Tips & Tricks

[dclark3344]

Dirt
The Walters float reminds me of an overgrown toilet float valve. The lower your water level goes the more it opens up so you do not get the sudden blast of water. I bought mine out of Windtrax and Kleen-rite.

 

[bigleo48]

Now that it's winter and we get a fair bit of snow up here, one of the best things I purchased was a plow for my truck. Not only does the lot get plowed properly and on time, I use it a fair bit to pull out the slush, snow and ice that build up on the floors. Shoveling that stuff out by hand wheel barreling it across the lot was a ton of work!

 

[Waxman]

Yeah, I traded an old carpet extractor for a GMC s-15 plow truck. Super savings so0 far this year !

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I haven't had the extra to spend on getting a plow truck, but I did the next best thing. I put an ad on-site to.have bids for plowing submitted electronically and I was able to go from $80/snow to $45/snow. That has helped tremendously, especially with the way winter has been so far.

 

[Jeff_L]

I bit the bullet and went ahead and purchased a plow for my truck as well. Now my lot gets cleaned as often as I want, when I want, and as good as I want it. I noticed most plow guys won't plow the lot until they are done with everything else, that way they can clean off their blade and truck and go home. I don't blame them, I'd do the same thing, however, that didn't fit into my timeline of wanting it done now.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Here is one that I just tried out tonight.

I have been getting a lot of ice buildup in my nozzle protectors as of late. I took a rain-x wipe and wiped down the inside of the nozzle protector.

I had a bay freeze up on me today and I think that this may have been the culprit. I will let you know how we made out in the morning.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

FWIW - I didn't have any ice buildup at all this morning when I checked. Worked out good for me.

 

[jimbeaux]

Grate Removal

I'm sure other people have been doing something similar to this forever but I LEARNED A NEW TRICK LAST NIGHT!
Instead of manually picking up the heavy grates to dig pits, my son/partner took the flat part off a garden hoe & just left the hook on the handle. Now all we have to do is hook on to the grates & pull them off, then back on when through. So much easier.

 

[MEP001]

I use a water meter lid T-handle - some of our grates have plate steel welded on top which makes them too heavy to drag off with a straight pole. I'd probably end up slipping off and punching myself in the face.

I've seen a grate-lifter tool that looks pretty handy, and is shown being used with a very large grate that would tear up the concrete if it were dragged across it.

 

[Jeff_L]

I just use a hay hook. It has the hook with a T handle on it. Works like a champ!

 

[bigleo48]

This one had been posted before, but it's one of my favorites...and Ice Thawing Machine. http://www.pipethaw.com/ice_breaker_350.html

On the rare occasion that I have a bay freeze up, I'll pull it out, clamp one end on the boom elbow and the other at the gun tip or broom head and wait 2 minutes, turn on pump and voila! Job done!

Now for this to work, you need steel braided cables and for the brushes an aluminum head. Also, to ensure I have a good connection, I will clamp on an Amp meter to make sure there is good current flow. And to monitor the progress, I will use an infrared temperature gun and watch the cable heat up.

BigLeo