Pressure washer questions

[HankB]

Some years back I had a Sears Craftsman 3000 PSI gas pressure washer - it seemed to work fine, until I found out it was impossible to restart when the engine (a Briggs & Stratton Ready Start) was still hot. So it went back for a refund. (Sears forums revealed plenty of other people with the same hot restart problem - which Briggs refused to admit to any of us.)

Since my patio, driveway, and retaining wall have gotten really grungy since then, I'm looking for another one - Home Depot sells some that look interesting.

* Ryobi 2000 PSI electric pressure washer for $199. Uncertain if it would have the power I need to do a patio or driveway, especially with about 1/2 the water flow of the following gas units.

* Ryobi 3100 PSI with electric start, on sale for $299. Subaru engine, generic pump. Except for color, it looks nearly identical to one that Costco sells. Onboard detergent tank. 3 year "limited" warranty.

* Ridgid 3000 PSI with Subaru engine, now on sale for $499. Has a triplex CAT pump. Idle-down. Siphon connection for "offboard" detergent bottle. 3 year "commercial" warranty.

* Ridgid 3000 PSI with "OEM" engine, now on sale for $449. Has a triplex CAT pump. Idle-down. Siphon connection for "offboard" detergent bottle. Since Ridgid doesn't make engines, I suspect the "OEM" engine is a RATO, made by Chongquing Rato Power Company. 3 year "commercial" warranty.

So . . . does anyone have experience with these pressure washers, know anything (good or bad) about them, or have tools that use small Subaru or Rato gas engines?

Recommendations?

[Ben]

I have the Troy-Bilt 3000psi that is made for Lowes. It comes with the Honda engine. Super happy with it. It came with a good nozzle selection. About the only con is the hose that comes with it is meh. It does the job, but is plasticy and a little hard to work with.  I got a different hose off Amazon that is more rubber-like and more better.

There is an older thread on this somewhere around here started by I think Millcreek. Might have some good review info.

[Regolith]

I have an older Ryobi 3000 PSI pressure washer. It works pretty well. Only issue I've ever really had with it is that it seems to be pretty finicky about the incoming water pressure; if the pressure from the hose is too low, it won't work worth a damn, and the difference between "work" and "not work" doesn't seem to be all that big. That's only really been an issue when I went to use it at my grandmother's place, though; she's on an older well and pump, and the most convenient faucet is a bit further from the house and as a result has a somewhat lower pressure than most of the others.

This is the only pressure washer I've ever used, though, so I don't know if that's a problem common to all of them or just this one.

[dogmush]

I have the same washer that Ben has, only I bought it "Returned"* at Lowes.  I also replaced the hose but it's been great otherwise, plenty powerful enough, and easy enough to start my wife has become a pressure washing demon.



*Another of the times being able to recognize the smell of diesel saved me money and/or heartache.

[Ben]

plenty powerful enough,

My criteria was being able to get the damn spring spiderwebs from the 2nd story eves without getting on a ladder. This pressure washer and the 2nd story nozzle lets me blast the suckers from terra firma. :)

Oh, the other con is the fuel tank is pretty dinky. I've run out of gas a couple of times when I was doing a big job. Now I just take a beer break halfway through to refill the tank. 

[HankB]

I know it's usually  (always?) a mistake to take the cheap route, but I'm really wondering if a 2000 PSI electric unit with a matched surface cleaner will be powerful enough with sufficient water flow to clean off the black schmutz that's accumulated on my driveway over the past few years . . . maybe if I spray it with soap first? 

[dogmush]

I know it's usually  (always?) a mistake to take the cheap route, but I'm really wondering if a 2000 PSI electric unit with a matched surface cleaner will be powerful enough with sufficient water flow to clean off the black schmutz that's accumulated on my driveway over the past few years . . . maybe if I spray it with soap first? 

You misspelled Muratic Acid.

[MillCreek]

I know it's usually  (always?) a mistake to take the cheap route, but I'm really wondering if a 2000 PSI electric unit with a matched surface cleaner will be powerful enough with sufficient water flow to clean off the black schmutz that's accumulated on my driveway over the past few years . . . maybe if I spray it with soap first? 

