Fire Hoze Nozzle or High Pressure Wand

[musclejunkie]

I want to invest in a garden hoze end high pressure wand similar principal as what you would see at the quarter wash bays (not a power washer mind you) OR a Adam's Fire Hose Nozzle. Does the Adam's Fire Hose nozzle have as much pressure to knock off the salt and major grime on my car or would a high pressure wand be a better alternative for this?

[mc2hill]

Yes I do use one (Karcher) when I get a lot of salt or mud on my truck, only one problem it is starting to go bad.

 

I have a Karcher electric as well (picked it up at BJ's). I'm on my second one (actually 4th as I took back the first 2 we bought back because they didn't work properly). The hose and gun needed to be replaced on the 1st one, but it was not much more to buy a new one. It is about 1400 psi, which works fine for the car and vinyl siding, but not so great for cleaning concrete.

[Chewy]

This is something that always has bothered me, sense i dont go through the swirl machines that does an undercarriage "spray" how are we supposed to wash the undercarriage of our cars?

 

98% of us dont have the luxury of a lift:mad:

 

I have thought about making something on wheels with spray nozzles attached that can get underneath but im not sure. anyone have a solution?

 

A touchless has them too. They don't induce swirls!

 

Chris

[MAYBEN]

any pics Jason?

[IMADreamer]

There is a guy in my town who made the coolest low profile under carriage cleaner. He just welded four pieces of metal together, drilled holes in it, got some low profile casters and welded a connection so he could run his power washer to his metal frame. The thing only sits two inches high total and he can wheel it in and out of the car to knock the undercrud off. It's pretty cool.

[MAYBEN]

a skateboard and lots of duct tape?

do you really own a G8?

 

theres no way a skateboard will fit under mine, a lot of jacks dont even fit..

[srod54321]

This is something that always has bothered me, sense i dont go through the swirl machines that does an undercarriage "spray" how are we supposed to wash the undercarriage of our cars?

 

98% of us dont have the luxury of a lift:mad:

 

I have thought about making something on wheels with spray nozzles attached that can get underneath but im not sure. anyone have a solution?

 

a skateboard and lots of duct tape?

[ouarkie]

The one I have is rated up to 1700psi I believe. It does have a soap container. It won't spray the soap under the high pressure. All I do is swap wands, pull out on the tip which cuts the pressure way down. It will lay down a nice coat of soap, but not quite as nice as the Gilmore gun. But then it may be the difference between Adam's shampoo and Meguires Gold Class soap also.

Mine does not have the container. So on vehicles I use it to knock all the big dirt off, then use it to rinse. I always do the 2 bucket method. I wish I could use it to soap under full pressure. In college I worked for a man that had a steam cleaner that ran off diesel. I don't know how much pressure it had, but if someone came and turned it up to full pressure while you was using it, you would fall backwards. I watched the boss come in one day and turn the heat and pressure up full blast and remove the paint off the door of his Chevy Silverado truck he had 2 days. He was not a happy camper. He was very, very particular about his vehicles. He had a black suburban and lived 3 miles down a dirt road, and had me wash and wax the thing every 3 or 4 months. I would do it at his shop in town, then drive it to his house, and have to rerinse it off, otherwise you couldn't tell I had done anything to it. I still have nightmares about black suburbans!

[694doorbird]

I have an electric Karcher I bought at Sam's Club. It is 1500 psi I think. I have had it for 6 years. It works OK. The only problem I have is it don't dispense soap at the high pressure, you have to adjust the pressure way down using the wand, and it will soak the surface. It had a hose that pulled out of the side you had to put in a seperate bucket with soap. The hose came loose, and since I didn't use it that way, I never fixed it. It is nowhere as powerful as the coin operated car wash, but works fine for washing car, lawn mower, and patio furniture.

The one I have is rated up to 1700psi I believe. It does have a soap container. It won't spray the soap under the high pressure. All I do is swap wands, pull out on the tip which cuts the pressure way down. It will lay down a nice coat of soap, but not quite as nice as the Gilmore gun. But then it may be the difference between Adam's shampoo and Meguires Gold Class soap also.

[ouarkie]

I have an electric Karcher I bought at Sam's Club. It is 1500 psi I think. I have had it for 6 years. It works OK. The only problem I have is it don't dispense soap at the high pressure, you have to adjust the pressure way down using the wand, and it will soak the surface. It had a hose that pulled out of the side you had to put in a seperate bucket with soap. The hose came loose, and since I didn't use it that way, I never fixed it. It is nowhere as powerful as the coin operated car wash, but works fine for washing car, lawn mower, and patio furniture.

[3PedalMINI]

This is something that always has bothered me, sense i dont go through the swirl machines that does an undercarriage "spray" how are we supposed to wash the undercarriage of our cars?

 

98% of us dont have the luxury of a lift:mad:

 

I have thought about making something on wheels with spray nozzles attached that can get underneath but im not sure. anyone have a solution?

[694doorbird]

I have a Campbell-Hausfeld electric one. Owned it for close to 10 years now (I think) maybe longer. I've only had to replace to minor parts on it, and got them over the internet. I first bought it to clean the deck when we had a pool, but now it's used for blasting the driveway, cleaning the fence, and doing the cars when they're super dirty.

