Household pressure washer

Recommendation points

• Where are pressure washers used?
• What you need to know when working with a pressure washer and what to look for when choosing a product
• Choosing a sink

Despite the fact that winter is not going to give up its positions yet, soon warm days will come and all the troubles connected with putting in order of our personal plot will fall on us in full. A huge help in such work can be provided by such a fairly new tool in the household – a pressure washer. This device will find work not only on a personal plot, but also in a garage, technical premises, and on a farm. There are quite a lot of applications for high-pressure cleaners.

What is this unusual instrument, which is often called Karcher among the people. Pressure washers were invented a long time ago. And again, the birthplace of this invention, like many other instruments, can be considered Germany. In 35 of the last century, the German engineer Alfred Karcher officially opened a company that currently occupies the leading positions in the world in the production of specialized cleaning equipment, which can fully include high pressure washers (devices). The pressure washer itself, in the form in which we are used to seeing it on store shelves, in a car service, was born in the early 50s of the 20th century and since then has found itself the widest application, both in the production sphere and in domestic. At the moment, there are more than a hundred manufacturers all over the world who produce pressure washers. Among the firms known to us are BOSCH, ANNOVI-REVERBERI, CRAFTSMAN, STIHL and many others.

Where are pressure washers used?

Most often, we come across high pressure washers (high pressure washers) at a car service. It is difficult to imagine a modern car wash without such a device. Even in fully automated car washes, we can find these small and very easy-to-use tools. If an automatic car wash can easily cope with the dirt on the body of your car, then you will have to clean the entire room after the car leaves it with the help of a small pressure washer (MVD).

In the conditions of construction work, high pressure washers (HPA) are also used. These tools are especially often used in places where construction is taking place in a dense urban area. Strict rules for maintaining cleanliness and order on the streets of our cities oblige builders to wash their cars before leaving the construction site on the city streets. Cleaning heavy construction equipment without using a pressure washer is not only extremely time consuming, but also very difficult. But not only for cleaning equipment from dirt, you can use a high-pressure washer in a construction site. Territory cleaning, washing of various mechanisms, cleaning concrete mixers from mortar residues, cleaning water drains, as well as sewer pipes and many other works are carried out using high pressure washers.

There is also a job for pressure washers in agriculture. Since childhood, we have heard the tale of the exploits of Hercules. Think about it – cleaning the stable was a real feat. And today this work belongs to the category of especially difficult and a high pressure washer helps to cope with it successfully. Agricultural machinery is constantly in need of care and cleaning due to the fact that the work is taking place in a dusty environment. At the same time, internal combustion engines in agricultural machinery often overheat, since the cooling radiators are clogged with dust, straw, and other small debris that forms during field work. It is extremely difficult and time-consuming to clean the honeycomb of radiators without using a pressure washer. And fishermen often use such sinks to put their floats in order. funds. A powerful jet of water easily removes all scales from the deck. Yes, and the hull of a boat or boat will be perfectly cleaned by a stream of water not only from any dirt, but also from various algae, mollusks that settle on the surface.

High pressure washers are used in the food industry. Food processing facilities must be kept perfectly clean. Pressure washers can be used in conjunction with special nozzles for spraying cleaning solutions, which makes these tools simply irreplaceable helpers when cleaning up.

At home, you can easily perform all of the above work using a compact household high pressure washer. The set of such sinks can include a wide variety of attachments – from a dirt cutter to a variety of replaceable tips, extension tubes, etc. All this variety of accessories will always be used. Car, boat, building facades, garden paths, swimming pool – everywhere there is work for a tireless wash.

What you need to know when working with a pressure washer and what to look for when choosing a product

It is worth remembering once and for all – any high pressure washers (even the smallest and weakest) are strictly prohibited to be used for washing people and animals. Do not carry out such experiments, as this can be very serious injuries. Such kind, warm and pleasant water with the help of a pressure washer can turn into a terrible, sometimes deadly weapon. The fact is that water does not lend itself to compression and when it leaves the nozzle of a high pressure washer, it has tremendous strength..

The water pressure that the pressure washer can create is indicated in bar (1 bar = 0.986 atm).

Compact household high-pressure washers cannot independently heat the water, unlike more powerful professional washers. However, this problem can be solved quite simply. Most pressure washers can be connected to a hot water source. It is only important to remember that the permissible temperature should not exceed 60 degrees Celsius. Otherwise, the product may be damaged, especially if you used special detergents. It should also be noted that not all household high-pressure washers are designed to use hot water. For this reason, it is worth taking a closer look at the characteristics of the product before making a purchase..

The rise in prices for pressure washers is very significant. For example, the BLACK pressure washer&DECKER PW 1800 XR costs about 7000 rubles, while the pressure washer BLACK&DECKER PW 1700 WB, which practically does not differ in its parameters, costs about 5000 rubles. Let’s see what influences the cost of this equipment..

BLACK sinks&DECKER PW 1800XR and BLACK&DECKER PW 1700WB

First of all, let’s look at the design of a pressure washer. The sink consists of:

• a set of high pressure hoses, a handle with replaceable nozzles;
• wear-resistant housing (most often plastic);
• a container for detergents (depending on the model of the sink);
• electric motor (some models use a gasoline engine);
• high pressure pump.

