Tell me about pressure washers

[Ted Striker]

I need a pressure washer.

I'm thinking gas powered, with enough jam to clean moss and slime from concrete in the PNW, and clean a house to prep it for paint.

What do I need to know about them to make a semi-intelligent decision?

[Crampedon]

I spent about $300 on a honda powered one with a rotating tip that changes the pattern, I love the thing. I do my mower, sidewalk in front of my store, tractor, decks ect.

Just did a white vinyl fence that had all kinds of brown tree residue crap on it, it looks NEW.

Don't buy a cheapo, check craigslist for a higher end one used.

[legallyillegal]

gas-powered honda engine.

[hawkgt]

dont use in your barefeet.......... hurts

[That was Pontus]

Honda powered Hotsy. Nothing else. If you're feeling rich, spring for one with a burner unit. Hot water moves shit. Add a good brass/ceramic rotating tip & you will take off paint, whatever is under the paint & whatever you were planning on painting.

[Ski to Be]

High Pressure = faster also = damage if you are not careful. Just rent one from hertz and decide how much you like doing it then invest in one. The $300 home depot ones will not work too well on concrete unless you go very slowly.

[Jethro]

I looked for a few years, and recently I came upon a nice one used for a great price. It retails for $700-800 but I got it for $250 barely used. It is a Northstar 240v unit which runs off of a 30 amp twist lock. 2000psi and 3.5 gpm. I bought it for cleaning dirtbikes, cars, etc. I have to watch how close I put the tip to things or paint comes off. it is totally silent until you pull the trigger, and then a quiet electric motor kicks in. Plus it is electric, so unless a buddy has a plug, he can't borrow it.

In buying these, look for probably 2000psi min and definitely 2.5 gallons per min at a minimum. High pressure with low GPM take too long to wash things.

There are different levels of Honda powered units also. Costco has a $300 honda powered unit, but I am sure you get what you pay for. I do not know how they can make a gas powered unit, with a quality pump, for that money. They are definitely pushing the Honda reputation.

[Downbound Train]

I usually just have a few beers and then unleash the "Main Vain".

It's a lot cheaper.

[Art Shirk]

I would get at least 3K psi. I have a burly Briggs and Stratton that I use the fuck out of and it performs every task I need it to. They are addictive. You could find a new B&S 3400 psi for probably 350 or so.

edit: looks like they are closer to $500. The 3K psi is closer to $400.

[born2snowboard99]

I'd stay away from Briggs and Stratton. My dad had one and it crapped out very early on. Yes there was oil in it and we checked it frequently.

Higher PSI and GPM is important it will blast crud much better like others have said.

Pressure washing sucks IMO. Renting would be a good option if you do not want to invest the coin in a decent pressure washer.

[warthog]

Briggs and Stratton are fine, but these things get killed by the ethanol in out fuel. Make sure you add Stabil or similar ethanol treatment. I would bet that is what killed your dad's B&S engine. They seem overly sensitive to the crud and water that ethanol creates. It is pretty easy to clean it out and get it running, but you have to ditch all the old fuel.

[SB]

2500 psi min Look for one with a bypass on the pump this helps protect the pump when you have to set down the handle to do things. If no bypass you should shut down the engine to prevent damage. Quicklock tips with different patterns is nice too.

[Ted Striker]

Thanks all, this is good stuff. I guess I should've mentioned that I've used them lots, just don't own one. The machines that I've rented are over a grand to purchase, and the cheapest-at-the-big-box-store machines that I've borrowed have all been too wimpy. My step-dad's actually leaks oil too, so while you're cleaning one mess, you're creating another.

The hot water and pump bypass are good info that I hadn't thought of.

@ warthog that's a good point about ethanol in fuel. 76 sells ethanol free fuel (at least here in WA).

@ jethro I used to have a 240 compressor with a twist-lock, so I made an extension cord with with a twist-lock on one end and a dryer plug on the other. Just don't don't show it to your buddies.

[Ski to Be]

http://www.amazon.com/Pressure-Pro-E...4634363&sr=1-7

I have one of these for my business and it has a Honda motor and Cat pump and I paid a lot more than what they are asking for it on sale

[k2skier112]

I'd stay away from Briggs and Stratton. My dad had one and it crapped out very early on. Yes there was oil in it and we checked it frequently.

Higher PSI and GPM is important it will blast crud much better like others have said.

Pressure washing sucks IMO. Renting would be a good option if you do not want to invest the coin in a decent pressure washer.

You had one that had the engine on top and the pump under it. Those with vertical shaft engines are very cheap and don't hold up well, Honda icluded. The only Honda engine that is worthy of the name are OHV, the cheap Hondas use OHC, stay away from OHC.

PSI is useless. It's all about GPM, gallons per minute. You could have 10,00PSI and 1.5 GPM and it wont clean shit.

Get a PW with the pump off to the side of the unit and expect to pay at least $500-600. Nothing less than 3GPM.

[Ted Striker]

^^^ I did a little window shopping, and that's dead on. The sales dudes said 2500/2.5 was rock bottom for what I want to do with it. The best explanation I got on PSI vs. GPM was that a machine with high PSI but low GPM might clean a very small area, but doesn't move enough water for a big job. A machine that moves a lot of water at a lower pressure won't do the really stubborn stuff like strip paint. Someone described it as the "punch and flush".

Other things I've learned...

Vertical shaft takes up less space and is cheaper due to the fact that the same motor is used for lawn mowers (supply + demand), but horizontal is easier to work on if you're going to fix instead of trash it in a few years.

Cheap units use cheap pumps. Brass and stainless cost more than aluminum and plastic. Direct-drive axial-flow is what's on the cheap machines, and belt or gear driven plungers are on the pro quality machines.

I can't justify spending the kind of money the big boy machines cost. Or the Hotsy. I'll probably end up with one step above box-store.

The only Honda engine that is worthy of the name are OHV, the cheap Hondas use OHC, stay away from OHC.

Although I didn't know anything about pressure washers, I do know about small engines. I think the issue with overhead vs. side cam is that Honda is using the overhead to save weight and space, so continuing that theme, those engines also have aluminum bores, and more plastic. The side cam engines are cast iron, so they're more durable.