Does anyone have a creative way to transport these bags. We currently have a 55 gallon drum on the back of our truck which we place the bags in. I think it looks tacky. When we arrive back at the shop we have to unload out of the drum which can be kinda of messy. Would love to hear how all you guys transport. Thanks
I use 5 gallon buckets with resealable lids. I simply place the collection bag, or 2 or 3, depending on how full they are in the bucket, seal it with the lid and off I go.
Not so sure it's creative, but it's simple and seems to work well for me.
Douglas - I forgot to mention another reason why I like the 5 gallon buckets: as others have stated, carrying the collection bags across yards and lawns is an accident waiting to happen. I take the bags straight from the down spout to a 5 gallon bucket all in one motion- right at the down spout. No worries about a bag rupturing then.
So far I've been lucky enough to only have maybe 1 gal per bag so transporting it hasn't been an issue. I put the entire bag into a 5 gal bucket and that's that.
I use 3 mil contractor bags and they have never ripped on me yet.
__________________
What's Eating Your Roof? Jon Wolfe 269-377-7940 Grand Rapids, MI
I also use the 5 gallon buckets with the resealable lids. I actually divert the run off from the gutter right into the buckets. I usually unhook the downspout elbow from the gutter outlet (1 screw), then attach a pc. of corrugated pipe to the gutter outlet into a 5 gallon bucket, then throw a lid on it, hook the downspout elbow back to the gutter outlet and roll on out. This works easy enough for the 1 story homes, 2 story we usually undo the downspout at the seam, then connect the corrugated pipe. In our area it seems most downspouts run into the ground and to be safe I try to just bypass the downspout completely.
You must not have much run off if you can place the bags in 5 gallon buckets. Some jobs we don't have any runoff but lately we have been doing large homes with many valleys and we get a lot of run off.
Douglas - most homes around here are large and have steep roofs. I use lots of surfactant and watch/monitor the run off closely.
Griz - check out Brian Friel's post below from another thread re disposal. Great info! (Hope you don't mind Brian) There are other options as well but it's best to check within your region as to what is allowed vs what isn't. It varies.
Matthew, Make yourself a funnel that has some sort of filtering device in it. I use "Gutter Stuff" brand gutter filter. It strains out any debris from the mix and saves you money on chemicals. Those 10 gallons should be mixed right back into your tank. I have been doing it for a couple of years now and it makes disposal hassle free.
Don't let anyone tell you that the runoff is too weak to use again. The reason I started recycling my runoff was because I ran out of mix one time on a very steep roof where I didn't use near enough Dawn. I had far too much runoff and I was a long way from more chemical. I only needed about 10 gallons of mix to finish so I decided that I would take my runoff bags and dump them back into my mix tank. I had about 12 gallons of runoff and was able to finish the job. The runoff worked almost as quickly as the original mix. It saved me a ton of travel time and aggravation.
After that incident, I made my little recycling system. You have to dump the runoff somewhere. Why not dump it right back into the tank. No disposal issues and savings in chemical costs. It is a routine for my guys now. They take the runoff bags and put them right into 5 gallon buckets and them dump them into the tank. You are not tripping over full buckets of runoff and you can proudly tell your customers that you "recycle" your mix
The 5 gallon buckets are good to use but also know that they are an accident waiting to happen. Keep a close eye on he area where the wire handles are attached to the bucket. Over time with full loads that area starts to crack. If you don't catch it in time you could be walking across the yard when the handle gives way. Ooops!