[nmacdonald50]

I've had two power washers over the past 10 years or so. The first was a "Power Washer" 1600 - www.hppowerwasher.com - it was a heavy unit but did a good job and came with two nozzles. I had to replace a couple small parts over the years and then this year the main water hose sprung a thousand leaks. I could have purchased a new hose, but figure it had served its purpose so opted for a new one. Bought a smaller unit, the "Green Works" 1500. It's a small, light weight unit and works great. I've used it several times over the past several months and have no complaints. It was also inexpensive. Has 1.3 gpm and a convenient wall mount. Plus an easy to use soap container. It's usually less than $100 @ Lowes. Got mine on sale for $70.

[Chris@Adams]

I think Chris uses one... He can comment. These are a "you get what you pay for" item though.

 

Remember, NEVER use hot or warm water in the portable units. The pump and motor are cooled by the water in most cases.

 

I like using epinions for these things... http://www99.epinions.com/search/?submitted_form=searchbar&search_vertical=all&tax_name=&search_string=electric+pressure+washer&searchbar_submit.x=0&searchbar_submit.y=0&searchbar_submit=Search

 

Chris

Yes I do use one (Karcher) when I get a lot of salt or mud on my truck, only one problem it is starting to go bad.

The Adam's Fire Hose Nozzle are great but you can't compare them to a pressure washer.

[MAYBEN]

The 300 dollar range seems to get you a decent one. 1200 gets you a really nice one. For something I use so infrequently, I'd rather just use the coin-op to knock off the big stuff and then come home and hit it with the two buckets. Coin-ops are more powerful and give you more GPM too.

 

we dont really have any coin-ops around here..

[Chewy]

I want to eventually get a PW as well, but I want to get a decent one, but not have to spend a fortune..

 

The 300 dollar range seems to get you a decent one. 1200 gets you a really nice one. For something I use so infrequently, I'd rather just use the coin-op to knock off the big stuff and then come home and hit it with the two buckets. Coin-ops are more powerful and give you more GPM too.

[MAYBEN]

I want to eventually get a PW as well, but I want to get a decent one, but not have to spend a fortune..

[Chewy]

I think Chris uses one... He can comment. These are a "you get what you pay for" item though.

 

Remember, NEVER use hot or warm water in the portable units. The pump and motor are cooled by the water in most cases.

 

I like using epinions for these things... http://www99.epinions.com/search/?submitted_form=searchbar&search_vertical=all&tax_name=&search_string=electric+pressure+washer&searchbar_submit.x=0&searchbar_submit.y=0&searchbar_submit=Search

 

Chris

[DaytonaJae]

I really like the idea of having an electric powered pressure washer handy. Can someone recommend a brand or model that they have had good experiences with?

 

All the ones at my local big box stores have had plenty of reviews stating their cheapness and how they quit working after a few days - a majority of reviewers complaining about water leaking from just plain cheap construction and design.

 

I don't want an industrial strength gas unit or anything, due to noise, pollution, and gas costs... I just want a small electrical unit (size of an upright vacuum or smaller) that I can roll out to the driveway, hook it up, and power wash the wheels, undercarriage, to save time on each wash...

 

Any suggestions?

[Adam]

Wow...thanks so much Adam. Makes sense to me. I already have a cheap electric power sprayer but really didn't want to drag that out in the winter ice and snow. I also go to the quarter wash bay to knock off the heavy crud first in the winter. Guess that is the best alternative. I'd rather invest in the Adam's fire hoze for normal washing than throw my money down on a cheap flimsy hoze end spray wand that does nothing. Quality products achieve quality results. Thanks again!

 

Friend, that's why I'm here!

[musclejunkie]

Wow...thanks so much Adam. Makes sense to me. I already have a cheap electric power sprayer but really didn't want to drag that out in the winter ice and snow. I also go to the quarter wash bay to knock off the heavy crud first in the winter. Guess that is the best alternative. I'd rather invest in the Adam's fire hoze for normal washing than throw my money down on a cheap flimsy hoze end spray wand that does nothing. Quality products achieve quality results. Thanks again!

[Adam]

We live in the mountains, at about 6,000 ft. There is a real amount of snow that falls here, and a real amount of slop they pour on the roads to melt the ice. Here, it's magnesium chloride, which is terrible!

 

After driving in that crud, I use the pressure washer to blast it off. Spend about 30-40 minutes doing so! Sometimes, I just use the coin wash, as the hot water is always ready to go, and it's nice to leave the mud and slop elsewhere than our shop wash bay!

 

To answer your question, on fire hose nozzle or wand: Neither will get you the results you seeking.

 

Invest in an electric pressure washer, or hit the coin wash after a major storm.

 

Neither our nozzle, nor the wand will create 500, 1,000, 1,500, or 2,500psi like the pressure washer will, and that's what it takes to really knock the salt off your car. Salt=death to vehicles. It's worth the effort and investment to really spend some time with a high pressure system, especially hitting the undercarriage.

 

Under any other circumstance, the Fire Hose Nozzle is fantastic! The wands that I have seen seem cheap and Chinese-made, so you won't get a thumbs-up from me on anything like that.

 

Hope this helps!

[Chewy]

Those are usually pretty hokey and aren't "high pressure" at all. IMO your best bet is to hit the coin op to knock off the big stuff and then take it home to do the rest, or pay up and buy an electric pressure washer.

 

Chris