NorthStar Pressure Washer Heater

[Goomer]

I will be doing a lot of power washing, and will have a generator in my van. I was looking at a Little Giant, but with only being able to handle up to 1400 psi on the HP model, it really doesn't help much with a 4000 psi pressure washer. I need a heat source that I can use for power washing, as well as be able to hook it to my van-mounted portable carpet extractor.
Anyone using one of these for power washing AND carpet cleaning?

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200377863_200377863

 

[sweendogg]

If you are already going to go to the trouble of running a generator, and I'm guessing either a seperate gas or electric pressure washer or your truckmount, why not just put the money out either on a decent wheelbarrel size gas Hot water pressure washer or even the entry trailer model that Northern Tool sells. You will get the heat and pressure you want and if you have the trailer style, you have onboard water access as well. Just a thought.

 

[Dolly Llama]

I will be doing a lot of power washing,

then buy the best you can afford

Hotsy is the best


http://www.hotsy.com/ViewCategories.aspx?Cid=546

as far as the the fuel burner you listed, it weighs 300 pounds and is HUGE over kill for a porty.
It might not even have enough flow to trigger the flow switch ..I donno

..L.T.A.

 

[mwall2230]

I know someone that uses that same heater for CC and he loves it. I've never seen it in action, only sitting in his van. He says he can get it as hot as he wants.

 

[rotovacguy]

I'm in the same boat as you, Frank. I checked that same unit out at Northern Tool in Milwaukee. It is way smaller in person than what I thought it would be. The SHIPPING weight is 310 lbs, but I was able to easily move it with the wheels and handles on it. I'd say it's probably closer to 250 lbs after you shed the weight of the packaging and pallet. But that was DRY weight, so once you fuel that puppy up, I'm sure 300 lbs is about what it would tip the scales at.


According to the site, it needs a pressure washer rated for AT LEAST 2 GPM. That would be a problem for what comes factory in every porty I've seen. Just upgrade to the external 3.2 GPM John Deere (Mi-T-M) / General pump unit I use. It's about $750 and should easily trigger the flow switch on that heater. It's a bit more of a PITA to run an external like I do versus a unit with the pump already mounted, but when those cold nights come around, it's nice to be able to just put the pump in the house to prevent freezing.

 

[Goomer]

It might not even have enough flow to trigger the flow switch ..I donno
.L.T.A.

According to the site, it needs a pressure washer rated for AT LEAST 2 GPM. That would be a problem for what comes factory in every porty I've seen. Just upgrade to the external 3.2 GPM John Deere (Mi-T-M) / General pump unit I use. It's about $750 and should easily trigger the flow switch on that heater.

You guys are right on, I meant to look into the "at least 2 GPM" issue. My pressure washer is going to be 4.0 GPM, so that's no problem, but I was wondering what my porty GPM output would be. It's going to be a Mytee M5 with a wand flow of 6 or maybe 8.

What's the formula to figure this out?

I did not realize this thing was that heavy. Maybe i will look for a smaller one. I really would love one kick ass heat source for both applications.

 

[Mikey P]

How much an hour can you generate for Pressure Washing in your area?

 

[floorguy]

http://www.semfg.com/

Heres the one i use, under carpet cleaning....it works good, i suppose you could rig it to a dolly...


only thing i would change is to have a burner ring...i think sometime this summer i will switch mine

i have PW a few times with it, its rated up to 10k psi i think they said (schd 80 steel pipe) And i think their flow switch is at .5 or 1 gpm or you could by one or ask doo daddy for one

 

[Goomer]

http://www.semfg.com/

Heres the one i use, under carpet cleaning....it works good, i suppose you could rig it to a dolly...

The 2 stage burner is interesting. Fire one for CC, 2 for PW.
What's that thing weigh?

 

[floorguy]

uhhh its around the 250-300 range..it almost tipped me over when i uncrated it...lol wasnt paying attention

 

[Goomer]

How much an hour can you generate for Pressure Washing in your area?

I have only recently decided to add PW equipment, so I haven't really looked into it too much.
It's hard in NYC to get anyone legitimate, from a locksmith to a plumber, to come out to you and do anything for under around 75 bucks an hour. I'm not sure what my ceiling is on this.
I already lined up several dumpster pads and storefronts, and I quoted it around that, and all agreed, but then again these are people I know. I do know one guy who has a weekly contract for a garbage co. cleaning 10 garbage trucks per week. He says he will average around 75-100 per hour depending on how long it takes. I'm sure there are guys around that will work cheaper, the question is how professional are they and are they running some 300 dollar Home Depot piece of shit. I'm investing in some decent equipment and hopefully some serious heat, so if you want me, I wouldn't do it for less, unless it was a add on to another service like offering a restaurant a deal to hit their sidewalk, since I will already be there doing there carpets. I do have to look into it a little further though.

