pressure washer help.

[Summitric]

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.

you should have gone to mountain mania 8 for your chance to win the honda powered "be" pressure washer... 2700psi, and they work good ..... There is a lucky winner out there probably using it right now

 

[mathrulz]

what "cold water" soap works?

I forget what brand mine is now - bought several pails of it with the pressure washer years ago on a bulk discount. It's a blue powder I mix down as needed. It's all I can really recall using on the farm ever, so I'm not sure how it compares to others, but it seems to do the trick for us anyway. I think most blue coloured soaps are for cold water, but just make sure it says cold water to be sure - powder is easier to store, but I'm sure liquids would be alright too.

I also use mine with soft well water. Not sure how the soft/hard water would affect everything, but occasionally I'll have the odd white spot left after everything dries from the sodium in the water - a heavy dew usually cleans this up though. I try to avoid washing in direct sunlight anyway and usually don't have to worry about the sodium even.

 

[team dirt]

Heat is more important than pressure. Also volume is added bonus.

 

[sirkdev]

Heat is more important than pressure. Also volume is added bonus.

Heat is better for "cleaning" cutting road grime etc. sheer volume is what counts for removing the pounds of mud from a vehicle. Just for a reference for average joe your middle level car wash will be any where from 2.5-3.5 GPM. A truck wash is generally 4-6 gpm. Pressure is really a moot point above 2500 psi. In my opinion volume is the clear winner.

 

[Megrizzly]

I understand your not looking to spend a bunch of dough, but after having a magnitude of pressure washers from gas powered to electric to electric with hot water, I would gladly take hot water over pressure or volume. Just looking at the specs of my hotsy compared to the recommendations in this thread and mine is quite low spec wise for gpm and pressure, but I never noticed. Wash all kinds of things from quads, sleds, vehicles, ag machinery, oil, grease, concrete. My water temperature is usually 140 F in the summer and 175 F during the rest. Burner runs on diesel and no issues. no soap either.

 

[SUMMIT TREE]

So if volume is better than just my garden hose should really rock out hey? Pressure and volume go hand in hand. I'm not getting into that right now. I got a Canadian tire one that puts out 3600 psi and really cleans good. In comparison work bought a really cheap karcher one that does around 15-1600 psi and it can barely get the floor wet. ( guess to clarify mines a 6.5 Hp gas and the karcher is electric)

 

[teeroy]

I understand your not looking to spend a bunch of dough, but after having a magnitude of pressure washers from gas powered to electric to electric with hot water, I would gladly take hot water over pressure or volume. Just looking at the specs of my hotsy compared to the recommendations in this thread and mine is quite low spec wise for gpm and pressure, but I never noticed. Wash all kinds of things from quads, sleds, vehicles, ag machinery, oil, grease, concrete. My water temperature is usually 140 F in the summer and 175 F during the rest. Burner runs on diesel and no issues. no soap either.

the great thing about hotsy or karcher washers is the parts availability. we've had both at our shop, a 220v diesel burner hotsy on wheels and a truck mounted karcher steamer/washer. the hotsy must be 20 years old now, replaced the fire tube a few years back and other little odd and ends but it still works like new. it found it's way to my house since we got the truck mounted washer...heh heh

 

[woody_tobius_jr]

what "cold water" soap works?

We used to use Accuchem brand and it was AccuPower that we used for the cold water. We would mix it strong, and some of the guys would soap their truck and let it sit for a crib game or two and then rinse. It cleaned the stainless, chrome and aluminum, and also our trucks were blue and it was hard to find a soap that would clean them. This one worked really good, we did mix it pretty strong too, everytime we filled the soap pail with water we would add a cup of soap, so it would get pretty strong after a while. A little spendy though, a hundred and some bucks for a 5 gallon pail. Ive had this pail at home for about 3 years now and its still 7/8 full. Well worth the $$ in my opinion.


Sent from my iPad

 

[tamsy]

Anyone looking at a Hotsy should also consider National Pressure. Price is similar and a few people in the steamer businesses in my area claim they are far superior. Easier to find parts and you can use a air hose to blow out your pump after each use to prevent freezing/cracking.

 

[Joholio]

I got an electric cart mounted unit from peavey mart, took it off the cart and mounted it under my work bench close to the tap (2') and used the cart for my little Hobart ac/dc welder(also from peavey).