[NA] Educate me on pressure washers

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

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I want to buy a pressure washer. There seems to be some debate about PSI vs GPM being the preferred factor.
I need to clean my driveway / sidewalk, strip paint off my garage floor, generally clean grime off brick, clean my fence for restraining, maybe even wash cars, etc...

I am under the impression I need one that has that big round spinning cleaner attachment so I am not cleaning large swaths of concrete with a pencil size stream of water.

I assume these things are variable meaning I am not using the same psi to clean the driveway as I am to wash a car.
For general all around household use, what PSI / GPM should I look for? Elec versus gas? I don't ever see myself needing enough pressure to etch concrete.

Recommendations?
 
PSI and GPM on a pressure washer are a bit like horsepower and speed on your plane. You can never have too much...
 
dcat127 said:
PSI and GPM on a pressure washer are a bit like horsepower and speed on your plane. You can never have too much...
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Depends. Both can actually damage surfaces if too high for the material.


If firmly set on making the purchase, just get ready for adding another piece of equipment to the list of things to maintain. Just say-in.

Unless things have changed in the last 20 years, focus on a fuel driven engine unit. I used to buy electric driven units as they were less expensive, and each died a very early death with little use. Maybe it was from the use of 1 - 3 times a year. Who knows.

I stopped using pressure washers a long time ago as I had contractor friends give me alternate techniques for pretty much everything. Since then, I rented a pressure washer just once to mechanically remove growth from a large wooden deck. Actually, the only reason I rented the unit was that the contractor who did the deck restoration did not want to wait for an alternate cleaning method to fully work before applying a new layer of sealant.

For cleaning grime on the brick and fence, consider a 2-1/2 gallon pump sprayer. Use ~25 - 30% bleach, the rest water, and simply douse the surface. Hand pump sprayers can easily reach the roofs of 2 story buildings. If there is any desirable plant life around the surfaces, the bleach solution will harm or kill the desirable plants, so just wait for a rainy day when the desirable plants will have enough rainwater on them to dilute any over-spray.

FWIW, cleaning the driveway with just a hose and jet nozzle is workable and have done this many times.

For cleaning other items like cars, I see many people do it, but this just seems like a lot of extra work when compared to the two-bucket and hose technique.
 
Don't use it on your airplane. That pressure can force aluminum lap seams apart. It can peel paint. It can force water into the pitot and static ports and cause pressure damage and inaccurate readings. I can force water past the primitive felt wheel bearing seals, causing expensive corrosion to the bearings and the aluminum or magnesium wheels. Remember that grease is thickened oil, and oil and water mixed and left in the presence of metals will form acids that eat everything.
 
Dan Thomas said:
Don't use it on your airplane. That pressure can force aluminum lap seams apart. It can peel paint. It can force water into the pitot and static ports and cause pressure damage and inaccurate readings. I can force water past the primitive felt wheel bearing seals, causing expensive corrosion to the bearings and the aluminum or magnesium wheels. Remember that grease is thickened oil, and oil and water mixed and left in the presence of metals will form acids that eat everything.
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Wouldn't dream of it.



now that you mention it.
 
I bought this Greenworks electric last year, so far it’s been great. The 15 and 25 nozzles were great for cleaning our rear paver patio and the front porch and steps. The 40 nozzle and foam cannon make short work of cleaning the big Transit van and the RV trailer.

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PSI for pressure deep cleaning have to be careful,GPH best used with soap for general washing.
 
For cement and decks, this is the cheat code. I'll never go back to conventional cleaning for those. The PSI and flow minimums are listed in the description.

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There are two ways to go. I have a small totable electric from Westinghouse. It has the 'wizzer' type of pump and all the elec type use the same exact pump inside the mfg plastic housing. 1800psi at 1.2gpm. I can do a lot of boat cleaning with it and never worry about damage. Or, you can buy once cry once and get the CAT pump with Honda engine that will last 20 years, and can be throttled down to do small jobs. Unless you need to take off caked on greasy grime from a road grader, the small one will do home jobs ok. I have the big Honda cat type because I do take greasy grime of vintage tractors. But it will wreck siding and any semi soft facia very quick. $129 Westy at Lowes.
 
