Hard to resist this one...
I used to own a $5,000.00 hot water (diesel fired) pressure washer with a Cat pump (the best) and a Honda 13 horse electric start engine but I (smartly) traded it away on a rebuild of my gooseneck trailer. It was a nice machine and I used the heck out of it, but as it aged, it became a PITA to keep running proplerly...and it was a heavy monster. 4000 psi @4gpm @180 degree water temp really cuts grease on farm equipment and also peels paint pretty well. I could use it to cut wooden planks too, ragged cut, but cut none the less... It's gone and my goose has flip ramps on the beavertail, all LED lights, new brakes, sandblast and paint and I don't have the beast in the shop anymore.
Here's my solution....
I bought a Harbor Freight 2500 PSI gas washer with a Pred motor. It's a cold washer so grease can be an issue but Purple Power on grease works pretty well. Ir won't peel paint (well, it would with a '0' degree tip I guess, but I always use a fan tip anyway. The Pred starts with 2 pulls. The pump isn't a CAT but it's not bad and I picked up a second pump from Northern Hydraulics it's an AR btw, when this one pukes and it will because the engines always outlast the pumps.
I got is on sale (with a coupon) for 265 bucks. It works dandy, I clean my big AG tractors, my pickup, the wife's car, the decks, the houses...you name it. I use the heck out of it.
The trick, if you will, to keep a pressure washer working properly (besides changing the oil in the engine and ocassionally a new sparkplug), is... Change the oil in the pressure washer pump too. Use 30 weight non detergent motor oil and change the pump oil when you change the motor oil. Secondly, if you run well water in your washer, flush the pump out with bottled water when you are done with it. Well water, left in the pump is death from mineral deposits. Third, keep the unit warm in the winter and/or fill with RV antifreeze. Finally, don't run it dry. Those pistons inside don't like to be run dry....
For basically 250 bucks, the HF pressure washer is a dang good buy. I'm happy with mine. The only downside is the cheap supply hose, it's plastic and if you kink it, it's done. I am careful about making sure it's never kinked.... you can buy a real hose replacement but so far (2 years), mine is fine. Hard to beat a Pred engine and hard to beat a 250 buck pressure washer on a nice powder coat wheeled frame and an assortment of 5 tips and a low pressure soap injector.
2500 PSI @ 2.5 GPM cold aint too shabby (I put a liquid filled gage on mine) and it puts out about 2200 psi, thats plenty. HF always inflates their specs anyway.
