power washer....no water

[pierrem]

I have a pole barn 1/4 mile from my cabin. There is no water or electric at the pole barn. It drives me crazy to put away my new Kubota grand l 3940 in the pole barn muddy day after day. In addition my Kawasaki mule suffers the same treatment. I have to admit I am a bit **** about taking care of my equipment.

I am trying to come up with a solution. After some research this is my best thinking....looking for best solution at a reasonable cost....buy a small used trailer maybe 4x8...mount a 100-200 gallon water tank ( I can get water from my cabin in the summer anyway) than buy a decent gas powered power washer with 100' of hose and wand with hose reel.

I started thinking about a stand alone unit on a skid with all of the above but I would need to buy forks AND 100 gallons of water and unit weighs around 1100+ pounds....Kubota dealer indicates that would be slightly more than the FEL would lift ...given that the load would be at the end of the unit.

any thoughts? .....solutions...experience...
thanks...first time posting...new member....love my Kubota!

 

[LD1]

Ever though about adding power and water up to the shed?

For the cost of what you are trying to do, maybe now is the time IF you ever plan on doing it in the future.

As to the stand alone unit.....3PH pallet forks will lift more than your loader will. But I'd be willing to bet that your L3940 would lift 1100lbs on the FEL if you are properly ballasted.

 

[bigtiller]

John Deere makes a nice "stand alone" unit on a skid that slides in the bed of a Gator.

 

[ustmd]

Welcome.

I don't know a lot about power washers, so take this with a grain of salt, but I thought most power washers had a PSI supply spec and a GPM spec. In other words, I don't think that most power washers will "suck" the water out of a standing tank, but instead rely on boosting the supply pressure (with a corresponding reduction in GPMs).

Of course, someone will come along in about 2 secs and let me know that I am wrong about that.

 

[joshuabardwell]

As to the stand alone unit.....3PH pallet forks will lift more than your loader will. But I'd be willing to bet that your L3940 would lift 1100lbs on the FEL if you are properly ballasted.

Sure, sure, but then you've got 1000 lbs of ballast on the back and 1000 lbs of cargo on the front--why do it? By putting the load on the rear, you're well within your lift capacity, your tractor is not straining at the edge of its capacity, and the skid becomes the ballast.

The only down-side I can think of is that there are a lot more uses for FEL pallet forks than for 3ph ones, so if it was a toss-up, I would probably rather have FEL forks than 3ph. But if I was going to be pushing my tractor's loader capacity, I would probably just break down and put the load on the rear, rather than go bonkers trying to make it work on the front.

 

[sodamo]

Been there, done that


When we started building our house in 2005, it very soon became apparent that having water would be really handy. Mixing concrete, paint cleanup, etc. We soon acquired a 125 gallon poly tank. I fitted it to a pallet so I could lift it in and out of my pickup with my forks. I later added one of those 12vdc, on demand type, shurflo pumps, 2.8 GPM I think, mounted to a box containing a 12 volt deepcycyle battery. Vast improvement over gravity flow. Really handy once the plumber got to the point I split off the hose and we had one flushing toilet. Refilling the tank was a chore, loading it, going to the fill point, the slow filling, trip back, unloading, reconnect. Once I had roof I established a gutter connection and rain get it filled except if very high use.
One of those high use was in fact a pressure washer, gas powered of course. The GPM was a tad behind so I couldn't do a constant spray, but it was easy enough to learn to time my bursts. It really worked great. Wouldn't hesitate todo again.

Best of luck.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[Deere Dude]

I would de-mud your tires while driving back to the house at top speed, hose it off and drive it back nice and clean.

 

[J_J]

1/4 mile is 1320 ft, and 20 ft sticks of PVC would be 66 sections, at $2.50 @= $165.

Connect the pipe to the subsoiler and pull the pipe from source to the barn, maybe phone line also.

How deep would you have to go for a shallow well.

If no electric, use gas pump on well.

Some pumps will suck from a tank or river, but you need a stiff suction hose.

.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I am with JJ on this, just run a 1" water line from your cabin. Use 1" line to take care of the friction lose you will have in that long run of pipe. You could rent a trencher or a backhoe to dig the ditch and pipe will cost less than a trailer to haul a tank on. Minus the cost of trenching, you are looking at around $200 for freeze proof 3/4" hydrant and 1320 feet of pipe. I think the hydrants are about $60. With my B26 TLB I could dig 1/4 mile of trench in a couple of days or so if normal soil conditions and not rocks and an excavator would be much faster still.