 

[Mikey P]

What sort of vehicle are you fitting a PW and a TM in?

 

[Goomer]

http://www.semfg.com/
And i think their flow switch is at .5 or 1 gpm or you could by one or ask doo daddy for one

What are the parameters for switching a flow switch?
Can you just swap them out to meet your needs without any issues?
Can I just swap out the flow switch on the North Star unit?

 

[Goomer]

What sort of vehicle are you fitting a PW and a TM in?

Full size cargo van.
No truckmount, no fresh/waste tanks right now, maybe a small waste tank in the future.
Here's the lineup as far as main components..

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

A vac booster, a 175/op machine, a surface spinner, all the smalls, and away we go.

 

[dealtimeman]

keep us posted on what you do end up getting.


i will tell you that a buddy in town bought himself a used hosty in a van for 4500 and has been doing pretty good money with it in the short time he has owned it.

 

[floorguy]

http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHF ... low+switch


should need to just unscrew and re-screw in

 

[Goomer]

Thanks Doug, I'll look into it a little more.

 

[rotovacguy]

One word of caution, Frank.


I know that the lowball price of Home Cheapo can be too good to pass up, but they do not service anything. Much like Wal Fart, they pretty much force the manufacturer to cut corners for that low price. For example, the John Deere equipment you get at Home Cheapo is NOT the same as the stuff you'd get at the implement dealer. It's built much cheaper and does not last. Not saying that that Ridgid unit is a POS, who knows, it may very well be an excellent unit...idk. I'd get in touch with an actual dealer, preferably local, and do some comparisons. One thing I might add would be to look into a belt driven model if you are planning on putting some mega hours on it. The pumps on direct mounted equipment vibrate too much, spin too fast, and get exposed to too much heat from the motor (can't breathe as well as a unit mounted on it's own), putting a lot of needless wear and tear on your pump.


If you're a handy guy and can rebuild the pump on that pressure washer, good for you, just make sure you can order replacement parts for that pump, cause much like a sump pump, it's not a matter of "IF" you will have a breakdown, it's a matter of "WHEN".

 

[Desk Jockey]

I agree with Larry, Hotsy makes great machines. We've had a couple of their units, in fact we use one daily installed as a push button car wash.

Solid machines with a variety of heat and pressure options both hot and cold depending on your application.

 

[RachelRoberts]

If you are using the heater often, please descale the inside of the heater with Descaler System Maintainer monthly! Failure to do so will cause mineral build up on the inside of the heating coils causing you to use more heating fuel and ultimately cause your burner to develop clogged heating coils (heater hart attack.) One you have a heater hart attack, you will have to replace the water coils.

People that use the Dragon/ NorthStar heater with a portable carpet cleaning machine would use building water pressure to the Dragon/ NorthStar, heat the water, send the water to the wand, suck up the water with the portable. The wand will have larger jets than normal installed in it. Usually 11006. Please note that because the dragon heater will produce live steam results, you should leave the portable outside or in a bathroom with the exhaust fan on. You will have to aggressively run the A/C in the customer house during and after the process to remove the humidity. Carpets dry almost instantly!

Please note the water temp is adjustable so there are time you would want to turn it down. When turned up all the way, you solution hose laying over your customers lawn will KILL THE GRASS. In about 24 hours after you clean your customer carpet, they will have a bright yellow dead spot across the lawn where you have your solution hose lay.

The more aggressive you clean, the more often you will have to replace your solution hoses. I was a fairly aggressive cleaner and would replace my hoses every year. This heater can roast the crap out of them.

Links:
http://www.hts-direct.co.uk/

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

This heater is flow-fired with a switch and will not perform like you might imagine when you are intermittantly triggering a carpet tool. There's a lag time between the flow switch being made and the actual flame. It is very likely that you will get little or no flow fired heat from this heater because your flow circuit will not be closed long enough to fire the burner and stay alive long enough to get any heat generated. I cannot stress enough the dissappointment you will have going from flow fired pressure washing to trying to get it fired up with intermittent carpet triggering. If you by-pass the flow switch with an on-off manual switch you will be left with the thermostat as the only regulating devise in the system. This is very dangerous and will require that you trigger often to keep water moving over the thermostat.

If you want 2,500 psi, thermostatically controlled heat up to 250 (or even 300 degrees) with a burner circuit that totally understands carpet cleaning, contact Bob Savage, Savage Truckmounts.

 

[Goomer]

This heater is flow-fired with a switch and will not perform like you might imagine when you are intermittantly triggering a carpet tool. There's a lag time between the flow switch being made and the actual flame. It is very likely that you will get little or no flow fired heat from this heater because your flow circuit will not be closed long enough to fire the burner and stay alive long enough to get any heat generated. I cannot stress enough the dissappointment you will have going from flow fired pressure washing to trying to get it fired up with intermittent carpet triggering. If you by-pass the flow switch with an on-off manual switch you will be left with the thermostat as the only regulating devise in the system. This is very dangerous and will require that you trigger often to keep water moving over the thermostat.

