Pressure Washer - Help

I've been looking at pressure washers and I need some advice.

I need one primarly to pressure wash my unfinished basement floor. I used a friends 1600 psi pressure washer, and it got rid of a lot of the dirt - but there are still quiet a bit left. I also want it to clean the deck and the siding on the house, alont with the drive ways and sidewalks and wash the cars.

My question is - whats a good PSI to get?

I know cleaning the basement floor will take more than 1600 psi - but if I get a 2500 psi - is that too much for my car? Are there attachments that make a stronger pressure washer more save for washing the car?

Wal-Mart has a 2200 psi gas powered for $228 and Home deptot has a 2500 psi for $299.99. I was thinking of the 2500 psi, but I"m not sure. Should I go with the walmart 2200 psi or go higher than the 2500?

Thanks

Reply to
utseay
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even at 1500 getting to close can damage stuff, had a buddy use a 1200 on his deck it messed up the finish. 2200 should be enough for home use, some have attachments like a wide angle one for cars

Reply to
hallerb

even at 1500 getting to close can damage stuff, had a buddy use a 1200 on his deck it messed up the finish. 2200 should be enough for home use, some have attachments like a wide angle one for cars

Reply to
hallerb

even at 1500 getting to close can damage stuff, had a buddy use a 1200 on his deck it messed up the finish. 2200 should be enough for home use, some have attachments like a wide angle one for cars

Reply to
hallerb

I would say go ahead and buy the 'better' unit. But, there are a few things you need to know. Sometimes it's the solution (cleaner) and manual brushing that needs to go along with the pressure washer. Next, running bleach inline with the cleaner will damage the orings in the pressure washer. But, it's OK to use a throw away sprayer bottle with bleach, let it sit, and then pressure wash it off. And finally, running the pressure washer on max can take the paint off your car. I was surprised to see mine take the bark off a tree!! I'm sure you'll get other suggestions and opinions here, just don't use it until you've found out how to do it best. Good luck.

J

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote:

Reply to
Joey

The first thing YOU need to do is research what the attachments and tools for a pressure washer are. Then you could answer your own questions.

Reply to
Pop

There must have been something seriously wrong with the 1600 psi unit.

I have the Husky 1750 from HD and there's no question it would clean a basement floor. It will clean it and remove the paint too if that's what you want to do.

1750 is enough.

An electric unit is way cheaper and a lot less trouble for the uses you describe.

Reply to
Dan Espen

You are only looking at one half of the issue. Not only is the pressure important, but the volume is also important. GPH & PSI. They work together. Since most people only look at the PSI figure, most units have optimized that number at the expense of GPH. Often the lower PSI unit with a higher GPH will be the better unit.

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

I'm curious why it isn't enough to wash the car with the garden hose.and maybe a long handled brush. No worry about taking off the cars paint. If you want to increase the pressure from the garden hose, there are those multi-head sprayers that have settings with different size holes, or the solid brass thing with one little hole that send out a high pressure stream. I can only imagine using that on the the wheel crevices.

But my bigger question is, are the people who spend 250 for something like this only useful some of the time, but never essential, rich? If they are truly rich, I understand, but ....

Have they fully funded their kids' college funds, and perhaps grad school?

Have they fully funded their own future including disability insurance retirement, health care, travel, vacations, long term intensive care insurance? Life insurance in case they die before their kids finish school, and to support their widow?

What if a person like this retires at 65 or 67 and lives until he's 85 or 90? What if his widow lives 10 more years.

250 dollars invested now in a balanced portfolio will increase a lot faster than inflation.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

Reply to
Bigboy

Agreed. More PSI is better. You can always back-off the surface being cleaned but, with an under-powered unit, you may find stubborn dirt on STURDY surfaces (concrete comes to mind) that would benefit from a higher output.

I respectfully disagree - IF you have a high-powered washer. Having wasted my money on a gallon of pressure washer concentrate from the neighborhood Ace Hardware store, I learned that, at 2400psi, detergent is IRRELEVANT.

I purchased a 2400psi/3.5gpm unit powered by a 6.5hp Honda. It washed my deck prior to staining. It washed my home prior to painting. It cleaned the concrete driveway of the gallon of paint spilled on the concrete from atop the extension ladder. Purchased at Sam's Club over ten years ago, this $750 machine has PAID for itself.

You got THAT right. I used mine to strip all the old paint off the cedar trim on my home prior to painting. As an experiment, I used it to engrave my initial on a deck post. The truly high-powered models can be dangerous.

They are GREAT for cleaning a cedar fence of YEARS of weather-induced "graying" prior to staining.

Good advice.

A pressure washer can actually SAVE water. If you occasionally hose-down your driveway, a pressure washer can do the job using a FRACTION of the water.

A good method of HEARING PROTECTION is recommended with a gas unit. Mine is quite loud.

Reply to
Jim Redelfs

$250 for a pressure washer? That's barely enough for a cheap, electric model.

Only in spirit, my condescending "friend".

No, yet all three of my daughters managed to go to college.

This begs another, important (if irrelevant) question: Is one OBLIGED to fully fund their kids college? I think not.

Must one fully fund their kids college and grad school before they can purchase a pressure washer? I think not.

What other, specific items must be fully funded before one can make such a frivolous purchase? What if someone would rather own and use a nice pressure washer than take a particular vacation or trip?

He could supplement his income by washing decks and houses with his pressure washer.

She could take over the business.

Agreed. That, and a pressure washer, and life would be complete.

You're nuts.

Reply to
Jim Redelfs

Of course an option is to RENT such a unit if that is what is needed. The problem is that rent typically runs $90 or more a day, and if you see yourself needing a pressure washer more than once, you might be better off buying one.

Reply to
Ken

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