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      01-10-2011, 05:32 PM   #1
eisenb11
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Electric pressure washers... what to do?

I've been thinking of getting an electric pressure washer so I could do a better job cleaning my car. I'd also like to use it on the wheels to get all that nasty sticky break dust off.

I was thinking of a routine along the lines of:

- foam and rinse with PW
- 2-bucket on body
- use PW on the wheels
- final rinse with PW (might use spotless system with this in future)

Based on my reading it looks like you want to keep the psi down and the gpm up.

The big question is is it worth it to get a prosumer unit? Get a regular unit? Something else?

What are your suggestions on what washer to get?

It seems that the Karchers are pretty popular, but my reading seems to show that the consumer units are all junk now and break in 15 months. The Karcher 5.85 and 5.93 models look and sound good, but at $300, I'd be disappointed if it broke in a year.

I hear the Cam Spray 1500A is an awesome unit, but at about $600... ouch!

Or should I just got for one of those $100-$150 el cheapo Karcher units and toss it when it inevitably croaks in a year (or less).

Any ideas? Comments? Suggestions?
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      01-10-2011, 08:19 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TrackRat View Post
I find the PW of actual value for cleaning the wheels mostly. If you wax/seal the wheels then a pressure washer used weekly will remove a lot of the brake dust. If you use wheel cleaner and a PW you can remove almost all brake dust but the wheel cleaner also removes the wax/sealant after 6+ washings.

I have used a basic 2.5 GPM, 5.5 HP Generac PW for years without problems but there are many different models and their reliability may vary. The pump seems to be the main concern for reliability.
Thanks for the info, washing those wheels consumes most of my wash time!

Is your washer electric or gas?

In the case of Karcher, the top two models have good aluminum pumps, but the main complaint seems to be with all the plastic parts and internals cracking within 15 months. I may still just get one of these units to start out with as they seem the most cost effective. I guess I can always pick up a pro unit like the Cam Spray later...

Still need to do more research as it appears that the Karchers use some funky 14mm connector instead of 15mm (US).
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      01-11-2011, 11:25 AM   #3
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Stay away from Karcher, they are pure garbage as far as reliability goes.

Get a Snap-On Electric pressure washer. My buddies and I are all hobby detailers and all switched from Karchers to these, and couldn't be happier. Of course we switched because our Karchers all broke. We modified the guns to use quick disconnect pressure fittings to make things a cinch.

The pressure washer will really aid in washing your car more safely (meaning creating less swirl marks) since you remove more dirt and debris than a regular hose before you actually begin to wash the car by hand.

Makes cleaning wheels and wells much more tolerable too.
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      01-11-2011, 10:05 PM   #4
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I have a Karcher and used it for the past 3 years...it's just now dying and I've used it a lot. I believe I got my money out of it.
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      01-11-2011, 11:44 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by rwchrist View Post
I have a Karcher and used it for the past 3 years...it's just now dying and I've used it a lot. I believe I got my money out of it.
I believe that you'll be in for a surprise. From what I've been reading, Karcher sourced their lower end line within the last couple of years and the quality went down-hill big time. A lot of people who had older Karchers were complaining about the new ones. Check out Amazon and you'll see every single model getting horrible reviews. Ultimately, this ended up scaring me away from that brand.

In their defense, however, it seems that people were complaining about all lower end pressure washers as being poorly constructed with lots of plastic. Karcher wasn't the only brand with these complaints.
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      01-11-2011, 11:52 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Malekreza11 View Post
Stay away from Karcher, they are pure garbage as far as reliability goes.

Get a Snap-On Electric pressure washer. My buddies and I are all hobby detailers and all switched from Karchers to these, and couldn't be happier. Of course we switched because our Karchers all broke. We modified the guns to use quick disconnect pressure fittings to make things a cinch.

The pressure washer will really aid in washing your car more safely (meaning creating less swirl marks) since you remove more dirt and debris than a regular hose before you actually begin to wash the car by hand.

Makes cleaning wheels and wells much more tolerable too.
Tomorrow, I'll be picking up a CR Spotless unit. Next comes the pressure washer and foam gun!

After a lot of research, I decided that I'd rather spend more on a good pressure washer that I could keep for a lot of years than go for questionable ones that would need to be replaced yearly. The big complaint across brands was that the pumps would die or, more likely, the plastic internals would break. It seems the solution was to get away from the consumer models and go for pro/prosumer models.

Original plan was to consider a Cam Spray 1500A, which does 2 gpm @ 1450 psi, but the price is pretty high and it has a 20A electrical requirement... ouch!

In the end, it looks like I'm going to go with the Annovi Reverberi (AR) AR610 pump. Looks like it is constructed well, is reasonably priced, and has replaceable parts (unlike the consumer units). 2.1 gpm @ 1800 psi using 15A is some pretty good numbers!
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