I want to pick up a pressure washer for cleaning car parts and general house stuff like weeding the interlocking bricks and washing down the deck.
Electric or Gas?
Is there such a thing as too much psi? Seems to be a quantum leap from 1700 psi to 3000.
Guessing they need some form of winterizing if you live in cold climes like I do
Any go-to brands that I should know about?
I have this electric one. It works very well, I use it all the time. AR Blue Clean, AR610
I have this gas one from Northern Tool. It works very well, I haven't used it since I got the electric one. Powerhorse Gas Cold Water Pressure Washer
The main reason I seldom use it, is 90% of my cleaning jobs take less time than dragging this one out and getting it started. The electric one works well enough that the gas one just sits.
I have both. A small electric is very portable and convenient. It will work every time, until it breaks and you just replace it. (10 years or so) For general washing up, they are fine.
I found my gas one at the curb, a neighbor got sick of it and tossed it. I cleaned the carbs and it fired right up. After a year, I had to replace the pump assembly for $100. Gas offers more power, and you can buy more attachments for the hose. Most electric ones use a different hose design and you get what it came with.
pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said: Most electric ones use a different hose design and you get what it came with.
This is true until you get to the high-end electrics. My electric and my gas use the same fittings.
I have a cheap-ish gas one (~$300 Honda from Home Depot) and an actually cheap electric from Amazon (SunJoe). The electric does 90% of what the gas one does, more quietly, more reliably, and with less hassle. But, for serious cleaning, like concrete and decks, I still need the extra oomph of the gas model.
Attachements is a good point. I seem to recall that Toyman used his with some sort of wet sandblast attachement. Wonder how that happens?
Also, the 3000 psi seems like it would be great for some stuff, but too much for other stuff. I will have to see if there is any control or is it all or nothing? Thinking of car washing with 3000 psi and I dont see a good result.
In reply to NOHOME :
The sandblast attachment is going to require a pretty hefty pressure washer. My gas unit worked very well but I don't think an electric will do the job.
That said, I was less than thrilled with how the pressure washer blaster held up. It would eat tips, and the tips were rather expensive. There was also the drying time before you could use the media again. While blasting without all the dust was awesome, I ended up buying a pressure pot blaster to finish the work on SanFord.
The biggest difference between gas and electric is going to be in the gallons per minute flow rate. Even a cheapie gas one flows way more than an electric one. It only makes a big difference on larger jobs, say - washing your house. Cars and car parts it's not going to make a big difference. Washing a house with an electric pressure washer isn't much fun and can take all day. A good gas one can knock it out in a few hours.
Nohome - the pressure is constant but you can use different tips or an adjustable tip. A wider fan spreads that 3000psi over a larger area so it won't damage the car - as long as you don't get super close!
I never had any experience with a pressure washer until this past weekend when I helped a friend do some clean up from Ida. We used pressure washers to clean mud off of various items that were in their submerged basement. I used the electric one. A buddy used a gas one he had brought with him. The electric one worked really well. I'm not sure the gas one was worth the effort considering the extra hassle of having the refill the gas tank. I'll probably buy a similar electric model soon since I often need one. Nice thing about an electric one is I won't have any concerns about storing it in my basement during the winter so it doesn't freeze.
There was a long thread here about my deck and i think 20+ pressure wash suggested
CURTIS as usual was the expert and provided very good detailed suggestions. Of course if the search function was better on this forum and I wasnt older than dirt and knew how to use a computer - I could probably find it.
That said, per Curtis suggestion I purchased Honda gas one. Best thing I ever did. Wish I did it years ago. Losing my virginity and buying a pressure washer were the 2 best days of my life. Every American man should have a pressure washer, hopefully a gas one
I have both gas and electric, mostly for cleaning my motocross bikes. I initially got the electric for convenience, but the gas unit was noisy which becomes irritating when you're cleaning for a long time.
I only use the electric now and recently bought this Karcher because it was on sale for $100. It has an option that I initially thought was dumb but I've since learned to really appreciate. I think they call it dirt blaster, which is some kind of pulsating action on from the wand, and it just rips dirt off. I did the siding on the north side of my house recently and if I didn't have that feature it would have taken a lot longer. Cleaning a bike after a really muddy event now takes less than a quarter of the time. So far I'm quite happy with it for that price. I'd previously use the cheap SunJoe type of PW, and I wasn't unhappy with them, but this is definitely an upgrade.
I put it in the basement for the winter. I did have one freeze up on me years ago and it cracked the pump and the handle
Mr. Peabody said:I put it in the basement for the winter. I did have one freeze up on me years ago and it cracked the pump and the handle
I blow compressed air through mine in the fall and they've survived multiple winters.
