One of the best ways to make money in the pressure washer business is to pressure wash heavy equipment. It’s not necessarily easy work and you’ll get pretty oily, but it’s steady work and there’s a lot of it. You will need to know about the different types of equipment and the issues that preventative maintenance technicians, operators, and owners are concerned about.
scrapers
The average scraper costs more than $250,000. With these monsters, excavation companies can literally move mountains. The sheer size of the scrapers and the power it takes to propel them, plus all the dirt these machines move, add up to extremely dirty engine compartments. A small oil leak and dust sticks to the grease, clogging the radiator flanges and causing fire hazards and cooling problems.
Scrapers are probably some of the most difficult equipment to clean. Like bulldozers and turret-mounted tracks, they are difficult to climb. Their sheer size and the time to clean them seem like an impossible task, but give yourself 3-4 hours and you’ll have it so clean you can eat it. Give yourself 10 hours and you’ll be ready for fresh paint.
Keep in mind that scrapers collect a lot of grease and oily dirt in the center where all the hydraulic components meet. This occurs due to hydraulic leaks or an overzealous mechanic with a heavy hand on the grease gun. He just goes in there and blows it up everywhere. You must first remove it by conventional methods.
excavators
The average bulldozer sells for around $180,000. Although the concept of it is relatively simple, it is important to clean it thoroughly. Remove all outer panels, rotate turntable 90° and extend arm forward as far as it will go. In this way, you will be able to clean the arm and all the hydraulic fitting that surrounds it. The cab should be thoroughly rinsed and the body cleaned from bottom to top and inside to outside and then rinsed the other way. When it is completely clean, all the panels are put back on and then the cabin is soaped, rinsed again and detailed. This is a three to four and a half hour job on a large excavator with a cab.
excavators
Excavators are some of the most worked equipment in excavation. It can clean everything from massive D-10 bulldozers to an old John Deere Museum piece from the 1960s. Lots of bulldozer owners have lots of pieces of equipment, one we recently worked for owns another 136 pieces of serious heavy equipment used in the construction of highways, clearing of forests and leveling of future roads for housing. Most of the larger excavation companies have numerous contracts for flood control, hurricane demolition and land cleanup in five states so you have to do a good job because the references are endless and you will need to buy more equipment and Hire more steam cleaning pressure washer employees for your needs. business.
A small dozer, like a D-4, can take an hour to an hour and a half to three hours to clean, including the cab. A D-10 or larger can take up to three hours, and if it’s dirty, up to seven. This service includes complete cleaning of the triple radiators with steam and 1500 PSI with 6 gpm, so as not to bend the flanges of the radiators. We recommend that you use a dual tip system with 2 15° angled tips.
An engine in a D-10, if overheated, can cause permanent damage. New engines cost around $55,000.00. You must take our job seriously and realize that you must help the owner maintain his equipment. Downtime is just as deadly in the excavation business as it is in the pressure washing business. By keeping heavy equipment clean, it’s easy to spot oil and hydraulic leaks earlier so they can be fixed before permanent damage occurs. Your ability to help owners maintain such equipment is a very important factor in your success.
By establishing a preventative cleaning program and avoiding any union work, you will be virtually invisible, environmentally friendly, and extremely profitable. Not to mention a very valuable resource for your team. Think about cleaning heavy equipment and expanding your pressure washer business today.