It’s spring and I’m thinking about getting a pressure washer –won’t spend more than $300-$400 on it.
anybody have any reviews or experiences with pw in this price range.
short or long responses are fine–just trying do get a survey of products worth considering.
cje
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Replies
hi...
I bought one at home depot last year. I forget the brand name but it has a Honda motor and I was more concern with the motor make more than anything else. I think i spent $400, it came with 3 tips plus a rotating tip for deck cleaning. I haven't looked at it lately, but i think it is 5hp and 2.5gal/min??? overall, I like it. I wish the pressuer hose was longer so I could clean the roof of the moss, and it sure drinks the gas, but i'm gald i bought it.
I bought a Craftsman in August of 2001. 6.5 HP, 2400 PSI. Used it once in 2001, twice in 2002 for a total of 3 hours use. Tried to fire it up to clean the deck 2 weeks ago and it wouldn't produce any pressure.
I called Sears and that's where my education began. They suck! Since the machine is out of the normal return period, they don't want to hear from me until I bring it in for repair. At a minumum of $49/hour. I've been talking to people at the other end of Sears 800#'s for 2 weeks with no luck. I am certain that the problem is a simple thing but nobody will take the time, or has the knowledge to help. Apparently they fired their Technical support people due to a lawsuit where one of them gave the wrong information to a customer and he started a fire.
Did I mention Sears sucks?
My advice to you is buy a pressure washer from a company that has good technical support and a good return policy. Home Depot carries the Excell line. Ironically, I calle dthem for help on my Craftsman washer and they were able to help me out in about 3 seconds!!
"I bought a Craftsman in August of 2001. 6.5 HP, 2400 PSI. Used it once in 2001, twice in 2002 for a total of 3 hours use. Tried to fire it up to clean the deck 2 weeks ago and it wouldn't produce any pressure."
Ron,
Have you thoroughly purged the lines of air? I have a very similar (actually probably the same one) high pressure washer made by DeVILBISS and I have the same problem every spring when first using it. Trapped air bubbles won't allow the the bypass check valve that kicks in high PSI to work.
Jon
Edited 4/15/2003 5:05:41 PM ET by WorkshopJon
Wouldn't even know how to begin to purge the air on the machine. The owner's manual is less helpful than the people at Sears. Can you offer advice? Thanks.
Ron,
First, with the hose from your tap disconnected from the PW (pressure washer) , run the water for long enough to be sure that there is little air in it, usually ~15-45 seconds.
Then connect the hose to the PW and pull on the trigger on the sprayer wand for about a minute or so until a steady (no air bubbles) steam of water comes out.
Now try to start it. if it doesn't start on the first try or two, pull the trigger on the wand to relieve any built up pressure. You may have to repeat this step several times before it starts and the engine warms a little.
Once the motor is running, pull the trigger again on the wand. If it seems to be working fine, go about what you were going to do. If not, Release the trigger, and wait a few seconds. The pitch of the motor will change. (pressure diverter valve will kick in) Pull again. You may have to do this step several times also. Eventually a steady high pressure stream should come out continuously.
Hope this helps. You are correct, this is not in the manual. Often I think many are written by people who have minimal real world experience with the products they are writing about.
Jon
Thanks for the advice. Maybe you should write a manual!!
Just got back from Sams. They had a PC powerwasher with a Annovi pump and 5.5 Honda Gx engine for only $431. That is a great deal. Does anyone know anything about Annovi pumps?
They also had a larger PW that used a Kohler motor. I dont think it had compression release, and boy it was alot harder to pull. Thoes Hondas are very easy to start.
I think the Cat pumps are only put on the bigger machines.
Haven't heard much feedback about Annovi. FWIW http://www.intercleantrade.com/marketplace/mypage/information.asp?mypageid=301 One thing to note about PC presure washers is that if you use them for commercial work, the warranty drops from a year to 90 days.
To All:
Special Thanks to workshopjon for helping me out with my pressure washer problem. I followed his advise and got the thing runing like a champ last night. It's great to have a forum like this to go to for help and advice. I really do appreciate it.
Ron,
You're welcome,
I wish my Fiance' would listen to me more often. But I've heard that after you get married, they do.
Jon
Getting married soon, huh? Congratulations.
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Edited 4/17/2003 9:13:29 PM ET by TOMCHARK
Tom,
If this was a test, I just failed, unless it's graded on a curve.
Jon
Based on my research, once you go a little over the $400. threshold, they get a lot better. You might be very disappointed with the performance of nearly anything under 2400 PSI and 6HP.
Jon
Different washer for different jobs? I am only interest in washing my car with the power washer. What kind of psi do I need and do they do a good job? Thanx.
Tom
Typically when one reads a post here you presume the question is related to homebuildein/remodeling. Nothing wrong with asking other questions though.
Two things that I can tell you. First, if that's all your going to use it for, then sure, get a cheap one as you don't want much power anyway. The first time I used mine to try to clean my Trans Am it (I) stripped most of the decals off one side of the car on the first pass.
The second thing, while pressure washers certainly do a good job of removing caked on dirt and the like, they are not a replacement for a bucket of soapy water and a sponge. It all has to do with boundary layer effects, and how fluids pass over surfaces and other stuff that I'm no expert on. Proponents of "touchless" car washers aside, there is a great amount of info out there on this subject. If you are truly curious, I could probable point you in the right direction.
