Newbie questions regarding pressure washer washing

I have the PWMall foam cannon coming tomorrow, and I have this Troy-Bilt pressure washer:

2600 PSI Pressure Washer - Pressure Washers - Troy Bilt

Alrighty, first off, which nozzle should I use? There is a "gentle" one, a "general one", "max" (I know not that one), and two that seem related to car washing but are very weak.

This washer has two tanks for a soap solution built in. My dad was going to use that for his car while I use my foam cannon, but the book says nothing about what kind of detergent the unit itself can handle. All it says is "pressure washer safe detergent", what's that mean?

Lastly, what exactly is the method of using a foam cannon? Foam it all up and then wash it normally with a mitt and rinse with the garden hose, or rinse with the pressure washer? Or doesn't it really matter?

I think that's it for now.

 

I would not feed soap thru the PW if you are going to use a FC.

I rinse the car with the PW, use the FC, then rinse with the PW.

I then wash the car by hand, then rinse with the hose.

 

as far as adapters, there are certain degrees. it affects the width of the spray pattern. 0* is obviously the one to avoid, as its a solid.straight stream. The higher the number, the higher the width of the fan of water coming out. I think I use something like a 25* tip on mine.

 

Thanks.

I didn't mean using the soap through the washer and the foam cannon, I just meant that my dad wanted to use that built in thing for his car, and I'd use the foam cannon for mine. He was going to try some regular carwash tonight but wasn't sure what "pressure washer safe" detergent was.

 

your dad could try some car wash soap. maybe some of the meguiars soaps will work. let us know if it does.

 

I'm assuming there are some out there that say they're safe for pressure washers, otherwise I don't know what the manual is talking about. From their web site, it says this:

Since it goes through the washer itself I'd rather him just get a specific washer safe soap for now. He uses Turtle Wax Ice soap, I use Adam's but neither say anything about being safe for pressure washers.

Oh well, he'll just have to look around this weekend I guess. I'll have fun with the foam cannon in the mean time

 

Two more questions, you use the same angle for the foam application and rinsing right? And what ratio should I use in the foam cannon, I think I read most come with no instructions.


For the heck of it, here are the tips my washer has. Sorry for the bad picture, I just to take it in a pitch black shed so the ones on the left aren't that in focus.

 

I use a quick connect setup on my wand, so I can choose between the foam cannon, and the tip like you have there. Just about any of those should be good for cars except the 0* one.

whatever ratio you want to use is up to you. I typically use 4 oz of product and fill the rest up with water, shake, then attach to the wand.

I get foam like this

 

Oh duh, I didn't even realize the foam would be coming out of the cannon and I'd need to use the actual tip to rinse.

Thanks for the help, I'll be sure to take some pictures of my results

 

Can't wait to give it a shot this weekend.

 

Glad I could be of help.

 

Thought of another question... What do you do with the rest of the solution if you don't use it all for a wash? The instructions say to run clean water through it after you use it, but if there's still soap in the tank I don't know how I'd do that.

And do you take the extension pipe off the wan or leave it on? I feel like a twit asking all these dumb questions.

The rest of my questions will probably just have to be answered through trial and error (stuff like how far to turn the knob that controls foam etc).


EDIT: Never mind about the wand question, I took it off and took the quick connect off the gun, put the connector on that I got with it and it fits fine. The quick connector actually doens't fit the pressure washer 100% anyway. Other question still stands though.

 

Ok, here is the first result with it:



I think I used one of the lesser foam settings, it shipped with the knob turned all the way one way so I backed it off a bit, but I think it shipped turned "off".

Once I get a decent routine down it will be awesome, I really don't like washing the car with the pressure washer because it left suds all over despite me going around the car two times. I'll probably just foam the car down, wash it normally, then hook the regular hose back up to rinse. Plus with the pressure washer connected I can't cascade the water off at the end and drying was a lot harder.

As for my other question about leftover, I found a cap to go on the bottle and I saved it. Don't know what else to do. I did run clean water through the gun so flush it though.

 

This just means you need to buy another tool such as leaf blower or one of the Metro blowers. One tool purchase leads to another. :giggle:

 

I have a leaf blower, I started out using them but then switched to a waffle towel. Maybe I'll try it again.

I assume it's ok to put a cap on the bottle of soapy+water and use it next time?

 

yeah its cool to save the rest for another time, but I dont

I use it all at once.