pressure washer help.

[gates559]

I wanna new pressure washer. electric, if it will do what I need. How many psi do I need to get the road grime of our vehicles?

I am looking at the small Stihl. I don't know if it would be any better than a Canadian tire jobby but I would hope.

I can go to some car washes and spray them off and as long as I go horizontal pattern than vertical I dont need a brush to get them pretty clean, well good enough.

 

[maxwell]

I have a 3600psi gas that won't get road grime off unless you hold it too close for comfort. They still all need a scrub to get perfect I find. I haven't found an electric washer yet that will match the 3600 gas I have because I sure prefer the electric.

 

[S.W.A.T.]

Why do you guys like the electric over the gas models?

 

[maxwell]

Why do you guys like the electric over the gas models?

For home I don't care. But at our shops at work it's just less things for the guys to break and fuel up. Also our office is attached to the shop and they have to pull the gas washers outside because they are so loud it's just a pita basically.

 

[pfi572]

Quite being cheap then? lol
Hotsy has lots of really nice pressure washers that are electric and even hot water if you want.

 

[Cat401]

Don't get caught up with PSI....They all have adequate pressure. GPM is MORE important. Try and get 3GPM or more

 

[maxwell]

Quite being cheap then? lol
Hotsy has lots of really nice pressure washers that are electric and even hot water if you want.

they dont have any that come close to the psi a 800$ briggs and straton puts out. the only one i see is 5000psi but 240v yikes. likely 3000$+ i would imagine.

 

[maxwell]

Don't get caught up with PSI....They all have adequate pressure. GPM is MORE important. Try and get 3GPM or more

good to know.

 

[pfi572]

they dont have any that come close to the psi a 800$ briggs and straton puts out. the only one i see is 5000psi but 240v yikes. likely 3000$+ i would imagine.

Like I said " quit being cheap" LOL
They make them but you pay for it.
It's a right off through the company.

 

[MrHankey]

Try researching "be pressure" They make some hoopty doopty washers gas and electric built in Canada to.In Drayton valley horizon forest and lawn is the dealer but I'm sure there are a few around alberta

 

[byronkentgraham]

Spend the money for a hotsy. Worth it 110%. We use it to clean cattle handling facilities, road grimes isn't that difficult to wash off.

 

[woody_tobius_jr]

Don't get caught up with PSI....They all have adequate pressure. GPM is MORE important. Try and get 3GPM or more

X2, you can have the pressure to peel the paint, but without the gph you're hooped. We had one from greggs at our shop, used to run steady washing trucks and trailers, 8-9 hours a day. i believe it was a Landa, not sure how the price compares to a hotsy though. next important thing is finding a soap that will work well with it. for a lot of years we just had cold water, but we had found a soap that was a specific cold water soap. When we switched to a hotsy, it took us a while to find a soap that would work well with it and would clean our trucks without us scrubbing the trucks down. Just my .02


Sent from my iPad

 

[gates559]

The reason I want electric is because Im sick of cleaning carbs every time I go to use something.

Sure why dont I just call hotsy and get them to build me a touchless steam room. I just want something simple for once. Instead of getting caught up and trying to buy the best on the market lol.
If a little electric one wont work ill stick to the car wash. I figured the stihl one may be descent. I did consider the gas yamaha but its about a grand so I may as well go to the car wash for ten bucks a shot and they can worry about maintenance.

 

[gates559]

I read the specs on the stihl. With help from google I was able to convert liters per hour to gallons per minute. Looks like the biggest one is only at 2.2 gallons per minute.

Since its a right off for the company can you get me one. Cause my company doesnt need many write offs this early in the year.
.

 

[MrHankey]

Imo I think the hotsy stuff is overrated almost bought a steamer mounted in a trailer from them this winter,until I did some internet research ended up getting a empire steam and pressure setup much better bang for the buck

 

[Highfly]

I've got a little Craftsman Gas power washer. It's maybe a little under powered form what I am reading in this thread but it works great for my needs. It's 2000 PSI, 2 GPM, 3.75 HP.


As for carbs gumming up, I pre mix my jerry cans with Stabil and NEVER have any issues. It's 5 years old at least. Haven't touched it....... Just hook up the garden hose, pull and go!

 

[mathrulz]

Have an electric one from John Deere. Can't remember the specs, but I think it's around 3GPM. I agree with the above that flow is more important than pressure to a point. Never had an issue ever with removing road grime, bugs, heavy clay mud, etc at all from vehicles, toys, or farm equipment. I think it was around $500-700 about 10 years ago now - can't remember exactly. Cold water soap is also the way to go for sure.

 

[Cat401]

Have an electric one from John Deere. Can't remember the specs, but I think it's around 3GPM. I agree with the above that flow is more important than pressure to a point. Never had an issue ever with removing road grime, bugs, heavy clay mud, etc at all from vehicles, toys, or farm equipment. I think it was around $500-700 about 10 years ago now - can't remember exactly. Cold water soap is also the way to go for sure.

what "cold water" soap works?

 

[Jason]

Cat401 is exactly right. PSI means nothing without GPM.

 

[sirkdev]

what "cold water" soap works?

Not very many soaps do work that well with cold water. I usually have the water scuz/scale to contend with anyways. I use my washer to get the bulk of the crap off then go to car wash for a final wash.