Pressure Washer Preferences?

Brent Dowell

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Reno NV
My old craftsman 1750psi gas powered pressure washer has always been a little tough to start, and today just refused to come back to life. I've also had to redo the pressure pump oil on this puppy a couple of times, and quite frankly, I'm tired of messing around with it.

So Looks like I'm in the market for a new pressure washer. The old craftsman wasn't a very expensive unit to start with, and I've got more than 10 years on it, so looking for an upgrade.

Any advice on brands/capacity/pressure/prices would be appreciated...

Was looking at a Northern Tools model. Hond motor and Cat pump. http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200355682_200355682

Thanks in advance for your help guys!
 
Mine is a Cambell-Hausfield. Used it once three years ago. Cleaned, drained carburetor and put away. A few months ago I decided to use and found some remaining washing solution had dripped out. The entire frame, wheels, everything had corroded away. I dragged the remains out, fired up the engine and tried using with water. Nuttin'. It just wouldn't squirt. Methinks the nozzle is corroded also. I'll clean, inspect and try again. Then will have to go to welder and get new frame made.
Doesn't answer yer question does it? :eek:
Oh, well. Moral of the story is to flush very-very well after use.
 
I don't remember the brand I have, but got it at the orange borg. Has a honda engine on it and has started up great every spring the past few years. I typically leave the gas in it, but I use the 'stabile' additive. I also use the compressed winterizer stuff each fall when I put it away. The stuff blows the water out, lubricates the pump, and leave an antifreeze in it for the winter.
 
Ended up going with a Ridgid 3000psi model with a subaru engine and a CAT pump. It's a 'commercial' rated model, So hopefully I'll have good luck with it.

The ole duktwk had 2 flat tires and has been sitting for months. I used it to clean the mud off the backside of the wheels and the mud and junk off the bottom of the duktwk. Funny thing is it had one severely blown out tire, and the front right was rotted and starting to fail. It blew out so bad the mesh cable was flapping off about a foot long. Luckily it happened when I was going to get the mail (Which I'm starting to think is a deceptively dangerous piece of road). I was only going about 30, so no big deal. But that happened last fall and the duktwk hasn't moved since.

Since it had two flat tires, I had to put it in hover mode for a few days until we get the new tires mounted...

Sharon ordered some new tires tonight and we'll get them on in the next few days, then get it smogged again. Once that's done I'm going to do a little cleanup work on it and paint it in a desert camo theme.... :rofl:

Putting the new tires on it will probably quadruple the value of the vehicle, but it's Sharon's baby and we'll be keeping it in running order till the dinosaurs quite giving us gasoline to run in it.

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Oh yeah, this is about Pressure washers, right? Well to keep the pic police happy, here's the new one. Seems to work great. Way more powerful than the old one. Have to keep two hands on the nozzle.

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And here's the old one. Wanna know whats funny? After I got done using the new one on the duktwk, it must have got jealous. I decided to give it one more shot to see if I could get it started and it started on the 3rd pull. :eek: Go figure. At any rate, the new one is more powerful and I'm going to need that for cleaning the hull of the sailboat, so whatever. I'm giving the old one to some friends who have done us a lot of favors over the years, so it's a win/win in my book :thumb:

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Congrats on the new toy, Brent. So what cleaning solutions do you guys recommend for using with a pressure washer? I've got an electric model, but so far I've not used any soap in it...just the water. Any recommendations or "don't do this" examples?
 
Brent,
That's a good looking machine - ...the PW isn't bad looking either. If you mount big enough fan on the underside, you won't need tires and can ride on a cushion everywhere you go...:rofl::rofl:

Like Vaughn, I've only had an electric PW... mine was a HF machine and worked well, but think we cracked the pump housing in our move from Houston... first and only time I've used it up here I got more water under the machine than I did through the wand... we almost have enough pressure off the city water to do most of what I need... just have to fix the outside plumbing.
 
I find a pressure washer to be a really useful tool around the house.

Vaughn, I've used things like just the 'pressure washer' detergent from the borg to diluted simple green. Depends on what I'm cleaning. Simple green actually works great for a lot of things.

The thing I like about it for things like patio cleaning and driveway cleaning is that it uses less water than just hosing it off. The combination of the pressure and less water just seems to work really well.

Living off of mud and gravel roads, I really need one for getting the bottom parts of the vehicles cleaned off.

It also works great for cleaning off bird droppings around the eaves of the house.
 
Cool new toy Brent!

Congrats on the new toy, Brent. So what cleaning solutions do you guys recommend for using with a pressure washer? I've got an electric model, but so far I've not used any soap in it...just the water. Any recommendations or "don't do this" examples?

Hydrocloric Acid Maybe? :D :rofl:

I use simply green as well. Have also just mixed strong solutions using car wash soaps and such. Just something thin enough to get siphoned out of the bucket.

Washer came in real handy when my son changed his oil and didn't realize the old o-ring was still on the engine from the previous filter and left oil through-out the garage and all the way down the driveway. :doh: Still had outlines of it after a couple of washes. Finally just dusted the driveway with some concrete and swept it off a day later, never knew there was ever oil on it. :thumb:
 
...Hydrocloric Acid Maybe? :D :rofl:

Very funny, wiseguy. :p

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...Finally just dusted the driveway with some concrete and swept it off a day later, never knew there was ever oil on it. :thumb:

You dusted with cement, not concrete. Cement is a powder, concrete is what you get when you mix that powder with sand, gravel, and water. I had that differentiation drummed into me as a kid by my pedantic materials engineer father. :rolleyes: I got in trouble in kindergarten or first grade for correcting the teacher when she talked about cement sidewalks. :rofl:

Thanks for the Simple Green suggestion. That's something I keep in stock here, so I'll give it a try. :thumb:
 
I know you are correct but I hear the concrete truck called a cement truck,View attachment 46324 the mixer is called a cement mixerView attachment 46326 and the place they mix the stuff a cement plant..

Not in our house. :D

Mixer truck, concrete mixer, and batch plant. The cement plant produces...wait for it...cement. :p

But you're right, most folks use the names you mentioned. ;)
 
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