Jon
Edited 4/16/2003 11:41:07 AM ET by WorkshopJon
Thanx Jon. "boundary layer effects" are way over my head. Although I am curious about anything to a certain extend, for car washing I am only interested in doing a good job in the most efficient way. Isn't 'touchless' car wash just a system of power washers? By the way you sounded on your post, it seemed like there was a lot more to it.
Well, may be I'll just stick with my bucket of soap and water. By the way a guy who does car detailing told me that lambs wool mitts are not good for the paint but I use it anyway.
Tom
Just a little info about what "boundary layer effects" are. Fluids, (water and air are both fluids) flow progressively less over a surface as they get closer to a surface.
If your car has caked on mud and you put a hose to it, it will probably wash off 99%, but some still will remain. Use a pressure washer and you will get a little more but still some will remain due to a bunch of reasons including cohesion.
Basically, at the molecular level, the fluid doesn't flow over the surface, which is why you can hose down a dirty car and get most of the dirt off, but no matter how much after that (within reason), you can't get that last bit of haze off. Take a soapy sponge to it, it goes away.
You probably can add stuff to the water (abrasives and other chemicals) and make it clean more effectively, but I've yet to look into it.
Jon
Don't know about boundary layer effects but agree there's no substitute for scrubbin'. For my purposes 2400psi is more than sufficient ......... I don't use a pressure washer to strip paint- it causes too much damage. Even on brick/concrete surfaces there's a risk of damage with too much pressure.
my small motor guy tells me to avoid briggs and stratton motors for pressure washers. Get the honda engine.
Make sure it has a pressure release valve and make sure the pump doesnt run unless your spraying. If its runs while your not spraying your pressure washer will overheat due to the pressure.
I use my pressure washer quite often. For work, cleaning concrete walkways, patios, etc.; blowing the dust and crap off newly applied FC siding prior to caulking and painting, cleaning decks, cleaning the underneath of my lawnmower and the undercarriage and wheelwells of my truck, doing a "deep-clean" of DW and my parrot cages, cleaning the mud and sand out of logs prior to sawing on my Woodmizer (that I recently sold). They're a great tool!
Someone advised me long ago to only purchase Honda motor/Cat pump (it's not the caterpillar Corp...made in Canada, I think)
It was good advice.
Lots of manufacturers build the little carts and stuff, but may put on cheap pumps (lifespan about 800 hrs or less) and/or cheap motors (Briggs Stratton, for example).
Many of these cheapies are rented out by the rental yards and paint shops. You can often get them at a discount as seasons end. But they also may rent out the Honda/Cat combo and sell them discounted, too.
As somebody mentioned, the most important thing is to purge the air out of the unit before firing up the pump. And maintain oil level in the pump and motor. And read the directions!
Have fun!
Concur with the Honda ONLY posts.
Bigger is better, anything less than 3000psi, 4gpm is a waste of your time unless you do only 1 or 2 uses a year.
Got a used Mi-T-M w/ 11 HP Honda / 100 ft hose for $500, works great, belt drive. Previously only had a 1200 psi/ 2.2 gpm made in Italy electric from Harbor Freight for $250 - It's worked well for 5 years, but the power is nothing compared to the big guy. 1200 psi won't even take road grime off a car.
Shop around for a used high quality machine.
>As somebody mentioned, the most important thing is to purge the air out of the unit before firing up the pump.
Hey Notch. I'm too incompetent with motors to know how to do this without guidance. Got any quick suggestions. Got a Karscher from Lowes that stopped getting pressure two years ago. Of course, they had stopped selling that brand and moved on to another by then. So I haven't used it in a couple years. Maybe this is worth a try if only I knew what to try...
What I do is: Hook up the water hose; Snap on the pressure hose (don't snap the nozzle on); Turn on the water faucet. The water will flow through the hose/pump/pressure hose. Let it run for a few minutes...you'll hear the air pockets pass through...until the water is running steadily.
Then, snap on the nozzle/wand and squeeze the trigger of the nozzle while you pull-start the pump.
It's my understanding that air is destructive to the pump unit when it's running...a factory guy told me that the water acts as a lubricant/coolant....I don't know if that's true, but I do know of people who've ruined their pumps by firing them up without the water turned on.
Good info
I'm in a real pickle because I think a PW would be a good tool to have but I can't really justify the $400-$600 for something that I'll only use a few times a year. The motivation to get one right now is to pw the house--brick venner--in preparation for painting--maybe I should just rent one.
cjeTake what you want, leave the rest
Cloud, I had the same problem as you with a Karcher and called their customer service. They told me to start it up with the water supply and the pressure hose disconnected and spray wd 40 thru it.
I might have garbled my memory of it so it is worth calling them for detailed instructions but it got my pump working again.
Karl
Don't know which of the suggestions did the trick, be/c I tried all of them at the same time, but the darn thing now works after 2 years of not! Cool. A deep bow to all! Probably the inactivity caused something to stick, and the WD-40 unstuck it, but who knows.
Check out Sam's Club. They recently dropped the price to $434 (from $499) on the Porter Cable 2425 2400psi pressure washer. It comes with the commercial Honda engine (GX series). Ditto to what Notchman said about Honda engines and Cat pumps though I think you'll be hard pressed to find a Cat pump in the price range your looking at.