Pressure washer question

[Cohutta68]

I’ll agree that it is always a good idea to pull the trigger as much as possible. When you’re not pulling the trigger the water circulates inside the pump and gets hot. The plungers and ceramic become very hot. When you pull the trigger cold water rushes in and cracks the ceramic plungers. For this reason, you should let water move through the pump pretty much all the time. Maybe setting the gun down for no more than 30 seconds at any point. Unless you’re using a re-circulatory tank system to avoid water heating up. But you’re not on these less than $3000 machines.

Using the machine for high-pressure will not hurt the pop, unless you’re using a high-pressure nozzle which has an orifice too small for your machine. Like trying to force 3 gallons a minute through a 2 GPM nozzle. That won’t work. But if you’re using the tips that came with the machine. Or the right ones in general, They’re made for high pressure and you won’t hurt it.

This assumes you’re talking about high pressure after the pump. Not high-pressure water coming in.

 

[Cohutta68]

Also, all pressure washer pumps are a piece of crap, until you get up to a Cat or General pump.

 

[Ken Ford]

Professionals use gravity feed when working remote jobs. So I don’t think pressure can be too low. Run dry might, but is don’t see a catastrophic failure like that caused by low or no pressure.

 

[Cohutta68]

Will using street pressure vs reduced pressure hurt the pump? Have two that just quit.One was an older unit, but the second is a practically new Troybilt, was.working fine then made some noise then no more pressure.

I’m sorry, I read the ad a little bit wrong. If the pressure coming into the machine is not high enough, you can ruin the pump. Sometimes the street pressure can be that low but it depends on the machine as well. Your machine could be rated for 2 gallons a minute on up. Typical household pressure is around 4-5 gallons a minute with some exceptions. Some areas in Atlanta have less than that. You can ruin a machine if you don’t have enough water coming into the pump.

 

[erkinator]

Its a per gallon a minute feed to operate properly. read manual for requirements for your machine. usually 3 to 5 gallon in most cases

 

[DADI03]

Vertical or horizontal pump. Stay away from vertical pumps. They have a much shorter life

 

[erkinator]

I`m on a well, mine works just fine, but I am lucky with 5 gallon a minute pump and I have my pressure tank at 40/60. Most are set to 30/50