If you want 2,500 psi, thermostatically controlled heat up to 250 (or even 300 degrees) with a burner circuit that totally understands carpet cleaning, contact Bob Savage, Savage Truckmounts.

This post was started over 1 year ago.

Heater works perfect.
Temp swing +/- 15 degrees with intermittent triggering. I did change the original flow switch to one that requires less flow to fire (.75 gal)
I notice zero lag with this switch. Assuming the output temp is bellow the thermostat setting, the burner will fire within 2 seconds of triggering the wand, and shut off when thermostat temp is reached.

 

[FredC]

"Rachel" bumped the thread to plug the pressure washer review site which is just a cover for for her amazon affiliate links.

someone has been reading/watching "amazon treasure chest"

 

[Dolly Llama]

This heater is flow-fired with a switch and will not perform like you might imagine when you are intermittantly triggering a carpet tool. There's a lag time between the flow switch being made and the actual flame. It is very likely that you will get little or no flow fired heat from this heater because your flow circuit will not be closed long enough to fire the burner and stay alive long enough to get any heat generated.

Scott, are referring "specifically" to the burner Frank linked?
Or is this a "general" comment about fuel fired burners?

if the latter....


how many fuel fired systems have you used???
The Wayne burner on Powermatics is the same Wayne burner that's on my friend's large TM'd pressure washing system...just a higher BTU nozzle jet and larger heating coil firebox

The fuel burner I used on my Frankinbuilt TM years ago is the same one used with many power washing burner carts.
It's also the same burner used on the El Diablo

There's a lag time between the flow switch being made and the actual flame.

I'm not sure what "lag" time you're talking about.
There is no lag time...trigger the flow and "poof" there's flame in the fire box .
It's pretty much instant


..L.T.A.

 

[floorguy]

thats why i wet all the way across...then dry all the way back....

did that sound right???

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

I've had my hands on this very NorthStar heater. The lag time I'm speaking about is when the flow switch is closed, there's a couple seconds before the burner throws fire. When the flow is broken, the flame extinguishes, no lag time at all. I'm not qualified to comment on the ignitions sytems of other heaters (well maybe the Farley brand), just commenting I what I personally saw. If others here have used heaters with flow fired systems that have modified lag times of the burner shutting off then great.

 

[Dolly Llama]

I've had my hands on this very NorthStar heater. The lag time I'm speaking about is when the flow switch is closed, there's a couple seconds before the burner throws fire. When the flow is broken, the flame extinguishes, no lag time at all. I'm not qualified to comment on the ignitions sytems of other heaters (well maybe the Farley brand), just commenting I what I personally saw. If others here have used heaters with flow fired systems that have modified lag times of the burner shutting off then great.

gotcha ..maybe the heater you saw wasn't burning efficiently???
or maybe sump'um else...I donno

i do know all the flow fired systems I've seen and used (if running right) have no lag time to speak of.
certainly not "seconds"
any measurable lag time would be the time it takes for a fuel solenoid to open
and then the time it takes for fuel at 100psi to flow 3-5 inches and spray out of the jet nozzle across the electrodes
That "might" be a half second???


..L.T.A.

 

[tmdry]

I have the same heater as Frank's w/ same modified flow switch St-6 from Wintrax (spelling?). Works great, no issues. I have a thermometer right on my wand, whatever I set the temp on the heater that's what I get on the wand, doesn't matter the distance or psi, if you trigger on and off for wet/dry strokes, you won't notice much of a temp drop.

Ps...I still love the "after burner jet" noise. 8)

 

[juniorc82]

I own that unit and I love it. I get fast consistant heat that keeps coming and never drops. This thing knocks the soxs off a little giant because it can handle way more pressure and flow. I have had mine for 2 years and had no problems other than replaced flow switch (around 50 bucks). If you get one put a differant flow switch on so the burner will light at lower pressures and flows. I hot power wash with mine , also degreased an industrial kitchen floor a week ago it was great. Dude this thing is a monster you will love it. The only sacrifice is you have one power cord to plug in but after you geta taste of the heat it wont matter

 

[tmdry]

I own that unit and I love it. I get fast consistant heat that keeps coming and never drops. This thing knocks the soxs off a little giant because it can handle way more pressure and flow. I have had mine for 2 years and had no problems other than replaced flow switch (around 50 bucks). If you get one put a differant flow switch on so the burner will light at lower pressures and flows. I hot power wash with mine , also degreased an industrial kitchen floor a week ago it was great. Dude this thing is a monster you will love it. The only sacrifice is you have one power cord to plug in but after you geta taste of the heat it wont matter

+1 Iseeru