Have any of you tried this with a pressure washer?

[Sandhill Crane]

I use a shipping container for firewood equipment, which I would like to power wash.
It's been a couple years and the pale tan/off white on the north side is turning a shade of green.
It is a one time use container, and I'd like to keep it up, and looking decent.
I believe it is too far to run a hose, at maybe 250' or more.
If I got an IBC container with the bladder tank, would gravity be enough to supply a small pressure washer?
Would the bladder have to be pressurized with air?
Would I need a 12 volt water pump, like a boat or RV?
Or should I hire someone to come out and power wash it?

 

[stumpy75]

How about Wet and Forget? Just spray it on with a 2 gallon tank sprayer, wait a couple of months, and it should be clean. I have used this on my roof to get the algae/moss off of it, and it works good for that. Also tried it on the north side of my garage with good results.

https://www.amazon.com/Forget-80000...7389194&sprefix=wet+and+forget,aps,231&sr=8-7

 

[loadthestove]

In a short reply,Yes ,I have done same thing on some farm equipment in the past.Gravity will work.At least it did for me.

 

[holeycow]

Works all the time at the motocross races...

 

[Ryan'smilling]

Yep, it works, especially if you can keep the ibc tote up off the ground a few feet or more.

I will add that if you're shopping for an ibc tote, be sure you look at what type of threads it has. Some have 2" npt, which you can adapt to garden hose with parts from any hardware store. The rest have proprietary threads and you pretty much need to go to eBay for an adapter. The adapters aren't real expensive per se, but you can't get what you need locally.

 

[Fatherwheels]

Yep, it works, especially if you can keep the ibc tote up off the ground a few feet or more.

I will add that if you're shopping for an ibc tote, be sure you look at what type of threads it has. Some have 2" npt, which you can adapt to garden hose with parts from any hardware store. The rest have proprietary threads and you pretty much need to go to eBay for an adapter. The adapters aren't real expensive per se, but you can't get what you need locally.

There should be a spec for the amount of water your power washer needs / put out per minute,
but yes, we use gravity to feed ours, you can test by opening the valve on the tank and let it fill
a 5 gallon drum and count how long that takes, it should take less than a minute, if so then you
can supply a washer that puts out 22 or so liters per minute. Most small washers around here
put out between 16 and 22 LPM.

 

[CentaurG2]

Gravity feed should work just fine or you could just run out a hose. There is a line between washing paint and stripping it off. For automotive paint, the general rule of thumb is to keep psi below 1000 and get as much water flow as you can. In general, you can adjust the psi of any given pressure washer by changing out the nozzle tip size to increase or decrease pressure based on the GPM your washer puts out. You can always go with a larger nozzle. Too small and you risk damaging your equipment. Handy little chart.



Pressure Washer Nozzle Selection Chart – Powerwash.com



Most common angle for paint washing is 40degree nozzle. If you are going to do it yourself, consider adding a foam cannon. It will save you some time.

 

[Philbert]

I have seen ads for several battery powered pressure washers (!) that can draw from a tank, lake, 5-gallon bucket, etc.

I have not used one personally, but might be the right product for this application.

WORX, DeWalt, Black & Decker, Ryobi, etc.

Philbert

 

[Del_]

You may be able to drop a suction line right into the top opening of the tank and need no fittings at all. I connect six together via siphon hoses for our garden rain water storage system. No fittings!

 

[CentaurG2]

I have seen ads for several battery powered pressure washers (!) that can draw from a tank, lake, 5-gallon bucket, etc.

I have not used one personally, but might be the right product for this application.

WORX, DeWalt, Black & Decker, Ryobi, etc.

Philbert

I own a worx “pressure washer”. It has an attachment so you can feed it with a soda bottle. It is a pressure washer in name only. Automatic spray bottle is more appropriate. I use it for detail washing of interior automotive components and quick cleanups on exterior paint. I doubt anyone would be happy with its performance on a cargo container.

Worx Hydroshot Used For Engine Bay Cleaning - I'm In Love! - YouTube



I think sunjoe makes a bigger battery unit.



The Pressure Washing Project: E19 - Testing SunJoe SPX6001C-XR "Bucket Joe" - YouTube

 

[Philbert]

I doubt anyone would be happy with its performance on a cargo container.

As noted, I am intrigued by the idea, but have not tried any personally, and cannot compare the different brands.

Would be tempted to try one on this type of project.

Philbert

 

[muddstopper]

I used to clean fifthwheel campers using a pumpup garden sprayer. I would mix clorox and pinesol in the sprayer and just walk around the camper and spray it on. Start at the bottom and work your way to the top to prevent streaking. I found the pinesol in the mix helped prevent that chalky look once dry. A garden hose will rinse the spray off, just dont let the spray dry on the trailer before trying to rinse. If it dries, you have to respray and you endup with streaks. The clorox and pine sol also works well cleaning vinyl sideing on houses. We used to do the same thing when washing heavy equipment, except we had a heated pressure washer to remove the heavy grime. Some of the degreaser we used to use would take your skin off, then we went to purple cleaner, which was almost as bad. The purple cleaner, if left to long before rinse had a tendency to turn our orange machines a pretty pink color. As for using a tote to supply water to a pressure washer, we did it all the time, no pump needed, just keep the tote higher than the pressure washer. Our hot water pressure washer was just a 500gal water tank with the pressure washer mounted on the tongue.

 

[CentaurG2]

As noted, I am intrigued by the idea, but have not tried any personally, and cannot compare the different brands.

Would be tempted to try one on this type of project.

Philbert

They have a nitch. You have a project that needs minimum water but applied at some pressure, they can be a very useful tool. Spot cleaning a spill on cement floor in your garage or basement or cleaning something (like the bottom of your barn boots) in the dead of winter after you have turned off the hose. For automotive cleaning, they use so little water you can fuel them with distilled. It avoids water spots. Handy toy but they are nothing like a real pressure washer.

 

[stumpy75]

I used to clean fifthwheel campers using a pumpup garden sprayer. The clorox and pine sol also works well cleaning vinyl siding on houses.

Wet and Forget is somewhat like this, except you just leave it on, and let the rain wash it off. It's similar to what is used at Arlington Cemetery to keep the monuments clean. They use stuff called D/2 Biological Solution there, which is more expensive than Wet and Forget. I have used both on monuments and buildings, and both work well. Easier than power washing, but it does take 2-3 months to work and to see the results.

 

[Piotr Pakula]

I use the K5 from a 250 gallon tank, it works quite well, although it is known that the tap is better ;-)

 

[Stonewoodiron]

I use a shipping container for firewood equipment, which I would like to power wash.
It's been a couple years and the pale tan/off white on the north side is turning a shade of green.
It is a one time use container, and I'd like to keep it up, and looking decent.
I believe it is too far to run a hose, at maybe 250' or more.
If I got an IBC container with the bladder tank, would gravity be enough to supply a small pressure washer?
Would the bladder have to be pressurized with air?
Would I need a 12 volt water pump, like a boat or RV?
Or should I hire someone to come out and power wash it?

You’re too smart for your own good. LOL! Like Stumpy75 said, an algicide or chlorine product applied with a pressurized container with a wand will work well. The KISS principle applies

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Thanks for each reply.
All good information...
I don't have a lot of room due to double stacked pallets of wood seasoning next to the container.
Some good alternatives suggested.
(challenges loading a photo tonight. Not happening.)