American Made Power Washer?

[liquidred]

Looking to buy a foam cannon but, I need to buy a power washer first. Any reccomendations on power washers? Never bought one, prefer it to be American made. What is a good pressure I need for a good foam?  Appreciate the help on a rookie question.

[Team Adam's]

The electric USA unit we used/tested here was from these guys for anyone thats interested.

 

http://becopressurewasher.com/

Edited January 30, 2014 by Dylan@Adams

[LaserBlueSilverado]

Great write up LBS. I'm a painter by trade and have a couple PW in my stable. Have had a Honda powered 2600 DDrive for 10 years now... Bolts have rattled out of it a couple times but still pumps and starts on first pull. 89 octane no-ethanol seems to work well for me. My most recent purchase I've only used for 8 hours... A Pressure Pros 4000psi belt drive. Holy...... What a hoss!!! The smaller of the two works fine for a wash on the vehicles, I just use a wider tip and keep my distance.

 

I use 5/8" hose, max pressure out of the spigot and 89octane ethanol free in all of my small engines. Can you tell me your professional opinion on that?

I assume your talking about 5/8 hose as your water feed hose, because the most common size for the high pressure line is 3/8.

 

Ethanol free is a great thing to do if you can find the fuel. Ethanol causes so many problems it's unreal. It eats gaskets, creates a layer of varnish in the carb, and corrodes metal.

 

If your going to get right down to it, fact for fact, a belt drive unit is better. However, if I was working by myself, or moving around a lot, I wouldn't own one. Belt drive units are substantially heavier then direct drives. Belts WILL stretch and loosen up, watch for this coming soon as your unit is new. Some guys argue that they will not run a direct drive because if the pump piles up, all is lost. Well, if the pump gives out, it doesn't matter much if it is direct or belt. Either way, you need a new pump. On a direct drive, the engine will stall long before it damages itself. Unless your dealing with a truck mount setup where the pump alone is worth at least $750 and up, I would replace the pump. Rebuilding pumps is a tricky business. I have seen pumps with all new seals, wet and dry sides, and new porcelain pistons, and they STILL leak oil, or water into the oil. On high hour pumps, the metal itself is so worn that new o-rings simply won't do the job.

 

If I had my own business, I would keep one brand new pump in a box with me at all times. If your current one fails, it's 4 bolts, some grease, and a piece of key stock, your up and running in 15 minutes. We sell Subaru engines now, new in box, and I advise commercial guys to keep a new engine and pump on hand if you have the space. It blows my mind that guys keep no spare parts or units at all, and simply stop a job for hours, or even days, to get repairs done.

 

After gaining all of this experience, I am sorely tempted to start my own side business cleaning businesses for extra income. I would have a major advantage in that I can repair all of my own machines, quickly and correctly.

 

Always, always, always, keep your water supply as clean as possible. Stay away from water with a lot of minerals or calcium. ALWAYS have an intake filter of some kind to catch small debris entering your pump intake. On larger units such as yours, producing 4,000 PSI, I strongly suggest installing a safety pressure relief valve. This will open up and relieve pressure in the event of an unloader failure. If your unloader fails, your unit will spike to the point of either blowing apart, or stalling the engine.

 

Two years ago, a technician who is no longer working for us, was testing a pressure washer he repaired. He was leaning over the unit making adjustments. He let go of the wand to make the unit unload, when the unloader failed. The system spiked to 6,500 PSI and the unloader exploded off of the pump manifold and hit him directly in the chest to the left of his heart. At the hospital they said he was very close to dieing, they could see slight internal damage from the impact. Another half an inch to the right, he would have been a goner.

 

These machines may not seem dangerous, but always remember your dealing with thousands of pounds per square inch of pressure. You are literally holding a ticking time bomb in your hand. If the hose beside your hip explodes, your going to get whipped by the hose, and possibly cut by the water stream that will exit instantly. Water can cut steel and concrete, it can certainly cause damage to the soft human body.

[STex]

I checked by phone with the Beco folks that Dylan mentioned. If you want gas the Honda powered ones have triplex and adjustable power. GX Honda engines and Legacy pump. Reasonable price for quality and eq seems to be better than you can find in box stores. The electric one I checked on had a five yr wty. Fully enclosed motor.