GPM is more important than PSI.
Gas powered will have more performance than a electric washer.
Except if you buy a 240V powered pressure washer.
I have been using washers like this one since 1980s at work on tanker trucks.
20 years ago I bought this for use at home. It's a steam cleaner.
It's only 2000psi but 4.5 GPM.
I'd buy one from a equipment company, not a big box store. Motorcycle dealerships have some good ones.
I have bought cheaper ones from the big box stores for work and they didn't last out in the field.
This one sit's outside year round under a awning at home. Pour anti freeze into it during the winter. I use it year round. There is a hose reel in the heated garage. I like it outside so the exhaust is not a issue.
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My wife uses it quite a bit on the driveway and house. It's always plugged in and hooked up with water so it's easy to use. Gives her a workout using it.

Pricing will tell about the quality.
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I have used it a lot over the years. It removed all road tars, oil and undercoating off cars I have restored. It's mean with 212°steam water.
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I bought a gas powered Ryobi on sale at Home Depot about 5 years ago. It was around $300. Its rated at 2,500PSI and 1.2GPM and I also bought a rotary attachment. It seems to do the job well enough. The pro grade pressure washers are getting pretty expensive. Even renting one is getting to be more than I want to pay. And for only using a couple of times a years the Ryobi works just fine.

My driveway and sidewalks get a pretty heavy accumulation of black algae in just one year. So every spring I buy a couple of gallons of RMR-86 mold and algae stain remover, spray that stuff down liberally and let it turn brown, then pressure wash it off. I do a small section at a time so that the RMR-86 doesnt completely dry. It seems to work best if you do it on a sunny day and pre-wet the surface before you spray the RMR-86.
 
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You manage pressure on the surface with nozzle selection and distance. The wider the fan, the less aggressive it is. The closer the nozzle is to the surface, the stronger the stream is.

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I have a Subaru-powered pressure washer that has held up well for 10 years or so. If I were buying now, my buddy has a Dewalt electric that he swears by and is the absolute best I've seen for storing when not in use. DWP2600, I think.
 
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This where ya need the big Hotzy in #14. Way beyond what most home units do. Way expensive too but it will strip nearly anything. Need two hands

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Start small and cheap. It will sit in the garage a lot.
 
i'm a fan of the little electrics for small things around the house.
Listening to a gas engine while spraying a driveway for an hour or two drives me nuts!
the little ones I've had make slow work of things like a driveway, compared to a bigger commercial-grade thing...so if you goal is to get it done, it might be better to rent.

I rented a hot water pressure washer a while back to strip decals off my RV. It was a trailer-mounted beast of a thing and I did a lot of unintended damage with the thing...but for a more appropriate application like cleaning a driveway, something like that thing with one of those rotary things would be the way to go. It would make very short work of it.
 
I bought one of these for my garage two years ago: https://a.co/d/0dUwb09x

I mounted it to the wall and it is fed by a hot & cold hose bib in the garage. It means washing the car is simple as flipping the switch on and pulling out the retractable hose. The hose is 100 feet long so it reaches the length of the driveway and the back porch.

With hot water I can use it 11 months out of the year. On that 12th month I can use it as a snow maker.

It’s obviously more expensive than the other electric and gas powered models, but I use it 100x more than I would if I had to hook up hoses and power cords and drag equipment out.
 
Brad Z said:
I bought one of these for my garage two years ago: https://a.co/d/0dUwb09x

I mounted it to the wall and it is fed by a hot & cold hose bib in the garage. It means washing the car is simple as flipping the switch on and pulling out the retractable hose. The hose is 100 feet long so it reaches the length of the driveway and the back porch.

With hot water I can use it 11 months out of the year. On that 12th month I can use it as a snow maker.

It’s obviously more expensive than the other electric and gas powered models, but I use it 100x more than I would if I had to hook up hoses and power cords and drag equipment out.
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How many amps does it draw?
 
If on a 20A service it would be ok. I didnt measure, I just do the calculus.
 
