet side of the pump and allows you to draw chemical into the water stream without it going through the pump. Bleach is going to the best and cheapest for mildew, I've been running it through my lines and gun for years.

Barring that, just get a quality hand held or backpack style manual pump sprayer and use that to spray your solution, use pressure washer to clean off. I've never used ammonia for anything, so I can't comment on that.

GA from me.

And by the way, for the others, using amonia solution is not the same as NH3 gas. NH3 OH is caustic and will remove the protective Aluminium Oxyde coating that forms on the Aluminium surface (Anodizing) and makes it prone to attack by mild acid solutions and also caustic solutions (pitting the surface etc.).

Try (believe it or not) liquid Tide with bleach. Doesnt hurt our pressure washers at all and works to prep walls and roofs for our coating.

www.ct-texas.com

Comprehend the rate descibed on say the best bleach available to mix with washing clothes. Now consider tham massive volume of water say 25000 litres to a drum of pool chlorine to get rid of the mold. try this 50/50 chlorine and water in a pump sprayer, leave 15 mins and blast off. There is no commercially avaible cleaner that will better this mix, caution will destroy any plant it touches, and burns the crap out of you eys when doing eves without googles, confined spaces use a breather or spray and run leave 30 mins for air to clear and then blast. Oh and the mix will eat the head of the sprayer, so buy plastic or cheapo ones for about a months use.

I stand corrected. I was thinking anhydrous. (Many ammonia air units are made of aluminum.)

Hi e-mail address,

Also, never use alkalin products, which attack the Aluminum parts. NH4OH is at pH above 10, don't use it. Aluminum is sensitive to many products, acids and alkalins.

Washing immediately or later, the dammage will be done in your pump. My suggestion is to change your pump to be efficient to wash, which is your job.

Best wishes for the upcoming holidays, Gil.

In your case, I can say that your pressure washing machine is old and you should update it with a brand new one for a better presure and a better cleaning result. I know that the machines are expensive nowadays, but I am using the services of sparklewash. The guys from there came with their latest technologies for pressure washing and did a great job with my house. They washed the entire house from the outside, and now it looks gorgeous again. This way, I saved a lot of money and time instead of buying a new pressure machine and doing it myself.

These battery powered sprayers are great...spray your bleach solution first with a sprayer, then rinse it off with the pressure washer, repeat as needed...