Power washing is one of the true joys of home ownership as the fruits of your labor are immediate and obvious.

They are great, on my 4th one in the last 20 years. I use one in my home repair business often refinishing decks. I've had people think the deck was already stained after cleaning off a decade of crud and then using a chemical cleaner to brighten the wood.

Two tips, do not leave it in a unheated area in the winter. Water inside will freeze and crack the pump. Also hook up the water line up before plugging it in. Then open the wand and let water shoot out for 1-2 minutes before you plug it in. That gets water into the pump and also discharges air. The unit will last longer as the biggest reason for motor failure is overheating.

they are fun to see the results. be careful on using it with the machine in the grass if it is a gas one. Mine would burn circles in the grass from the pump getting hot.

Pics or it didn't happen

Good tip!

add 20% pool shock to your tank and you'll really see a difference in your siding and sidewalks. spray on lightly let sit 5 then rinse, wont even need high pressure..........pro tip.

I have pressure washer weekend once a year.

I should’ve taken pics. They looked like mini crop circles

But what rated psi pressure washers are you using?

I fire up my pressure washer at least once a month. Being close to water I have lots of things to clean all the time. I bought a 3000 PSI Craftsman that has idle down (when you release the trigger, the motor idles down). Makes it a lot quieter and doesn't burn as much gas. Guaranteed to start on the first pull and you just top off the oil. Have been beyond happy with this compared to the electrics I had for the previous house. Around 400 bucks at Lowes and worth its weight in gold.

Purchased this not too long ago. Pleased so far. Middle of the road pressure washer. Think the price has gone up.

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I have a cheapie electric that I use for my decks and vinyl fences. It's awesome and theraputic.

I've got a Generac. It works well when it works, but I don't do a lot of pressure washing. I let it sit for about a year with gas in it. Gummed up the carb (my fault), but also caused whatever was lining the inside of the gas tank to lose adhesion. I've never seen that before.

If you use that clear gas you can leave it in there. Won't gum up.

I've had gas powered units in the past but now use electric powered. I use a Ryobi 2K psi model that's about $275. My deck refinishing clients like electric models, quieter and when they have windows open, no fumes in the home. I have ran my current one at least 300 hours a year over the last 3 years and she's still running strong. Light weight in and out of the truck too. If it lasts two years, I'm happy with refinishing 8-10 decks a season plus siding and sidewalk jobs. I use a cloth tie to hold the handle locked down because the spring tension gets tough on the hand after holding it for an hour straight. I usually give it a 15 minute rest every hour to let the motor cool.

Higher PSI models move move water with the right nozzle (assuming you have good water supply), just keep the wand tip further away to avoid damage. A 2K unit can etch wood with a pinpoint tip, so tip size is key to getting good results.

Here is a random before/after I took visiting my ma's house with my electric 2300 PSI. Get's the job done.

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Deck before

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After

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Couldn’t live without one.

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Any tips for a two story house? I‘be seen extension kits for the wand.. is that the way to go?

You'd probably need a fancy washer for that. For some perspective, my washer has no effect on anything about 12 to 14 inches away from surface. Depending on what you are needing to clean on the side of your house, you might try adding a cleaning agent to your garden hose. If you have vinyl siding you also want to minimize your PSI which could otherwise damage the siding.

Here's what I use and gets all the dirt off my gutters and siding in hard to reach places. (plugs in line with your garden hose only)

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I bought the 1750psi electric one from harbor freight that was 99.99

This is a key tip! The most important component is not the engine, its the pump. Cheaper units use a wobble (electric ones mostly) or an axial cam pump, better units use a triplex. Regardless, the pump is going to go out before the engine pretty much every time.

Also, using detergent first as mentioned is more than twice as effective in my experience.

If one is trying to clean more delicate, hard to reach, or less work, we use Wet and Forget Extensively.....Roofs, Driveways, Walls. Used at Disney, Seaworld etc. Really great Product!

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A new pressure washer is the only thing I want for Christmas.... Hope Santa reads pinside.

I love this product for the shower. I grab the vanilla scented one designed specifically for the shower. Spray on the floor and walls on the weekend keeps it looking like new. I also use the aforementioned solution in some shaded areas of my house.

Had the pressure washer out again today to clean up the natural gas grill. Had some crud built up around the edges that I wanted to blast out. I was impressed on the results around the stainless steel grates. Generally speaking high pressure alone doesn't cut grease as well as some detergents but got some good flakes off the lid too.

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Busted mine out yesterday too. Went out and bought the surface cleaner attachment to do the driveway. Man am I glad I did. 5 hour job turned into 1 1/2 with that. First is before second is after. Hard to tell in the pic but in person it’s a night and day difference

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Gotta get my pressure washer up and running fast and I've pretty much nuked my gas tank. Generac wants ~$100 for just the tank with none of the other stuff that goes on the tank. For ~$30, I could try a Chinese copy that may or may not fit and be just as poorly made. I though HF sold tanks but they don't. Then I happened upon their small engines. Apparently most small engines are copies of a Honda design. I know the Generac is. There are tons of happy reviewers who fixed their pressure washers by installing a Predator engine. So for ~$100 after coupon, I get a new gas tank with the new engine and don't have to worry about rebuilding my carb. Wish me luck!

It's the newer version. For my purposes, I'll take reliability over modability I just hope it fits and isn't too much of a pain in the ass.

The more I read about the engines, the more I want to build a go-kart though

Perfect fit! Doing a 3 hour break-in then going to install the pump, but the fittings are exactly the same.

The Predarac!

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Have any of you tried th home-made recipe for 30 Second Cleaner? It's supposedly 5-6% bleach + 2% TSP.

This is the best attachment for concrete driveways, patios, walkways. Works amazingly well and you can do large areas fast. Highly recommended!

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This would be a spray-on and then scrub or pressure wash sort of thing. I get 6% bleach for ~$2.50 per gallon and 4 1/2 pounds of TSP powder for ~$9.50. I mixed 3 quarts hot water with 1 cup of TSP then added 1 quart of bleach. This is what it did to my dirty grout within seconds of quick scrubbing with a toothbrush. The camera picks up every flaw. It really looks even better to my eyes.

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That will pay for itself in time and water savings...

Good to see this thread going again. Spring is almost here in MN. Mom wants me to stop over at her house and power wash the foundation because she wants to repaint it. I was a little kid when it was first painted....and now it's all old and flaking apart. Sigh....time doesn't wait for anyone.

Will post pics when I start hopefully in a couple weeks.

My large garbage bins and recycling containers inside can definitely use a spring cleaning too via pressure washer.

Started working on the north side of my house. This is the same mix I used on the tile. I applied with a gallon sprayer, then let sit for a few minutes before a light scrubbing with a soft brush and final rinse.

Anybody got a tip for removing these dead vines? They always want to leave a little something stuck to the wall.

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I used to drain the gas out of all the small engines I have. I found that if you use the ethanol free "clear" gas they don't gum up.

I’ve got a roughly 8 year old Craftsman mower with a Briggs motor that I totally abuse. Ethanol gas, sits for months, it doesn’t matter. Starts right up by second pull. Most motors I can’t get away with this. What is the diff?

Gotcha, that makes sense. Sounds kinda like what they do with chain saw motors. Though with those, they restrict air intake. You can just drill more holes in the restricter to get around that though.

I borrowed my neighbor's gas powered pressure washer to clean my concrete patio. It did a great job. The pressure washer was sitting in my driveway while I worked, and I suddenly wondered why I smelled burning plastic. Turns out the exhaust of the washer was right in front of my wife's minivan, and I burned a hole through the front bumper. D'oh