THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 TAG: 9607160124
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: EARNING A LIVING IN VIRGINIA BEACH
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 90 lines
Spiller Anderson owns a commercial pressure washing business, but he's the first to warn homeowners about the dangers of using high pressure to clean the outside of a house.
In fact, Anderson and his wife, Nancy, field between 2,000 and 3,000 calls a year from homeowners who want to know how they can repair damage such as loose siding, missing shingles, washed-out electrical outlets and wood that holds water, eventually causing rot.
For years, all Spiller Anderson could do was offer guidelines for pressure washing preparation and hints for choosing a viable company to do the job.
Now, he can do more than offer advice. Anderson actually invented a gizmo that'll do the job using the pressure of a garden hose.
``This eliminates the pressure but gives the same results as if they'd used it,'' said Anderson, 46. ``The key (to cleaning) is in using the right solution.''
His invention, which is patented, is called the Miracle Soaper. The device screws into a regular faucet, a garden hose is attached to the bottom and a clear three-foot hose is connected to the side.
When the faucet is turned on, The Miracle Soaper draws water from the faucet and at the same time, draws from any liquid the clear tube is placed in.
The concoction mixes together and then sprays from the end of the hose resulting in an output of water and cleaning solution. The device has an adjustment to control the flow of water and chemicals. Because the soaper is mixing two ingredients - water and a cleaning product - the water's pressure is slightly less than what an ordinary water faucet produces.
``I wanted to give people an affordable, safe way to clean their homes,'' said Anderson, who has owned Power Clean, a commercial power washing business, for the past 20 years. ``The biggest obstacle we face (with this product) is convincing people that they don't need 3,000 pounds of pressure to clean a house.''
Anderson estimates that after folks purchase the $49.95 soaper (plus shipping and handling), all they'll ever spend again is about $5 per job and that's for household cleaning products found in a grocery store.
Anderson has tested the device using his neighbor's Salem Lakes home. The house, often riddled with mold, mildew and rust, is a perfect place to show the usefulness of the Miracle Soaper, and besides, the Andersons say, the neighbor is good-natured about their experiments.
``We did the end of his fence in January and look, it's still clean,'' said Anderson, while spraying a mixture of bleach and water onto the home's vinyl siding.
``Did you see it go away?'' he asked a nearby observer, pointing to what was rust but is now clean vinyl on the side of the house. ``It's a miracle!''
The Miracle Soaper has more than one use. It can be used to spread lawn chemicals. It can be used to clean and wax cars, driveways, decks and fences. With each Miracle Soaper ordered, the Andersons include information on what common cleaners work best for each job. And, for homeowners who are not convinced the soaper will do the job, the Andersons offer a simple checklist of preparations that should be made before having a home power washed. Some of those tips include things like using electrical tape to cover all outside outlets and removing outside lights.
When Spiller Anderson isn't tinkering around with nuts and bolts, he works full time in his own power washing business that also employs four others. Nancy Anderson serves as the company's bookkeeper, receptionist and whatever else she's called for. She works directly out of their Salem Lakes home.
Spiller Anderson invented the Miracle Soaper one night after having received yet another phone call from a frantic homeowner wanting advice about repairing damage from another power washing company.
He had an idea of what he was looking for and spent a lot of time tinkering with parts to get it to work like he wanted.
``I ruined a bunch of them, wasted a lot of money and messed up drill bits,'' said Anderson, chuckling. ``But I knew what I wanted it to do. The hardest part was trying to figure out how to adapt it to a water hose. After a couple of weeks, I finally got it.''
The Miracle Soaper's parts - including the injector, pickup tube, female inlet and male outlet and chemical filter - are imported from Germany and assembled in and shipped from the Andersons' home.
The Andersons sell the soaper with a full 60-day warranty and estimate that they have sold hundreds from Virginia to Florida.
The couple say they were approached by a Florida businessman who wanted to buy their patent for a hefty price but they turned him down.
``We really didn't invent it as a product to sell,'' said Nancy Anderson, who said they weren't interested in getting rich off the idea. ``We invented it to solve a problem.'' ILLUSTRATION: Spiller Anderson uses his patented Miracle Soaper to
clean rust from a neighbor's vinyl siding. The device attaches to an
ordinary hose faucet.
Photos by
GARY C. KNAPP by CNB