# Pressure washer



## 1gr8bldr (Jun 27, 2011)

I'm gonna buy a pressure washer, what are the better one's out there?


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## alvishere (Jun 27, 2011)

depends what you are going to do with it....GPM's or gallons per minute is what determines if it is commercial grade or not.....NOT the PSI.
  Cheaper stuff from northern, home depot ect ...usually is no more than 3-4 gpm.
 5.5 gpm is considered low end on commercial side,  Most commercial are 8-11 gpm.


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## CAL (Jun 27, 2011)

Whatever you buy,most pressure washers are torn up from lack of water to the pump at start up.Had a washer salesman to tell me this years ago.The pump is also the most expensive part of one too.Good luck in your search!


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## alvishere (Jun 29, 2011)

CAL said:


> Whatever you buy,most pressure washers are torn up from lack of water to the pump at start up.Had a washer salesman to tell me this years ago.The pump is also the most expensive part of one too.Good luck in your search!



that is true ...the reason box stores don't sell over 4 gmp machines is because the water coming from the house is usually no more than 4gpm at the home.
   Anything over that  you need a holding tank to pull water from.


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## GAarcher (Jun 30, 2011)

*pressure washer*

Just bought a craftsman 2600 PSI for casual use here at home. Has a Honda motor. Love it so far. It has done great. I know the pump is the weakest link in this thing, but we'll see how it does in the long run.


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## Nautical Son (Jul 3, 2011)

CAL said:


> Whatever you buy,most pressure washers are torn up from lack of water to the pump at start up.Had a washer salesman to tell me this years ago.The pump is also the most expensive part of one too.Good luck in your search!



Cal is exactley right, the lack of enough water and mixing straight bleach into the machines from the box stores is the death of them....trust me I have a brand new Troy-Built 2600psi that is shot after 4 uses...my ex-stepson used straight bleach in it after I told him not too...the thing cost like $289 new and the pump is $180 at dealer cost....looks like I have a nice new Honda motor for a log splitter project for less than $100 bucks....if you buy from Lowes buy the extended warranty...and buy the highest PSI they offer, the pump is much better.


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## 1gr8bldr (Jul 3, 2011)

I purchased a 4000 psi with a 3.5 gallon per minute. A little over a grand. That's the most GPH I could afford


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## LongBow01 (Jul 16, 2011)

I have a northstar (northern tool brand) it has a 13 horse honda engine and a CAT pump it is 3.5 GPM and 4000 PSI it works good for most jobs I wash alot of houses and some driveways and have had no problems so far. it cost around $1100.00 and was worth every penny I have had much lesser machines and will never have anything smaller than what I have now.


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## JohnK (Jul 16, 2011)

I've had a couple. For personal use you're probably better off renting a big one over time. Everybody borrows it and tears it up. You fix it up.


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## trial&error (Jul 18, 2011)

CAL said:


> Whatever you buy,most pressure washers are torn up from lack of water to the pump at start up.Had a washer salesman to tell me this years ago.The pump is also the most expensive part of one too.Good luck in your search!



Most of the broken ones I've seen are the water inlet, someone tries to move it around dragging a 100' hose full of water.  So install a quick disconnect on the water inlet.


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## 1gr8bldr (Jul 22, 2011)

LongBow01 said:


> I have a northstar (northern tool brand) it has a 13 horse honda engine and a CAT pump it is 3.5 GPM and 4000 PSI it works good for most jobs I wash alot of houses and some driveways and have had no problems so far. it cost around $1100.00 and was worth every penny I have had much lesser machines and will never have anything smaller than what I have now.


Sounds like the same one. I'm surprised after having used lesser ones as to how much water volume it moves. Looks like a flood has come


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## LongBow01 (Jul 22, 2011)

Yup its a goodun for the price!!


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## cch0830 (Aug 19, 2011)

I bought a Craftsman from Sears for about $250. Is the best piece of equipment I have in my garage. I can clean anything with that joker. It fires up on the first pull, every time. It has 3 different tips for 3 levels of pressure. I just use the medium tip for everything and just put the sprayer closer to whatever I am spraying if I need it to really throw the pressure to it. I have chipped concrete with the medium tip so I have never even used the high pressure tip. The low pressure tip is for just applying cleaner. The washer has a tube that comes from the bottom that you can run into a bottle of cleaner that pulls the cleaner out and through the sprayer.


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