Help! problems with detailing setup!

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m3royal

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Hey all! Newbie to Auto Geek! I've been experiencing a few issues with my detailing setup, maybe some of you guys with experience can help out!

I've got a 275 gallon tote that I usually only fill up a quarter to half way, connected to a Shurflo 1.8gpm on demand pump powered by a 12v rechargeable battery with on/off switch, routed to Griotts portable water deionizer, fed into my AR Blue Clean 630 TSS. The Blue Clean is powered by an EU3000is generator and that's my first issue truthfully. I've connected the pressure washer via the 23.3 amp connection on the generator with a 30amp to 15amp ac adapter, and extension cable. However, whenever the pressure washer is engaged, the overload alarm light turns on, the pressure washer ramps up to max flow, and then slowly loses pressure. The eu3000is overload alarm light turns off while still engaging the pressure washer, but the pressure washer flow decreases and performs less than stellar.

The AR Blue Clean 630 TSS is rated at 2.2GPM, so already looking at upgrading the Shurflo pump to something with higher GPM. I'm guessing that would help the pressure issue quite a bit, as the 630 TSS gets a bit louder with grinding gear sounds and lowers pressure with continuous usage on the 1.8GMP demand pump.

Any way to increase this setup's performance? Is the eu3000is limiting the rate of flow for gpm? Maybe it's just the shurflo pump? Newbie definitely struggling with this setup for optimal results. The eu3000is holds its own with all other equipment including my MasterBlaster. Feedback definitely appreciated!

Edit: BTW the AR Blue Clean hooked up to direct power through my garage performs a bit better with better overall flow rates and pressure, but still causes grinding noise from the pressure washer and requires me to let off the pressure washer gun and re-engage to bring back the higher flow rate. Whenever I let up on the pressure washer trigger, I can hear the pump engaging for 5-10 seconds before it turns off and then re-engaging the pressure washer trigger is back to better overall pressure. It's a continuous loop though and leads me to believe the pump isn't operating at optimal conditions with less GPM than is necessary for the AR Blue Clean.
 
I think you’d be better off with a gas pressure washer as then you wouldn’t have to worry about the limitations of a generator.

If you’re connecting to a 120V outlet from the house 15/20A and you’re still having issues, then it seems like the pressure washer needs to be fixed/replaced. I’d recommend against another electric connected to a generator as electric pressure washers pull quite a bit of electrical power, especially EVERY time the pump turns on, it will pull greater than 20amps initially. This puts a LOAD on a gas generator unless it is really big.

Plus your generator is also being used to pump water to the pressure washer and charge batteries or anything else?

Another thought I had is to potentially simplify your setup. Can you run your water in the evening to fill up your water container using the deionizer? Then you’d have clean water and you wouldn’t need to pump through the deionizer, which may be a bottleneck to the system.
 
dgage thanks for the reply! Do you think upgrading to a generator with higher continuous and higher max load would help? Looking at a geni that produces 6250 surge watts and 5000 rated watts on a 301cc 4-stroke ohv engine. Also upgrading the pump to higher GPM?

The generator is used for powering one piece of equipment at a time. The pump has it's own dedicated battery it runs off of.
 
First, every system has a bottleneck, you just need to address each bottleneck until the next bottleneck doesn’t interfere with your usage.

I’d recommend testing as much as you can with home power (non-generator) to make sure everything is working well before you add the generator.

It looks to me your generator is probably at its limits pushing the electric pressure washer as it has a max rating of 23.3 amps and that assumes you have it running full bore. The pressure washer is probably pulling near that max amperage every time its pump turns on as the initial turn on pulls more power than once it is running. So yes you may need a more powerful generator. Or like I said, you could look at a gas powered pressure washer, which for your application is probably the better option.

To me an electric pressure washer uses quite a bit of power and would be taxing on a generator, especially because a pump will power on and off a lot. Running something that uses steady power is easier than something that turns on and off with a large power pull every time it turns on. So instead of using a generator, I’d seriously consider getting a small gas pressure washer since gas pressure washers can have enough pressure to damage a car finish. Try to get one near 2800-3000 psi as 4000 psi could easily damage paint.
 
Maybe instead of upgrading your generator, talk to someone who knows this stuff really well about using a battery/inverter in-between the two. I don't know enough about this type of setup to help you. But, thought I would throw it out there for consideration.

But like dgage said, the first step would be to get your system running properly on a 110v household circuit.
 
ducksfan said:
Maybe instead of upgrading your generator, talk to someone who knows this stuff really well about using a battery/inverter in-between the two. I don't know enough about this type of setup to help you. But, thought I would throw it out there for consideration.

But like dgage said, the first step would be to get your system running properly on a 110v household circuit.
Click to expand...

My understanding is just the small water pump from his 275-gallon container is battery powered, the pressure washer is run from the generator. I don’t think there is an inverter involved other than that built into the generator.
 
Yes @dgage that's the correct setup. On the flip side, tried firing up my AR Blue Clean 630 TSS this morning and it threw the breaker. I'm guessing based off of my troubleshooting, the 630 TSS is having some issues even though it's only 2 months old and barely used. To get back up and running as quickly as possible, I've been looking at several gas powered pressure washers per dgage's advice.

If I went with say Simpson Cleaning MSH3125 MegaShot Gas Pressure Washer, would the rest of the setup still be viable? Tank-->pump run off of battery-->deionizer-->gas pressure washer? Or would there be no need for a pump with the pressure washer's inline axial cam pump, even though it's still feeding through a deionizer?
 
Yep that's the setup. Seems like there's something wrong with the AR Blue Clean 630 TSS as it tripped my breaker this morning... Would the setup still be viable but with a gas powered pressure washer like the Simpson Cleaning MSH3125 MegaShot?

Full setup would look like: 275G tank-->water pump running off of independent 12v battery-->water deionizer w/bypass-->gas pressure washer . Do you think I'd still need a water pump as the Simpson is built with an axial cam pump? I'd like to stay away from gravity fed, hence the current setup.
 
That and I’m assuming most pressure washers need near 40 lbs of water pressure plus 3 gallons per minute. Does your battery powered pump handle that? Does the pump provide 3 gpm through the deionizer?

What about something like the Worx Hydroshot Ultra, which can work from a water source with no water pressure? It definitely isn’t as powerful but not sure what you’re doing with it.

And like I said previously, one thought I had is using the deionizer when you’re filling your 275 container, which would remove that bottleneck from the chain while in use.

Also, that Honda engine is a residential version, you may want to consider moving up to the commercial GX200.
 
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