Pressure Washer water supply

[cmyoung2]

Have a gas powered pressure washer 4000psi, 4gpm I think. Normally run it off my outside hydrants, 1" with a 5/8" hose. Found out my Mom's house system supplied through 1/2" lines couldn't supply enough water. Need to use the washer where there is no water supply, for a couple of very small, fast jobs. I have a couple of 55 gal drums, but I think I need a way to push the water to the washer, as in I don't think gravity will supply water fast enough.
Ideas? I do have a generator I could put on the truck. Would a sump pump supply enough fast enough? Looking for cheap, easy, probably will only need it a couple of times.

 

[jaxs]

Yea,even if you ran 2"pipe from barrel to pressure wash,the 3/4" inlet to washer won't flow 4gpm gravity. Pumps are desighned to pump a small gpm of water at high pressure or a greater gpm at low pressure. Check out an inexpensive 115v shallow well water pump if you need to plumb to threaded bungs on barrels. I just bought a 1/3 hp 115v 3k gph sump pump at Home Depot for $60. It require's an 18" hole so you would need open top ballels with clamp on lids. This pump has 2" fpt discharge and will move 3k gph at 25' lift. You will find a thousand uses for a sump pump and can probly find one that pumps less gpm (you only need 250 gpm) much cheaper.

 

[TMGT]

We run a 4+gpm pressure washer off IBC totes with no problems, no pump. One setup the washer is mounted on the bed of truck with the totes so just relying on the water column weight.

 

[mcfarmall]

2.3' water column = 1psi of head pressure. Hard to believe that an outdoor spigot plumbed with a 1/2" line can't fill a 5 gallon bucket in one minute!! She must have some fouled water lines or her pump/pressure tank is shot.

 

[Eagleview]

Dont forget the pressure pump will SUCK as well, it is not solely relying on head pressure . Try it and see if it works before spending any money .

 

[Mace Canute]

The internet is an amazing source of helpful tools.

CalcTool: Gravity-fed pipe flow calculator