Pressure Washers

[therrien]

Tim
Use 10w-30 oil in the colder seasons rather than straight 30w, it will start easier.

Be CAREFULL, the pumps will split wide open in the winter if there is water left in them.

 

[fractal]

Let me start with saying that I have a costo special electric washer and find it does everythign I need. It washes cars, tractors, patio's and even preped a house for painting. I would seriously recommend considering an electric before you go spend money on yet another gasoline motor.

If you do decide you need a gasoline one, have you considered an 'all in one' unit? I saw one at <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.grassmasters.com/index.html>http://www.grassmasters.com/workstation.html</A> and I have seen others as well. These let you use one motor with replacable attachments. The workstation comes with a washer, a generator and an air compressor for the 6hp motor for 1 grand. It is not much of a savings financially but it does reduce the number of gasoline motors you have to maintain every season. I am currently up to 1 diesel (tractor), 4 4-stroke gasoline motors (mower, tiller, generator and trimmer) and 2 2-stroke motors (chainsaw and ryobi trimmer/tiller/hedge trimmer). I barely avoided yet another 2-stroke motor by putting an alternator in my pickup to run my electric leaf blower. The buck and a half for plug and buck for oil on each motor adds up some but the real killer is it takes the better part of a day to service all motors twice (well, honestly once) a year.

Cutting weeds is one thing that needs more power than you can get out of electric (don't get me going on how many weed wackers I bought till I got the 4hp wheeled string trimmer) but pressure washing seems to be one of the things that an electric motor can handle adequately as long as you can get electric power to the unit and don't need to reach second story houses.

 

[TresCrows]

I have a 6.5 horse Generac heavy duty, it flows more than 3 gallons per minute at 2,500psi which is a good rate and about the minimum I would be satisfied with. I was leery of the Briggs engine but so far, 3 years, it has run like a charm, I still prefer the Honda but it was another 100 dollars. Pressure washers are an absolute need for me since the rural water system here bascially ***.
Sooo, I have three cars, two Sthil and one Husky chainsaw 2-strokes, two 2-stroke string trimmers, one 4 stroke Honda generator, one 4 stroke Japanese motorcycle, two Kubota diesel tractors, one 4 stroke Briggs powered lawn tractor, two Lawnboy mowers that are 2 stroke and at the moment they all run--amazing enough in itself. I need a bigwheel string trimmer for the lagoon and ditches! And yeah, BIM, I prefer Honda engines on power equipment all else being equal.
J, motored out

 

[Rch]

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://wj.net/actionis/wwwboard/index.html>http://wj.net/actionis/wwwboard/index.html</A>
Here is " Dave's Pressure Washer Bulletin Board" It has some good info. It's also an unpleasent comparision to TBN- they insult and cuss one another out on the chat part. A real flamers and troll paradise.

 

[CamshaftLF]

POORBOY:
I have a electric one bought it about 7yr's ago, it's been a real trooper, seen a lot of abuse over the year's, had to buy a hose 2 yr's ago and a unloader valve last yr, I was surprised it was only 50.00 buck's. It look's small but it's 60lb's, it stay's in the garage and in the winter month after am done using it I have a short hose rigged up that I run windshield washer fluild thou it to keep it from freezing. Pruchased it from horber frieght for around 350.00. The model is A~R. It's made in italy, they make them for other company's. I'm well satified with the unit.

Camshaft in Pa.

 

[Hillbilly]

That is a wide open discussion board,free for alls etc.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

My $0.02: realize that for a big area, using the pressure washer can take
serious time, and it ain't the most fun you'll ever have. So in my case I
spent a little more. I don't regret it because of the time I've saved.

One thing I wasn't prepared for is the the hose is a pain in the butt. It's
heavy and tough, so it's hard to coil and uncoil it. I'd be inclined to use
the washer for small things more often if it weren't for this.

Belt drive is better, as I was told, solely because it allows the pump to
operate at lower rpm and therefore increases pump life.

Someone else mentioned the pain of maintaining many engines. In
principle I agree, but I with the Honda motors I don't mind. Mine has a
flexible hose for draining oil.

Mine is so danged heavy that I had to buy a boat winch and mount it on
a 2x12 to get it into my truck.

A Kubota mechanic showed me the gearbox from a front wheel which
he was fixing, and said every Kubota owner should have a pressure
washer. Mud that dries on the inside of your front wheels will grind
against the seals when you steer, and when it eats through you're out
$700 per wheel. That's what he's charging anyway.

 

[poorboy]

Guys thanks for all of the input. Rch I checked out that link and it was very informative, however they did dampen my spirits in that the impression was given that anything under 1k was junk or at least short lived. But I think that most of the guys on the board did a little more than I was planning on doing with the machine.

 

[bky]

gerenic i heard and read to stay away from somthing about plastic in the pump or somthing but i dont rember i just rembering reading bad things about them.
i bought a campbell hausfeild about a month ago haonda eng.(i would recomond) so far no proubs but till will tell.