My Sun Joe pressure washer (https://www.amazon.com/Joe-SPX3000-Pressure-14-5-Amp-Electric/dp/B00CPGMUXW) does this just fine on my aggregate concrete driveway.  I don't do it on the asphalt driveway since the pressure washer cuts divots into the asphalt if you are not careful.

[Declaration Day]

I have a blower with a Subaru engine.  Only problem I've ever had with it is that its low-oil sensor shuts the engine down if the machine is tipped more than 5 degrees or so.  Slightly overfilling the crankcase has mostly solved the issue.

[brimic]

I have the same pressure washer that Millcreek did the review thread on. I used it to strip and clean my deck. It works great and doesn't cost much.

[Pb]

Wear earmuffs when using them.  They are loud enough to damage your ears.

[cordex]

My Sun Joe pressure washer (https://www.amazon.com/Joe-SPX3000-Pressure-14-5-Amp-Electric/dp/B00CPGMUXW) does this just fine on my aggregate concrete driveway.  I don't do it on the asphalt driveway since the pressure washer cuts divots into the asphalt if you are not careful.

I bought that exact same model for $12.51 from a reseller of Amazon returns.  Haven't gotten to use it much yet, though.  Whoever returned it hadn't even put it together.

[rcnixon]

My neighbor and I have an informal tool cooperative. I have ALL the hand tools and woodworking tools and he has the power stuff. He has a Karcher 2500 PSI (maybe higher) with a Honda engine. No starting problems ever and it works fine. We've used the daylights out of it and it's been no trouble at all. My drive and garage pad are roughly the size of a helipad and under an oak tree (very dirty sap). It's not the fastest but it gets the job done and it's lasted about ten years now.

The first time I borrowed it, he was missing half the nozzles and the "beehive" nozzle was on it's last legs. I ordered a new set of nozzles from Karcher for $20 or so and bought a beehive at the store. I changed the oil and set the plug gap before returning it. He was very happy to get the nozzles and I felt like a big spender for twenty bucks.

[Fly320s]

Those SunJoe pressure washers get good reviews from the guys at Garage Journal.

[MillCreek]

After 7.5 years of stellar use, I gifted the SunJoe SPX3000 electric pressure washer to the brother-in-law and went big with a gas Ryobi:  https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-3300-PSI-2-5-GPM-Cold-Water-Gas-Pressure-Washer-with-Honda-GCV200-Engine-RY803325/317061011#overlay

I have a much larger area to pressure wash now and decided that I no longer wanted to be tethered to an electric outlet.  I have a fondness for Honda gas engines, and when I saw the local Home Despot had a few of these in stock, I snapped one up.  Now I just have to wait for it to warm up a bit to start using it.

[Bogie]

My Sun Joe pressure washer (https://www.amazon.com/Joe-SPX3000-Pressure-14-5-Amp-Electric/dp/B00CPGMUXW) does this just fine on my aggregate concrete driveway.  I don't do it on the asphalt driveway since the pressure washer cuts divots into the asphalt if you are not careful.

I have a Sun Joe corded lawn junglemower that I have had since about 2012 or so, and while I have abused the hell out of it, it just keeps going.

[HankB]

Necrothread - and I started it?

I ended up buying, using, and returning the electric Ryobi pressure washer. It would be fine for doing things like patio furniture or a dirty car, but it just didn't have the power to clean a large driveway or patio in a reasonable amount of time. The surface cleaner - IMHO a must for doing large surfaces - didn't work very well, either; too much water kept accumulating under the disc and interfered with washing the concrete below. Just not enough power to blast it out.

Since my original post, the RIGID washers with the triplex CAT pumps seem to have disappeared - certainly from Home Depot, possibly altogether. GENERAC pressure washers seem to have arrived on the scene - and disappeared just as promptly. RYOBI still seems to be here. When I get caught up on a couple of other projects I'm working on, maybe I'll pull the trigger on a gas pressure washer.

[MillCreek]

At my local Home Depots, only the Ryobi and DeWalt gas pressure washers seem to be stocked any more, although I have seen the occasional Simpson unit.

[JTHunter]

The problem I have had is that the pump mechanism goes bad and is "unrepairable" without being almost as much as a new unit.
So I just rent one and let them deal with "maintenance".