What's the best power washer out there?

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Gr8Fan

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I'm trying to open a small business soon and currently I'm going over all the equipment necessary to make it happen. My question is what would a good P/W for the job?
 
you DO NOT need an expensive PW

i bought my Karcher PW for $150 on Craigslist. it works perfectly fine

anything above $300 is overkill to the max

get an electrical PW. i think mine is 1800 psi, and 1.4gpm
 
If your doing it for a business and you can afford it, get a Kranzle. They are upwards of $1500.
 
If its only being used for cars then get between 1500 psi to 1800 psi. If you plan on detailing boats and semis I'd suggest getting around 2500psi and up. For the more powerful units, get gas powered.
 
+1 for the electric Karcher. Can be bought for under $100 1600psi, 2 different sprayers(fan and needle), and 1 year rapid replacment warrenty. But the hose extension is a must.
 
artofdetailing said:
If its only being used for cars then get between 1500 psi to 1800 psi. If you plan on detailing boats and semis I'd suggest getting around 2500psi and up. For the more powerful units, get gas powered.
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+1 BUT that is once things start to settle in.. you really dont wanna spend $1700 on a pw when you don't know how things will go.. spend money on items that will improve your skill/time
 
Thanks for the replies, I'll be looking for the Karcher model specs.
 
Just picked up a craftsman 2700 psi 2.4gpm gas powered. For everyone who says it's too much psi, you can adjust it and lower it to your preference so go big and be able to use it for everything
 
Gsrjake said:
Just picked up a craftsman 2700 psi 2.4gpm gas powered. For everyone who says it's too much psi, you can adjust it and lower it to your preference so go big and be able to use it for everything
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I agree with this. Good advice.

There's a bunch of different routes you can take in purchasing a pressure washer for your business, depending on how your business is set up and what types of tools you like to buy.

There are several types of pressure washers on the market. There are the disposable electric units and the disposable gas powered units. These are basically the lower priced units (under $500) that typically have the cheaper, stiff hoses, cheesy plastic wands and aluminum direct drive pump that isn't rebuildable. They come with a parts breakdown with part numbers, but try getting the parts and you'll likely throw the unit in the scrap pile and buy a new one.

Then you have the "industrial grade" units from the box stores and the likes of Home Depot or Lowe's. These units in reality vary from gas powered throw away units up to entry level, less reliable rebuildable units. They are nice units so long as you're not taxing them all day every day. These units can be rebuildable but often will have inferior stainless steel parts that don't really last that long.

Then you have the real industrial grade pressure washers which vary in output pressure and have rebuildable pumps with high quality ceramic and other real high quality build materials. These units have real world parts availability and great engineering and very high reliability. These units typically start at around $2500 and will vary in reliability and function depending on your needs.

If you're going to be a business owner who employs a crew of detailers and spends more time cold calling, crunching numbers, scheduling and basically running the business end of a higher volume operation, it would be wise to invest in a "real" industrial grade unit with a belt driven pump, adjustable unloader, recirculation loop and a built in time out feature that shuts the unit down automatically in the event one of your employees forgets and leaves the unit run when finished with it.

Even with the recirculation loop the pump can still sustain damage if left running for extended periods. If this occurs and causes down time (payroll) and costly parts replacement plus labor and transportation to and from a repair establishment and possible loss of clientele, that money could have bought you another industrial grade unit. It's wise to have a time out feature to protect your investment if you rely on others to care enough to protect your company's assets.

A lot of these high end industrial units have high quality, strong and more user friendly hoses. Some are electric, some are gas powered, some have direct drive pumps and some have belt drive pumps. The belt drive pumps run at a much lower RPM and do not share the heat with the electric motor or the gas engine. Slower RPM and no shared heat equals high reliability, which of course ends in less down time and expensive repairs. It's a "pay now, or pay later" type of decision when making a smart purchase of a pressure washer.

If it's just you doing low volume, non industrial work on your own then I guess a cheap throw away model would fit the bill, but even then it's much easier working with a higher quality, more user friendly and more reliable unit day in and day out.

If I used cheap throw away units, I'd have a back up unit with me at all times. If you use these cheaper throw away units hard at all, over a few years you'll likely exceed the cost of a high quality unit when considering unit replacement costs, driving for those replacements, down time and if you put a price on the annoyance of working with cheaper tools like I do there's even more money out the door.

This is just the way I think, and the longer you're in this field the more likely it will be that someone asks you to do large jobs such as semi trucks, motor homes, large trailers etc. Get a few of these jobs under your belt using a cheesy $200 throw away unit and you'll likely be placing an industrial unit on your wish list.