Pressure is cheap with low volume and an electric one does that well. If you want volume with your pressure then you pay the big money and go to gas. I am not sure there is much advantage to getting a low volume gas unit. We have a little electric one and it does 2200 psi, and that will blast the Schmidt off anything, but painfully slowly. But I have lots of time and I don't pressure wash much so its just fine.
mr2s2000elise said:There was a long thread here about my deck and i think 20+ pressure wash suggested
CURTIS as usual was the expert and provided very good detailed suggestions. Of course if the search function was better on this forum and I wasnt older than dirt and knew how to use a computer - I could probably find it.
That said, per Curtis suggestion I purchased Honda gas one. Best thing I ever did. Wish I did it years ago. Losing my virginity and buying a pressure washer were the 2 best days of my life. Every American man should have a pressure washer, hopefully a gas one
Glad my advice produced a smile. (just to be clear, I'm the one who suggested the pressure washer... NOT who he lost his virginity with)
I've had a few of both and I'll never go electric again unless it's indoors in something like a cleaning booth.
Here's the thing: Electric pressure washers almost always use a wobble style pump that is completely proprietary to the unit. Replacements cost more than a new pressure washer, and wobble pumps are terribly inefficient and break very easily, and they are rated for something like 30 hours of use. You can get professional electric PWs with a more traditional/universal pump, but you'll likely spend 4 figures easy to get one.
Gas washers to the rescue. They all use a universal type pump and replacements are cheap. Think $60 cheap. You can also get pumps in three different flavors - wobble, axial, and triplex. Wobble is poopy. Most gas PWs come with an axial pump. They use a crooked plate that spins and presses pistons. The creme de la creme is the triplex. Most triplex pumps are going to outlast the gas motor behind it, and they are far more efficient. The axial pump that came on mine with a 5 hp motor was 2700 psi and 2.3 gpm. That same 5 hp can push 3600 psi and 3.1 gpm from a triplex pump. When the axial broke in mine, I replaced it with a triplex and I'm super happy. I can cut asphalt with that thing. I invested in good goggles and I had to relearn how to lean into the wand when I pull the trigger.
Another thing people often overlook is that they're adjustable. Most of the bypass regulators that come one pumps have an adjustable spring, but keep in mind as you dial up the pressure, you dial down the gpm and efficiency.
No such thing as too much pressure in my book. The different nozzles are your friend because that's the important part... what the nozzle DOES with the water. Let's say you're cleaning concrete. With a smaller PW, you might need the 10-degree nozzle. With a big PW you can get the same cleaning power with the 25-degree nozzle and finish much faster. My PW also has a throttle, so if I'm doing something like boat seats or washing a car I can just throttle down a bit.
bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) said:Pressure is cheap with low volume and an electric one does that well. If you want volume with your pressure then you pay the big money and go to gas. I am not sure there is much advantage to getting a low volume gas unit. We have a little electric one and it does 2200 psi, and that will blast the Schmidt off anything, but painfully slowly. But I have lots of time and I don't pressure wash much so its just fine.
Big box stores often have multiple cheap options for gas, especially if you shop online and look at their other brands. They stock the shelves with Ryobi, Dewalt, Honda, etc, but the website has the unrecognized overseas brands. I got my Craftsman-branded washer for $279
The difference is the name only. Don't hesitate to buy a Wen or Sunjoe or HotMore or whatever FartPeach brand they have. All of them are assembled overseas with overseas parts, then they slap a name on them. Even the Honda branded ones use Honda-style motors sourced from a Chinese copy shop. Mine has a Subaru Robin engine copy and it's still running strong after 10 years. Only reason I had to replace the pump was because I forgot to winterize it and it froze.
So what is involved in winterizing one. Cause Canada?
Curtis, thanks for the eloquent argument.
Pete
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Thanks to you, I just looked at what kind of pump my recently purchased electric pressure washer has. I'm pleased to see it's got an axial one, now that I know the differences. It's the 2300 psi Ryobi one from Home Depot.
Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:Mr. Peabody said:I put it in the basement for the winter. I did have one freeze up on me years ago and it cracked the pump and the handle
I blow compressed air through mine in the fall and they've survived multiple winters.
I've considered that or running RV antifreeze through mine too, but I get my PW water from a 1000L tote connected to the front downspout on the barn, and have to disconnect to drain that anyway. So it's not much more work to carry it to the house - and for sure it won't freeze there.
The previous one froze because I'm an idiot
NOHOME said:So what is involved in winterizing one. Cause Canada?
Pete
Very little. I bought a bottle of special PW anti-freeze mostly because it had a bottle with a 3/4" hose thread on top. You screw it on the inlet and squeeze the bottle while pulling the cord a few times. When it got empty I just refilled it with RV anti freeze. I have a PW that I leave at camp in Ontario and it hasn't been an issue.
