Pressure washer woes

Jul 27, 2010 8 Replies
C

I have googled till my eyes are blurry. Hoping someone here will have an opinion.



I have a small 1500 psi gas pressure washer. Used it two weeks ago and all was fine. Today when I started it it behaved in an erratic manner.



To eliminate the obvious, there were no kinks in the supply or discharge hose. The water pressure was excellent. The intake screen is and was clean. No chemicals were being used, nor have they ever been.



Once started it worked fine at full pressure, normal. If I quit spraying the engine started to bog down and the longer I did not spray the worse it got. This is not a listed problem on any page I have I found. Is the load greater on the motor at idle than it is at full spray?



I fear the pump is dying but I would like to confirm that before I buy a new pump.



Colbyt


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L

Sounds like your cut off switch isn't cutting off.

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C

On Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:04:29 -0400, LSMFT wrote Re Re: Pressure washer woes:

+1 on that. The high pressure cut off switch isn't working for some reason.
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C

I forgot to mention this is the el-cheapo model. It does not have a pressure switch.

It is a vertical shaft Briggs engine, with wheels and a direct drive pump. Illustration here:

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are selling the replacement pump for more than I paid for theentire unit.I would spend the money and buy a nicer system but then I would not be ableto load and unload it by myself without using a ramp.Colbyt

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R

unit.I would spend the money and buy a nicer system but then I would not be= ableto load and unload it by myself without using a ramp.Colbyt- Hide quot= ed text -

It has to have a internal pressure switch or pressure just builds as you dont release the trigger, the pressure is building and bogging down the motor, you are saying it wont go to easy idle? Something controlls rpm, open it up and check it out.

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J

t.I would spend the money and buy a nicer system but then I would not be ab= leto load and unload it by myself without using a ramp.Colbyt- Hide quoted = text -

On some of those pumps there is a pressure release spring inside that allows the water in the pump to just recirculate if the wand is not open. If it's that sort of design then that part is probably messed up. I'd guess you can disassemble and clean.

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T

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are selling the replacement pump for more than I paid for theentire unit.I would spend the money and buy a nicer system but then I would not be ableto load and unload it by myself without using a ramp.Colbyt

It has an internal pressure relief valve that is not working.

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S

The cheapo electric pressure washers don't seem to last very long before they break.

(copyright 2010)

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