Making a Jetter by using a pressure washer?

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Dollar_Bill

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I have talked with a plumber who suggested making a jetter from a pressure washer by adding a jetter line. This would seem to be a relatively simple project.

I do mainly new work and only occasionally need a jetter, I can buy a Sewer Jetter Kit with either a 1/4" or 3/8" ID Schieffer sewer hose. 4400 psi. Hoses come in 100' or 200' lengths. 1/4" would give me 2.5 GPM. 3/8" 3.5 GPM.

I can get a pressure washer hose reel to hold the hose.

I have a Ridgid 3200psi pressure washer and a smaller electric one.

Most drain lines are 2" - 4".

Any tips?
Ideas?
Concerns I could address up front?
Would you suggest a 1/4" or 3/8" ID?

Bill
 
I would say all you need other then the hose and reel would be nozzles.

http://www.amazingmachinery.com/splash-nozzles.html

John

Thank you, John. I will talk with them today.

Yesterday I had a good talk with Charlie, the Tech at http://www.watercannon.com/c-217-jetter-parts-accessories-drain-cleaner-equipment.aspx

He wanted to know about my pressure washer:

3300 PSI
3 GPM
CAT pump

What size lines I want to clean out?
2" - 4"

He recommended I get

1/4" hose of 130' length.
A ball valve to regulate flow.
A nozzle kit with
1. Laser head that has 3 jets back and one jet forward
2. Rotating head
3. Corner head
4. Ram head
A hose reel.

About $500 including shipping

The 1/4" hose will carry 2.5 to 3 GPM. Heads have different flow rates that need to be matched to pressure flow from pressure washer. Too small and can build up too much pressure. Too large and cleaning is compromised. The hose is pulled through the drain by the head that creates a jet action. A 1/4" hose will turn elbows in smaller diameter drains more easily than a 3/8" hose.

A ball valve is needed to control flow. This will do an easier job than having to hold the trigger on a pressure washer wand. Possibly a foot operated valve would be even better.

I was warned NOT to use quick connect fittings on the hose / nozzles that go INSIDE the drain as they can get disconnected. If you have two hoses connected together, this is especially important, as a hose disconnected inside a drain can be a problem to retrieve.

There are several good videos about using a pressure washer on youtube.
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=v...l15608l0l18014l20l20l4l7l5l0l195l1290l2.7l9l0

I have also talked with http://priindustries.openfos.com/ who offered similar equipment for about $300. Water Cannon has a better web presence, but is a bit more money. The salesman with PRI was not very jetter tech savvy, but is putting me in touch with his tech today.

I will also follow John's suggestion for Amazing Machinery though a post on another forum was suggesting Water Cannon had better products. My concern is the quality of the hose in particular. I don't mind paying for a better hose, but how to know if certain equipment is better, or is a different vendor selling the same equipment at a higher price?
 
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just got a similar system. works great I have a little larger pressure washer running mine but its almost overkill. your system will work great. hose sure gets greasy though. a little messy.
 
just got a similar system. works great I have a little larger pressure washer running mine but its almost overkill. your system will work great. hose sure gets greasy though. a little messy.

Do you clean the hose afterwards with the pressure washer and some liquid soap?
 
We have a 24hp honda with a comet pump that we use as a jetter. It an also be used as a pressure washer. What we find VERY helpful while jetting is that we can turn a ball valve on the pump and the jetter will pulsate. For some reason the pulsating helps us to go further in the lines as well as cleans them better. Thought I'd share!
 
Yeh the pulsating digs the jetter in deeper its a very nice feature that's what we have on our jetters but our psi is also much higher you may think over kill but grease is hard to get out we also have hot water feature.

Ben Franklin Plumbing Of Alpine
304 Meadowlark Drive, Alpine, UT 84004
(801) 960-1567 ‎ benfranklinplumbingalpine.com
 
Yeh the pulsating digs the jetter in deeper its a very nice feature that's what we have on our jetters but our psi is also much higher you may think over kill but grease is hard to get out we also have hot water feature.

Ben Franklin Plumbing Of Alpine
304 Meadowlark Drive, Alpine, UT 84004
(801) 960-1567 ‎ benfranklinplumbingalpine.com

All sounds good to me. If I were a full-feature plumber, I could justify the expense. This works well enough for me on the smaller jobs. Better than a snake.
 
Hi,

I have rental property that has a 200ft 3" ABS main line to the sewer. I have a cleanout outside the house and another 80 ft out. As shown in the [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA_vhLMbN6U&feature=channel_video_title"]video[/ame], there are bellies in the main line 100ft from the house. This line backs up periodically and causes problems for the tenants. Every 4 months, I have the plumber come out to jet the line. I was wondering if I could do the same using the pressure washer to jetter conversion approach. Instead of waiting for the pipe to clog, I could jet it once a month as a preventative measure.

I was thinking of getting a gas pressure washer 3000 psi/2.5gpm from costco and a 100ft jetter kit. Do you think that this would be the right approach to solving my problem?
 
The right approach would be to make the repairs to the line were it has settled. That would put an end to your problems. If one of my rentals had that problem, even though I have the jetter I wouldn't want to have to jet the line once a month. Jetting a line that long takes some time. It's not just a matter of sending the jetter down the line. You have to work it back and fourth at the proper time to remove the grease. That takes feel that only comes with experience.

John
 
I have quote of 10K to fix the line (which isn't possible at this time). The company that comes to jet the line every 4 months spends about 20-25 min from start to finish to jet the line. It is worth my while to spend twice the amount of time to take care of this myself.

So my concern at this point is whether the jetter (whose specifics I have identified) above will be sufficient for the job. Any comments? Thanks.
 
In the 1980s I lived in a rental house. Once there was a sewer blockage of some sort, and the landlord brought along a rubber check ball of some kind, which he attached to a garden hose. He ran the hose and ball into a cleanout in the basement, and when he turned on the water it vibrated the pipe quite impressively, and washed out the clog. I hadn't thought about it for decades until the reference to vibration in this thread.
 
As per discussion, i realized that all of you are experts, having good piece of knowledge on best pressure washers and cleaning services, due to relevancy i don’t want to make a separate post for my question. What do you guys recommend me if i want to buy new and best pressure washer for home use? Is it wise decision to buy or should continue with pressure cleaning services?
 
mikethorns,

Not knowing the price of an adequate rig, a third option is to rent one by the hour or partial day periodically.
 

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