I have a 3.5 HP Tecumseh pressure washer that I
use for cleaning the flagstone walkways around the
house, washing the motorcycles (there is just no
substitute here for washing the finned engines and
all those inaccessible chassis parts), it is great
for washing the cargo van (washing it is like
washing your house), etc.
I think if you want to go electric, you probably
will need to spend $800 - $1,200 to get a two or
three HP unit if you want to do much work at all.
You probably will want a 220 VAC unit, which then
means you are more selective as to where you can
plug in. It also means you will be walking around
in standing water tethered to a 220V motor, but
they all have ground fault interrupters, so it is
not an actual risk.
The little hand carry and/or plastic electrical
units have a very narrow spray pattern (1/2"-2"),
and take a very long time to get much work done.
The more powerful washers allow a much broader
spray pattern (6"- 12"), meaning that they are ten
times faster, along with much greater power if
want to narrow the spray pattern (strip paint,
rust, etc.).
If you are working on engines, it is great to
pressure wash the engine compartment before
undertaking a tear down. You can clean the nuts,
bolts, screws down, remove all that dirt encrusted
grease, and will come away at the end of the job
cleaner and with a lot less grease and crud under
your nails and ground into your skin than you
would normally. There also is a lot less dirt to
fall into intake manifolds, spark plug openings,
oil galleys, etc.
Four essential general shop tools for me:
o pressure feed sand blaster
o 30 gal tank type parts washer with super agitene
o gas powered pressure washer
o oxyacetylene torch
I also started using the pressure washer to wash
my house outside windows and screens. I have an
old house with 40 some odd windows, and just for
this application, I would buy it again.
old dirtbeard
los angeles
'72 BSA B50SS
'74 Triumph TR6
'01 HD XL883
'03 GMC Cargo Van
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