Pressure Sprayers

[Chris Padilla]

Howdy Folks,

I'd like to hear some opinions on pressure sprayers. I saw a pretty healthy Craftsman on sale ($800 down from $1100) at Sears last night.

It had a 11 hp B&S motor and could make up to 3400 psi and had like 5 extra nozzles and other miscellaneous stuff.

Now I really don't have a good feel for what size of pressure sprayer I should be looking at but the needs I see are for cleaning the sidewalks and rockwork around the pool and hosing down the stucco house (all the way up to the second story). I imagine it could be useful to clean the grill and perhaps even strip paint. I would also like to be able to snake out the plumbing every once in a while to keep it flowing well (I had to pay a plumber and arm and a leg a few years ago to clean out one of my clogged drains).

I'd like your thoughts about the size of sprayer I need and the brands I should look at or stay away from. As some of you can tell, I'm knee-deep into "bigger is better".... :p

[Tim Morton]

I have the 5HP Honda from the borg, I think it ran my wife $450ish,,,she bought it for a FD present a few years ago. It is a great tool to have I use it all the time on weekends. Mine is plenty powerfull enough to damage wood if I am not careful and I'm not sure I would need anything more powerful.

[Ken Garlock]

Hi Chris. Two years ago I bought a 2400 psi Devillbis pressure washer from Small Engine Warehouse (http://www.smallenginewarehouse.com/ProductList.asp?Category=Pressure+Washer) The main reason I selected that particular brand is because it has the Honda "GX" series engine. The "GX" engines are the better commerical quality engines from Honda. Of course, any rating is for max output with the engine running full throttle. I bought it primarily for cleaning the under side of the mower deck.

You might also check Northern Tool, they carry a good selection of washers under their house brand. Although they are house brands, they have brand name engines and pumps :)

Good Luck,

[Tony Falotico]

Hey Chris, don't see ya around here as much as we used to.

I have a 6.5 hp 2400 psi B&S / Sears unit I use around the house. It's powerful enough to DAMAGE wooden siding (when using stream setting rather than spray setting on the nozzle), but not powerful enough to reach over one story. About $450 retail. As I only have a one story home, it serves me well. It has the typical issues all sears products have, but overall has been a decent unit. Mine will not handle bleach, you have to use the Sears cleaners. SIL ran bleach through it and I had to rebuild the pump unit with all new seals.

My son has a 13 hp Honda, 3700 psi he uses commercially, enough to do serious damage if not careful. He does part time commercial work, lots of concrete areas and it serves him well. Think he paid about $1000 at the blue borg. I've used it but quite frankly it wears me out, rough on the arms.

Mine has an adjustable spray head, not very sturdy and had to replace it once, although it was just as much misuse (abuse) as it was quality. My son's has the removable nozzles -- a much better feature on high end machines.

With Sears parts are available (good thing because I've needed them). Bottom line they are easy to set up and use, You'll find many many uses for one. I even wash the car & Trucks with it (go gentle on that BMW). I'd check out the bleach issue, that might steer me away.

[Fred Voorhees]

Chris, as much as I ranted about my pressure washer in one other post, I have never regretted purchasing mine. You will find a number of uses for it that you never even conceived! You might think your sidewalks are clean until you clean them with a pressure washer! You might think those rocks in your landscaping are simply dark by nature, until you hit them with a pressure washer! You may......well, you get the idea. Before I bought mine, I borrowed one from a freind and was WOWED by the thing. I searched for things to clean up. I did sidewalks, my garage concrete apron, the house, my truck. And you can't believe how it cleans the inside of your aluminum gutters!!! They look like brand new when you are done - - - just be careful not to hit your roofing material - the pressure of one of these things is significant. My pressure washer does not come with different "heads" for either a spray pattern or a fan pattern. My wand has a head assembly that you slide back or forth to go from the pressure setting to a setting that allows you to apply any number of different soaps, according to the job you are doing. I change the pattern of the spray by twisting the head. I think this set up is much preferable to the interchangable heads that can be inadvertantly lost.