Barrett50 said:
View attachment 150662
This where ya need the big Hotzy in #14. Way beyond what most home units do. Way expensive too but it will strip nearly anything. Need two hands

View attachment 150663
Start small and cheap. It will sit in the garage a lot.
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Believe me, I know about steam cleaners. (Wear hearing protection!). I used to use one to clean the bottoms of fire engines back in the day.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I want to buy a pressure washer. There seems to be some debate about PSI vs GPM being the preferred factor.
I need to clean my driveway / sidewalk, strip paint off my garage floor, generally clean grime off brick, clean my fence for restraining, maybe even wash cars, etc...

I am under the impression I need one that has that big round spinning cleaner attachment so I am not cleaning large swaths of concrete with a pencil size stream of water.

I assume these things are variable meaning I am not using the same psi to clean the driveway as I am to wash a car.
For general all around household use, what PSI / GPM should I look for? Elec versus gas? I don't ever see myself needing enough pressure to etch concrete.

Recommendations?
Click to expand...
 
Haven’t gotten it going yet… but to get an engine for a bobcat I got a pressure washer that (apparently) runs only 900 lbs… at TWENTY GALLONS A MINUTE!

It’s a 30hp motor. The pump is called a triplex? A flipping beast. A lot of cast iron, stainless and ceramic.
 
rwellner98 said:
For cement and decks, this is the cheat code. I'll never go back to conventional cleaning for those. The PSI and flow minimums are listed in the description.

View attachment 150658
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I think this is the same model pressure washer that I bought 25 years ago. I am surprised that it still has the original pump. When I went to the orange big box store, they had a few cheaper ones, but this one had a Honda motor, so I opted to buy the “good one”. The pump died after two years so I brought it to the local repair guy who happened to be outside when I pulled up. He yells to me, “if its the motor, bring it on in, if its the pump, put it back in your truck”. Determined not to just throw it away, I went on the internet to see if I could find a new pump. When I searched the model number, among the sites selling parts, one stood out. A guy had created a website that specifically addressed my problem. He said “this model pressure washer has a cheap Chinese dry pump that will only last about 50 hours, (which was eerily accurate). I’ll be more than happy to sell you a new one for 85 bucks, but you’ll be buying another one in 50 more hours of use. For a couple hundred bucks, I will sell you a plug and play bolt on wet pump solution”. I went with the wet pump, and it has worked flawlessly for that past 23 years.
 
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flyingron said:
Believe me, I know about steam cleaners. (Wear hearing protection!). I used to use one to clean the bottoms of fire engines back in the day.
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I will see you a fire engine and raise you a diesel road grader!
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This one was fairly clean to start with. Some are a lot worse. And, bottom jobs on boats ya need some hot pressure.
 
Dave Theisen said:
I think this is the same model pressure washer that I bought 25 years ago. I am surprised that it still has the original pump.
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Age is right to be the same one. We bought this one 20-25 years ago. Never had a problem. But at least I know what to ask for if it does finally fail. I definitely don't regret getting the Honda motor though. Still starts first or second pull after all this time.
 
Yup. That'll do jus fine for all home jobs. Does it have the wizzer hi pitch pump that stops when the trigger is released? I like that feature
 
It is best to use a water based sealer on your concrete after pressure washing.
Because it will get dirty faster now that it is so porous.
We have some original concrete that is becoming rough and wearing out because we washed it many times now. Mainly my wife likes to do it because it is so satisfying.
 
Gary Ward said:
It is best to use a water based sealer on your concrete after pressure washing.
Because it will get dirty faster now that it is so porous.
We have some original concrete that is becoming rough and wearing out because we washed it many times now. Mainly my wife likes to do it because it is so satisfying.
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You should rent her out.
 
Gary Ward said:
It is best to use a water based sealer on your concrete after pressure washing.
Because it will get dirty faster now that it is so porous.
We have some original concrete that is becoming rough and wearing out because we washed it many times now. Mainly my wife likes to do it because it is so satisfying.
Click to expand...
It's so satisfying.
I got the turbo tip that spins.
It is mesmerizing.
 
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