Pressure Washers

[MikeBurr]

Thinking of getting a pressure washer soon and wondering if you can hook up a hose, throw one end into a pond, and have it pull water from the pond. The main use of the washer will be normal cleaning using city water, but it would be nice to also be able to use pond water for putting water on other things that are some distance from water outlets.

TC33D

 

[Chillimau]

Hi,

The washer I have needs to have pressure on the supply side, no suction ability. The pump is a Annovi Reverberia 3000psi, 3.5gpm made in Italy. Has been a good unit.

I have couple of plastic 55 gallon barrels and a small diaphram pump to pressurize the supply side. Have cleaned a 25 x 40 (11 ft walls) cement block building with this setup. You could use a small diaphram pump to pressurize the pond water.

Me, personally I wouldn't want to use pond water in my washer, too easy to suck up a bunch of grit, use clean water, pump will last longer.

Later,

Gary

 

[Caretaker]

Mike,

I have a small K'archer Pressure washer (1400/1700PSI) 120V Electric type, and I have exactly the setup you describe. /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif I bought the pressure washer, then ordered a "suction hose" from K'archer direct. It's just a short (about 10 feet as I recall) hose with a small inlet filter to keep you from sucking up frogs, catfish, etc... /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

For what it's worth, I use it frequently on my tractor. The standard nozzle is selectable (just turn the nozzle 1/4 turn) for high/low pressure. I think the low pressure is less than 350PSI, the high pressure is 1400PSI. I find that I don't blow water through seals, cause I've always got the low pressure nozzle with me, but when I need to blast some mud, I can do that too. Also for what it's worth, it's not the best unit for doing driveways - you need a higher pressure / higher flow unit for that. But, I bought mine primarily to do the tractor and cars, so the selectable nozzle was a key selling feature to me, and it has more than sufficient pressure & flow for doing that.

HTH, and if you need any further info, just let me know.

Dave Wells

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Mike--

I'm not sure what pressure washers do and don't have suction capabilities. But Tractor Supply and others sell a Homelite 2-cycle pump with a garden-hose outlet which draws from a pond for about $175. I got one last summer to use for lawn and garden watering, and plan to use it for pressure washing also. Kudos to Homelite--so far, this little pump works flawlessly. The only problem is it sounds like a small chainsaw--but with a pressure washer running, who cares?

 

[Bird]

Rick, I have one of those Homelite pumps and have used it for things like pumping out the next door neighbor's cellar (bad cellar design - fills with water every time it rains), pumping out the last of the water from a stock tank to rework the bottom, and with a couple of 55 gallons barrels of water for fire control when burning a brush pile, but I've never put a nozzle on it to restrict the flow and try to use it for a pressure washer. I'll be interested in hearing how that works.

Bird