[Jim Becker]

I went low-end and it works fine for me...$169 Husky electric from the 'Depot. Cleans the deck and the siding just fine. One of the few times I've "cheaped out" on tools that I was satisfied. ;) And I can always rent a big one if I need to. (Unlikely...) I can also hang it on the wall to keep it out of Dr. SWMBO's way since it live in "her" gardening garage bay...only the tractor and my chainsaws get to take up "her" space in there!

[Bruce Page]

Chris, I also bought the little Husky. At 1650 psi, it does what I need and has been trouble free. It's also small enough that I keep it in the "office" closet, about 10 feet from where I'm sitting - yard tools are banned from the shop ;). One of these years I'm going to build a shed...

[John Weber]

Chris,

I bought some no-name sprayer for around $160 - I think. It has a very cheap nozzle and a 5hp engine, 2,200 psi. All that said, it does everything I wanted, starts fine, adjustable nozzle is cheap, but works fine. Like Jim, it does want I need and a pressure washer isn't where I want to invest my tool $$$, much better to buy a LN plane or some nice wood for the shop. I guess it depends on what you want/need to do and how much you want to spend. Also don't discount electrics, so smaller jobs they work great, no gas engine to fool with, small, and usually have enough pressure for most routine jobs.

John

[Jerry Olexa]

Chris this is one of few times when bigger is not better, IMHO you don't need one that big. In the last 2 years, I had a pro clean and stain my deck. He used about 1200psi. Just had my house painted this year (cedar siding). they used about 1000psi w bleach mixture to clean. From my cabin days, I remember the most power you would need is 2200-2400psi. My neighbor recently cleaned my sidewalks w a Small electric unit and it worked fine. Anything over 2000psi can be dangerous and easily remove paint, stain and wood! I also agree the Honda engines are better!

[Matt Meiser]

We bought one of the low end gas ones at HD and have been happy with it. Ours has a Briggs and Stratton. I used it a lot last year for cleaning the mud off the tractor after I did some drainage work, and off the garage floor (we live on a dirt road) which worked nice as there was a lot less water on the floor to try to get moving the right way. This weekend I'll be using it on the deck and siding.

[John Pollman]

Hi Crhis,

That sounds like a pretty heavy duty unit for a homeowner. I you do decide to go that route just be careful. As others have said, a unit that size can tear the heck out of things. For the concrete applications it should be fine, but be careful on the house ! With that much pressure if you use the wrong nozzle you could take the stucco off . It may seem that having a lot more pressure would be nice for getting to the second story but that's not always the case. If you do need to get to the second story, you'd probably be better off buying a smaller unit and getting an extension wand. (Available at Northern Tool) Northern tool has a ton of pressure washers and accessories.
I've got a Landa 5hp/2000 psi unit. I paid about $600 for it I think about 3 years ago. It does everything I need it to do. I clean decks, concrete, asphalt driveway, vehicles, etc, etc, etc. Just be careful about some of the lower end units. The trouble with those is that if something goes wrong with the pump, it may not be serviceable. Or if it is, it'll cost almost as much as an entire new unit to fix. I bought mine from Mikes Pump Service here in Shelby Twp. Michigan. That's pretty much all they sell is pumps and pressure washers. I was sold on this unit because they told me that this Landa is a good quality pump that is pretty much completely servicable if anything ever goes wrong with it. Sure, I may have spent a couple more bucks by getting it at a "specialty store" but that's all they do and they know their stuff.

If you do end up using a pressure washer on a wood deck, you don't need more than about 1200 psi ! I use my 2000 psi unit but I put on the nozzle that spreads out the spray thereby reducing the pressure. On wood if you use too much pressure you'll destroy it (but at least it'll be clean ;) ).

Good luck

John

[Chris Padilla]

Excellent! Thanks, Everyone!

I think I'll save a few bucks and get a smaller one! :D Now to figure out what to get... :D Sears may have one of those no interest for a year deals...that always helps.

[Kevin Herber]

Chris - If you have a Sam's Club available check it out. ;) A couple of months ago I picked up a Devilbiss 2400psi with 5.5 Honda engine for $300. Love it. Comes with 4 nozzles and is a screamer.

Good Luck -- Kevin

[Chris Padilla]

I have a Costco one...thanks for reminding me! :)