The rest is whatever you do to your small engines for winter. I personally turn the gas off and shove it in a corner.
I think if we all had Curtis cell number, we wouldn't need 85% of the threads on this forum. 
I bought the the big brother to Mr Peabody's Karcher above in January.
Advice from the man at the Karcher shop (who sent me to our equivalent of Lowes because "deals") was 1600psi minimum, as much flow as possible and if I was doing large areas pay attention to duty cycle.
My K5 has a water cooled motor and a 10 year domestic warranty.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:mr2s2000elise said:There was a long thread here about my deck and i think 20+ pressure wash suggested
CURTIS as usual was the expert and provided very good detailed suggestions. Of course if the search function was better on this forum and I wasnt older than dirt and knew how to use a computer - I could probably find it.
That said, per Curtis suggestion I purchased Honda gas one. Best thing I ever did. Wish I did it years ago. Losing my virginity and buying a pressure washer were the 2 best days of my life. Every American man should have a pressure washer, hopefully a gas oneGlad my advice produced a smile. (just to be clear, I'm the one who suggested the pressure washer... NOT who he lost his virginity with)
I've had a few of both and I'll never go electric again unless it's indoors in something like a cleaning booth.
Here's the thing: Electric pressure washers almost always use a wobble style pump that is completely proprietary to the unit. Replacements cost more than a new pressure washer, and wobble pumps are terribly inefficient and break very easily, and they are rated for something like 30 hours of use. You can get professional electric PWs with a more traditional/universal pump, but you'll likely spend 4 figures easy to get one.
Gas washers to the rescue. They all use a universal type pump and replacements are cheap. Think $60 cheap. You can also get pumps in three different flavors - wobble, axial, and triplex. Wobble is poopy. Most gas PWs come with an axial pump. They use a crooked plate that spins and presses pistons. The creme de la creme is the triplex. Most triplex pumps are going to outlast the gas motor behind it, and they are far more efficient. The axial pump that came on mine with a 5 hp motor was 2700 psi and 2.3 gpm. That same 5 hp can push 3600 psi and 3.1 gpm from a triplex pump. When the axial broke in mine, I replaced it with a triplex and I'm super happy. I can cut asphalt with that thing. I invested in good goggles and I had to relearn how to lean into the wand when I pull the trigger.
Another thing people often overlook is that they're adjustable. Most of the bypass regulators that come one pumps have an adjustable spring, but keep in mind as you dial up the pressure, you dial down the gpm and efficiency.
No such thing as too much pressure in my book. The different nozzles are your friend because that's the important part... what the nozzle DOES with the water. Let's say you're cleaning concrete. With a smaller PW, you might need the 10-degree nozzle. With a big PW you can get the same cleaning power with the 25-degree nozzle and finish much faster. My PW also has a throttle, so if I'm doing something like boat seats or washing a car I can just throttle down a bit.
Curtis hit the nail on the head. I used to have an electric Husky that someone gave me, and it lasted a couple years until the pump abruptly quit, as they tend to do. Instead of going for an axial pump machine, I found a "Ryobi" with a Triplex pump rated for 3600psi with a Honda horizontal shaft industrial engine on sale at Home Depot and it's a BEAST. They now sell this one as a "Dewalt" but it's the same machine. I've done a ton of jobs with it and it's awesome. I did have an unfortunate incident with the gun and a gutter cleaning attachment that led to me breaking the gun, and I was able to go down to Home Depot and buy the same gun (with Dewalt embossed into it instead of Ryobi) and get back in action within an hour. All the parts are serviceable and replaceable.
Again, it doesn't really matter what brand it is. Look at the component parts. Most of the good ones will have a Honda horizontal shaft engine, and if you can score a Triplex-style pump, it should last you a long time. They are a bit more, but totally worth it if you intend on using it more than a few times.
Also, about those Honda horizontal shaft engines: get the GX-series if you can. They have a cast iron cylinder and a number of other improvements over the "residential" GC series and are a better engine.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
Any way to visually ID a GX Honda? Same for a triplex pump? I know if I happen upon a deal at a store, I can look up the specs, but say I find one at a garage sale or on CL, what are the tells of the good stuff besides HONDA on the valve cover?
mr2s2000elise said:I think if we all had Curtis cell number, we wouldn't need 85% of the threads on this forum.
Nah. If you all called me for advice, "the answer" would be a 4x4 van or a 51 Plymouth.
I had an electric one. Plastic attachments on the wand broke and they weren't replaceable. The electric motor itself was weak and the strength of the spray wasn't great.
I have a Ryobi gas one (with Honda motor I think?) that works great. Everything is replaceable. Wand parts are metal, not plastic. Has serious juice as far as spray strength. Been very reliable, only thing I've replaced is the pull cord once.
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