 

[forgeblast]

When you are running a line like this how deep do you go to keep the water line from freezing, your frost depth?

 

[joshuabardwell]

When you are running a line like this how deep do you go to keep the water line from freezing, your frost depth?

Consult with a local plumber. Codes vary. You always want it at least as deep as your frost line, plus a safety margin. Code may have a different idea of what is required, and the inspector (if it is ever inspected) may have a different idea still. Here is what a neighbor of mine, who is a plumber, said when I asked him a similar question:

Most local building authorities require 18" depth on water lines. However, if you look at the charts in the building code books the frost line for this area is about 11", but the minimum frost line requirement for any location is 12". However, a 6" buffer or margin of safety is usually required, thus ending up at 18" here. When I was a plumbing inspector for the City of Knoxville there was always lots of discussion on this matter and most times it was somewhat discretionary on the part of the inspector when rocky ground or other problems arose. I can tell you from experience that I hardly ever see an underground water line freeze around here anymore, and we've seen quite a few that are as shallow as 10"-12". Personally, we try to always install a new water line at 15"-18" and that is the depth I would use on my own line as well.

 

[pierrem]

Consult with a local plumber. Codes vary. You always want it at least as deep as your frost line, plus a safety margin. Code may have a different idea of what is required, and the inspector (if it is ever inspected) may have a different idea still. Here is what a neighbor of mine, who is a plumber, said when I asked him a similar question:

thanks for all the input....my water system at the cabin is from a natural spring about 1/4 mile from the cabin. I use a hydraulic ram pump to pump to the cabin....this add to the complexity. The electric is not close. I dont have it at the cabin either. I am about 1/4 to 1/3 mile from an electric pole....they would have to add 2 maybe 3 poles to get to the cabin and the same amount to get to the pole barn. probably around $15k to get electric to the cabin and about the same for the pole barn...plus plus.

I thought certain higher end powerwashers would suck from the tank?

great idea on the water from the roof. I just built the pole barn and may research using rain water come spring...thanks for all the input...new forks are aroung $600-800 just to be used for transporting the unit. I also found that a stand alone unit is much more expensive than going the tank and trailer route...you can find a trailer for a couple hundered of bucks plus the same for a tank plus a good power washer.....about $1500 vs minimum of $3500 for a stand alone....

 

[pierrem]

great idea with the shurflo and deep cycle battery.....btw great cottage in Hawaii...wow....very nice!

Been there, done that


When we started building our house in 2005, it very soon became apparent that having water would be really handy. Mixing concrete, paint cleanup, etc. We soon acquired a 125 gallon poly tank. I fitted it to a pallet so I could lift it in and out of my pickup with my forks. I later added one of those 12vdc, on demand type, shurflo pumps, 2.8 GPM I think, mounted to a box containing a 12 volt deepcycyle battery. Vast improvement over gravity flow. Really handy once the plumber got to the point I split off the hose and we had one flushing toilet. Refilling the tank was a chore, loading it, going to the fill point, the slow filling, trip back, unloading, reconnect. Once I had roof I established a gutter connection and rain get it filled except if very high use.
One of those high use was in fact a pressure washer, gas powered of course. The GPM was a tad behind so I couldn't do a constant spray, but it was easy enough to learn to time my bursts. It really worked great. Wouldn't hesitate todo again.

Best of luck.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[redfarmer]

Use rain water from pole barn roof and get a power washer pump to hookup to you tractor's PTO. And you are set to go, no hassle at all of extra engine etc.

 

[ptgdigger]

Most pressure washer pumps are fine with a "flooded inlet", meaning they will not pull water any distance or from a lower tank, but they also require no pressure at the inlet, so elevating the tank a couple feet and using a 3/4 garden hose (short as feasible) will be all you need.


Ray

 

[wthompson]

If you have a pull behind trailer, mount the water tank on it. You could pull it with tractor or pickup to fill it then pull it back to barn connect pressure washer and let gravity feed the water. We have one mounted like this with the pressure washer and hot water burner mounted on a dual axle trailer. Pull it anywhere the tractors are.

 

[forgeblast]

I have 3/4 poly burried around our property to run water lines to different parts (garden, orchard, barn etc) but I have it hooked up to the outside and when it gets cold i just use the air compressor to blow the water out of the lines. It lets me use the water all summer long, in winter I just carry the water to the chickens. Thanks for the info I appreciate it.