Pressure washers?

TacomaJD · Jan 25, 2018

I have a $200 prepaid card I got from work that I am trying to figure out how to spend. It can only be spent at certain places. Lowes is one of them, luckily. I thought about buying a good cordless impact, but I already have a cheap one from Harbor freight corded that gets the job done, no more than I use one. So I thought about pressure washers. I need one, but never have wanted to spend any money on one. Don't want to spend too much, but might put $100 with this $200 card to get one if needed. With that said, does anybody have any experience with the cheaper pressure washers from Lowes? Are the electric ones worth a ****? Brands good and bad? What psi and gpm would be the lowest point you would go before it would be a waste of money buying? All it would be used for is pressure washing the deck, house siding, and my motorcycle once every blue moon. Is there even a such thing as a decent $2-300 pressure washer?

BUG-E J · Jan 25, 2018

Electric motors have come along way but not on pressure washers

TacomaJD · Jan 25, 2018

BUG-E J said:
Electric motors have come along way but not on pressure washers

I would figure it would be like an electric air compressor, like the pancake compressors. I have had awesome luck with the pancake compressor I have had. But I guess the thing is their ability to create pressure sufficiently for pressure washing in general? Is that what you are saying? Not realiability?

RustyC · Jan 25, 2018

Troy built engine has outlasted the pump. Bought a replacement pump online cheap enough to justify the repair. I would buy another.
Lost an electric one to freezing, don't miss it

Dirt700 · Jan 25, 2018

I have a gas powered troy built from Lowe's, had it for about 4 years. I absolutely love it. I can't say on the electric ones, my neighbor has one, and uses it alot and seems to do ok.

TBItoy · Jan 25, 2018

We have the biggest Troybilt that Lowe's sells at work. Its nice and has held up well.

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jp fan · Jan 25, 2018

I bought a Husky electric one back in 04 from Home depot and besides the wand it has been flawless and it gets used a lot here at the house it is a 2500 psi. Best money ever spent

kmcminn · Jan 25, 2018

I bought the troy bilt from lowes with the Honda motor it runs good, cranks easy and doesn't burn much gas. I am going to get a couple wand extensions this year to get my higher gutters better. Also I bought quick connects for the wand hose. Not real expensive and beats having to screw it on and off.

Also foam/ soap cannon from Amazon.

gottagofast · Jan 26, 2018

I have an electric that travels with me and a gasser in the shop.... the electric gets the job done for normal cleaning but the gasser had 4 times the flow and twice the pressure that actually hits the work surface....

Portable clean and lift with 1 finger vs better in every other aspect

j-mox · Jan 26, 2018

kmcminn said:
I bought the troy bilt from lowes with the Honda motor it runs good, cranks easy and doesn't burn much gas. I am going to get a couple wand extensions this year to get my higher gutters better. Also I bought quick connects for the wand hose. Not real expensive and beats having to screw it on and off.

Same one I got and have been very pleased with it. Went with Honda over basically the same one with a Briggs n Stratton

Zjman · Jan 26, 2018

I too have the Troy Bilt from lowes, mine is prob 7-8 years old,mine has been worked to death from power washing my old mud truck and my jeeps, my motor is going bad but it still works, just noisy and uses oil, and most pump failed come from storing em long periods without the winterizing kit, it keeps the pump lubed and also won't let it freeze, can't beat it for the price, those electric ones suck. Never seen one that really worked good

Jonesn · Jan 26, 2018

I have one of the cheap electric Ryobi ones from Home Depot, going on 2 years with no problems. It is super convenient, and I find myself using it 10x more than the gas powered unit I had before. I don't need something that will strip the paint off whatever I point it at, so the cheapo works for me around the house.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-1-600-PSI-1-2-GPM-Electric-Pressure-Washer-RY141600/205566079

ForMud · Jan 26, 2018

The main reason cheap washers fail is letting them run without you spraying. If you let them run without fresh (Cool) water running though them, the pumps over heat and **** the bed.

TacomaJD · Jan 26, 2018

Re: Re: Pressure washers?

Jonesn said:
I have one of the cheap electric Ryobi ones from Home Depot, going on 2 years with no problems. It is super convenient, and I find myself using it 10x more than the gas powered unit I had before. I don't need something that will strip the paint off whatever I point it at, so the cheapo works for me around the house.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-1-600-PSI-1-2-GPM-Electric-Pressure-Washer-RY141600/205566079

See thats what I am looking for as well, something that is convenient, reliable, but doesn't have to strip paint or blow paint off my bumper.

ForMud said:
The main reason cheap washers fail is letting them run without you spraying. If you let them run without fresh (Cool) water running though them, the pumps over heat and **** the bed.

The electric ones I have been looking at are made to turn on and off as you squeeze the trigger. On Lowes website, the SunJoe brand has the highest and most ratings over the others. Watched a bunch of Youtube vids and a ton of people have reviewed the model I am looking at and say they are happy with it. It's 2030 psi and flows 1.76 gpm, double click the wand trigger and it goes into a lighter pressure pulse flow mode, let go and squeeze trigger once, back to high pressure mode. Also has 20' high pressure hose, 35' power cord, detergent tank, 5 different nozzles for the wand, hose reel, and only $179.

https://m.lowes.com/pd/Sun-Joe-2000-PSI-1-76-GPM-Cold-Water-Electric-Pressure-Washer/1000210555

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Dirt700 · Jan 26, 2018

That SunJoe looks like a good deal. I wouldn't mind an electric one sometimes, just for the noise level. And my wife would probably wash my truck more ;D

TacomaJD · Jan 26, 2018

Re:

I dont wanna have to maintain, keep gas in, and lug around a gas one. If these electric ones aren't total ****, they would be perfect for my application.

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jeeppoor · Jan 26, 2018

I will be watching this post. We have been looking at these for about a year now. We haven't pulled the trigger yet. We have been looking at them at Lowe's, Home Depot and Menard's.
Our big this is we need something that can was the siding on our 2 story house.

Dirt700 · Jan 26, 2018

jeeppoor said:
I will be watching this post. We have been looking at these for about a year now. We haven't pulled the trigger yet. We have been looking at them at Lowe's, Home Depot and Menard's.
Our big this is we need something that can was the siding on our 2 story house.

That's what I see my neighbor using his electric one for most of the time. It seem to get it pretty clean.

TacomaJD · Jan 26, 2018

Sun joe also has a few attachments for their wands, this one looks pretty damn handy, gutter cleaning attachment. Think it's like $18 at lowes.

I'm really thinking about pulling the trigger on one. There is a cheaper model Sun Joe, same psi and gpm as the one I posted, just doesn't have the hose reel and instead has a place to loop and hang the hose on the front, it's only $149. In my experience, sometimes things with manual hose reels like that are more aggravating than just looping and hanging.

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gottagofast · Jan 26, 2018

Large areas are where my electric washer suffers the most... low volume means it takes far longer to cover a large area... takes about 3 times as long to wash my 5th wheel and is way easier to leave zebra stripes where you miss spots.