Looking to buy a gas powered pressure washer for using around the house. I want to clean my flag stone sidewalk, the vinyl siding on my house, my asphalt driveway, and clean my deck. I'm sure I'll find a 1000 other uses for it as well (so I told my wife :wink.

Anyone have anything I should look out for when buying? I'm looking to spend up to $250 or so on one. Maybe 2000-2500 psi. I want gas vs. electric because I hear the gas powered are more powerful.

I was looking into picking this one up from Northern Tool.


Anyone have any experience with one of these? Is this a good deal?

 

ditto..i'm looking into the same gas vs. electric...any experiences? worth buying or just renting? 65 fury, have you looked into renting one? or do you have a lot of projects that it woulc be good for?

 

I just want to have one for all the projects I have. Renting them is something like $80 for the day at HD.

 

i think there are a few that you can adjust the pressure. i borrow one from work that prob costs about $600. works very well and it's free.

i like it b/c it has wheels for better mobility

 

Yeah, I've been looking at the gas ones at sears ($250-300)... and there were some refurbished ones at HD for $210...

My step-dad has one, so I was thinking about just borrowing his for a weekend. I don't really know how much I'd actually use one after a couple of days, and it's a pain in the ass to maintain another thing with a gas engine (my old pushmower won't stay running for example).

 

I had an electric Simoniz (1650psi). It was good for washing the car, but was limited for blasting deck and stone.

I replaced it with a gas Simoniz (5.5hp/2350psi). It will strip loose paint off my truck and has very little pressure control beyond the throttle. It is much better for deck and stone blasting so is a better all-around unit.

The cons to a gas unit is that the pump runs when the motor runs - which means when you arent on the trigger the pump is straining against its own pressure. I think the more expensive ones have a pressure switch connected to a clutch. Also... The environmental impact nags my conscience.

As for tips... If you live in a part of the world that has winters, keep the unit in a heated space, or purge the pump, hose and nozzle with antifreeze. Not doing that myself killed my electric one in a single season.

 

I have a 2200 MAX TroyBuilt that I got from Lowes in the Fall of 05. I really like it a lot. I clean all kinds of crap with it. Mine is not exactly like the one pictured. The one I have is the previous generation, but really how much could it change?

http://www.troybilt-gen-pw.com/press...del.cfm?id=201

You can catch them on sale from time to time.

Don't worry too much about type of engine in this price range. The engine on mine is a Briggs that you will find on a $100 lawn mower. The pump will crap out long before the engine does. In this price range they are all consumer grade pumps and having a Honda engine isn't going to make any difference at all.

Here are some features that I like about mine.
1. Quick change tips. There are various tips from super high to low pressure. I find that the medium one is the one that is used 99% of the time. With the high pressure one you can easily carve your name into concrete.
2. Quick detach hose connections, or at least connections that can be made/undone without hand tools.
3. It can be used with cleaner solution, although I've never needed to.
4. I like the wheels, they are a little wobbly but get the job done and beat having to lug it around.

Since your likely to not use it every weekend be sure your gas has Stable in it or run it dry every time you run the machine.

Be sure to read the manual. There are some important tips such as don't run the machine when its not hooked up to water, and don't store the machine in freezing temps.

As for the power, I think I would like a little stronger one next time around. This one gets the job done but I have to hold the wand a little closer to the ground than I would like. My back isn't the greatest and it gets sore after an hour of that. A stronger one would allow me to hold the wand farther away. If you plan to clean siding and have a two story house you will want something with a little more kick too.

 

I want one only for washing my car... are the gas powered ones going to take the paint off my car? I like the idea of NOT having to use a power cord...

 

I've used a pressure washer at a "self serve" car wash. It was much more powerful than the 2200PSI one I have. It was great at getting the snow/ice/salt off of my car. What I found is that it could not get the thin layer of grime/film off of the paint. For that I still needed to use the soft brush.

They do make soft brush attachments for consumer pressure washers.

I've never used mine to wash my car.

 

i didn't even think about using it on a car...i'd be worried about stripping paint too...how many psi do you need for siding and decks? can you buy smaller models?

 

Thanks guys! Great tips here like keeping Stabl in the gas (I won't use it every weekend like I do my mower) the different tips, purging the water from the pump when it freezes, etc.

The unit I pictured has a wheel kit that I am planning to buy as well to make moving it around a lot easier as well.

I'm also going to look into HD and Sears to see if they have any reconditioned units. If they are pretty much all the same I wouldn't mind saving a few bucks on a recon'ed unit.

As far as the engine goes, I also would prefer a Honda engine to the Briggs. I have a Briggs on my mower and it's a reliable unit, and also a Techumse (spelling?) on my snow blower and that thing is a work horse; both are fairly reliable but noisy as all hell. The Hondas are a lot quieter. May seem minor wanting a quieter engine but I would prefer that.

Thanks all. I'll let you all know what I end up getting and what mischief I get into with it!

 

Siding on a house makes your choice a little tricky. If you have a single story house a 2200-2500 is plenty good for decks and siding. If you have a multistory dwelling you will need a higher PSI to get a good stream up there from the ground. My 2200 can reach the top of my two story house but the stream is just about played out.

 

^^^I have a 2-story and am looking for a 2000-2500 psi unit. Is there a special spray wand to reach or mybe the high power tip for the 2nd story would help?

 

You should probably lean toward the 2500 psi end of the spectrum.

There really isn't any kind of tip that can boost the psi of your machine. The tips basically regulate the PSI. If you get a 2500psi machine that comes with 3 tips you basically get the following: High pressure tip will produce very narrow width stream of water at 2500psi. Medium will produce a wider stream at around 1800 psi. Low will produce even wider stream at around 1300 psi. The manual can give you details of the PSI of each tip.

You don't want to use the high pressure tip on anything at close range. You will damage whatever you spray. Try it on a scrap piece of concrete or something, pretty neat.

When I was shopping I found some decent info here
http://www.pressurewashersdirect.com/

If you click the detail of any particular machine they will show you what jobs they recommend it for.