For "real" high quality pressure washers, I'd recommend looking at the likes of "Landa" or "Alkota", "Karcher" also has a "real" high quality line of pressure washers that you'll never see at a hardware store or box store.

My 2 cents on pressure washers.
 
honda cat pump 5 5 1/2 6 hp ones are no good the shaft is tapperd and is nfg. I have the 13hp with a cat pump and have had it 7 years.Can run 2 hoses at same time and turn power up or down.Ps there is also a blow off on mine so if you dont pull the handle in 1min it will blow the water out the back as not to blow the seals in the pump
 
sweatthedetails said:
Some interesting perspective. I agree that the electric, plastic Karcher I use is not exactly industrial grade. I have gone thru 2 in 4 years doing about 100 cars per year. But that means to make it an economical investment in a $2500 PW it would have to last 50 years!


Macomb Dents & Details: Car Detailing and Paintless Dent Removal
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I may be slow, but I do poor work.
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In terms of reliability when the tool is being cared for, you may be right.

When you have guys who aren't the sharpest tool in the shed, or just don't care, running your equipment on a regular basis it's not uncommon to see the unit left running unattended for long periods, wands being thrown on the ground, wands and hoses being run over by cars etc.

Of course this kind of mistreatment causes leaks in cheap fittings and splits in plastic parts, burned up pumps etc. Very rarely can you pay a man to care as much as you care for your tools, and let's face it...when the heat is on mistakes do happen.

When you're working with an overkill unit that's generally turned down, then you do get the big nasty jobs coming in, (tractors, garbage trucks, semis, motor homes etc.) the "crank-up-ability" allows you to not only take the job but to do it most efficiently with the extra power and reliability of the real industrial units. Again, it's all in what you want to do with your business. I for one can't afford to say no to these types of gigs, even though they might not necessarily be my target jobs they're still good income if you can handle the job.

Then again, one can not miss the feel and usability of a high quality tool if it's something they've never experienced. It's kind of like going from current technology and visiting Aunt Millie and getting on her 10 year old PC, it's just hard to go back.

I'd say I'm pretty impressed with the reliability you're getting from the Karchers you speak of though. :dblthumb2:
 
master detailer said:
honda cat pump 5 5 1/2 6 hp ones are no good the shaft is tapperd and is nfg. I have the 13hp with a cat pump and have had it 7 years.Can run 2 hoses at same time and turn power up or down.Ps there is also a blow off on mine so if you dont pull the handle in 1min it will blow the water out the back as not to blow the seals in the pump
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Not sure of the H.P. of my Honda engine (212cc) but i've not had any issues yet, but being a belt drive unit I doubt it has a tapered shaft. Very reliable "Diamont" belt driven skid unit, 4GPM, 2500PSI with a "General Pump" and adjustable Landa unloader. Right place right time when I picked this old unit up for $150. Went for about $2000 new.
 
True enough Dave. On the occasions I have paid help, they don't take care of my equipment the way I do. I doubt the person who is posing the question about which PW to get is starting out running the high volume business your talking about. Sometime it doesn't make much since to go out and buy the best, most expensive equipment. Match you equipment to your needs and upgrade when you can justify.

I started out with a shop vac, bucket, and a wash mitt. The toys have increased with my business👍, but I still can't justify the monster PW your talking about. Hopefully one day!


www.SweatTheDetails.Time2Detail.com
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I may be slow, but I do poor work.
 
sweatthedetails said:
True enough Dave. On the occasions I have paid help, they don't take care of my equipment the way I do. I doubt the person who is posing the question about which PW to get is starting out running the high volume business your talking about. Sometime it doesn't make much since to go out and buy the best, most expensive equipment. Match you equipment to your needs and upgrade when you can justify.

I started out with a shop vac, bucket, and a wash mitt. The toys have increased with my business👍, but I still can't justify the monster PW your talking about. Hopefully one day!


Macomb Dents & Details: Car Detailing and Paintless Dent Removal
www.Facebook.com/DentsAndDetails
I may be slow, but I do poor work.
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Agree 100%
 
2700 psi is a must. I do semi's, boats, houses you name it. Spend $300 and you will make it back the first day.
 
master detailer said:
honda cat pump 5 5 1/2 6 hp ones are no good the shaft is tapperd and is nfg. I have the 13hp with a cat pump and have had it 7 years.Can run 2 hoses at same time and turn power up or down.Ps there is also a blow off on mine so if you dont pull the handle in 1min it will blow the water out the back as not to blow the seals in the pump
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When I detailed I would wear out a cheap pump in 6 months. Went with a Cat Triplex in 1985 and still use it today. Change the oil once a year, and have replaced a bunch of hoses, but the pump still works great. You get what you pay for with a Cat pump.
 
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