It is on the type of high-pressure pump that is installed on the sink that its cost will depend. Structurally, all high-pressure pumps are similar, however, their resource is different. And the very material from which the pump is made also affects the cost of the finished product (in this case, the cost of a high pressure washer, since such pumps are used on a variety of equipment). Not all buyers of sinks know that the resource of tools in the low price segment is extremely limited. It is between 30 and 60 hours. It is for this reason that it is worth a more balanced approach to the choice of sink. For those who plan to use a high-pressure apparatus exclusively for personal purposes, one should not be afraid of such low indicators of the product’s resource. Let’s just pick up a calculator and calculate everything..

As an example, consider a high-pressure washer from BOSCH AQUATAK 100, which is very popular with customers. The service life of this sink is about 50 hours of operation. This does not mean that your tool will break down exactly 50 hours later. Depending on the operating conditions, the sink may last longer. Now let’s count. Let’s say that you plan to wash your car in the garage with this high-pressure cleaner. More other work is not planned for you, since there is no country house or summer cottage, and there is simply no work for this tool in the apartment. From October to March, the weather is cold in most regions of the country, in many places the snow lies until early May.

It turns out that the warm period of time when you can use this pressure washer outdoors is only 4-6 months a year. In order to wash a small car with a pressure washer, you need about 10 – 15 minutes. This is how long the device is in the on state. In any case, you will have to apply soap solution, wipe the car from moisture. At this moment, the device does not work, we only count the time when you directly use the pressure washer. You will not wash your car every day. This is simply not necessary. In dry weather, it is enough to tidy up the car twice a week and it will stay clean for the other 5 days. Naturally, during the rain, you will not be able to use the sink, since there is a risk not only to damage the product, but also to get an electric shock. It turns out that if you wash your car 90 times within 30 weeks (3 times a week for 10 minutes). Then within 1 year you will spend only about 15 hours on washing. Considering the resource of the sink we have chosen, this product will be enough for you for 3.5 years of such intensive operation. This means that a resource of 50 hours for 4000 rubles (this is how much this pressure washer costs) is a completely reasonable and justified waste of money. Do not forget that this product is covered by a 2 year manufacturer’s warranty..

The resource of more expensive high-end sinks is many times higher. This is due to the design of the high pressure pump and the materials from which it is made. Also, the type of drive will affect the cost of washing, but we do not need such technical difficulties, since they mostly relate to professional equipment. Let’s go back to the pumps. If the pump body is made of any alloy, or even better, of brass, then the resource of such a high pressure washer will be several times higher. It is also important to know what material the pistons are made of. Recently, in expensive household high-pressure washers, there are not only metal, but also sintered pistons. Naturally, the cost of such equipment will be much higher than that of the sample that we have considered. So, for example, a household high pressure washer Karcher K 7.85 M PLUS WB costs about 19,500 rubles.

When choosing a pressure washer, you should also pay attention to those nozzles that come with the kit and the possibility of purchasing additional nozzles. The most common are the so-called dirt cutters (used for heavily soiled surfaces), sandblasting nozzle (used to clean the surface from old paint, rust), pumping out ejector nozzle. In addition, a wide variety of adapters, brushes, angle nozzles, etc. can be used..

There are sinks that can operate at very low input water pressure (by gravity from a container). There are high pressure washers that use only mains water. It should be remembered that the water supply must correspond to the flow rate during operation. Otherwise, you simply risk breaking your sink or significantly reducing its resource. It will not be superfluous to take care of the high-pressure pump and install an additional pre-filter for water on the sink. Handle the hoses very carefully. It is strictly forbidden to bend the hose, run over it with the wheels of a car, it is not advisable to drag it along the ground with a drag. When choosing a sink, it is advisable to pay attention to those models that are equipped with special reels for winding high pressure hoses. After you have finished work, be sure to release the pressure from the pump, drain all the water. This will significantly extend the life of your tool. It is strictly forbidden to leave pressure washers in frost with water inside the system. Such “frozen” sinks usually fail. Let us remind you once again – it is strictly forbidden to wash people and animals. You should not experiment with your car, as a pressure washer can cause significant damage if mishandled – broken mirrors and body parts, damaged paintwork. It is especially necessary to handle a car that has recently “gone through” a body repair. Before you start washing your car with a high-pressure washer yourself, you should carefully study the instructions that come with the tool, observe the actions of the personnel at the car wash. Knowing these features, let’s start choosing a pressure washer.

Choosing a sink

We decided to consider sinks in the middle price category. They did not pursue cheapness for such a reason – we decided to purchase our sink for work in a country house. Putting things in order, washing cars, cleaning the pool, washing the facade of the building, which is sheathed with siding – this is a short list of those works to be performed with our high pressure washer.

High pressure washer Karcher K 5.55 JUBILEE is a product of Karcher company. The product warranty is 2 years. The power of the Karcher minisink is 1600 W. The working pressure is about 140 bar, which is quite enough to carry out the list of works that we talked about above. The pressure washer has a capacity of 460 liters of water per hour. This is quite a decent indicator. The pressure washer kit includes several types of attachments for different jobs, including a mud blaster with which you can easily tidy the paths in the garden.

It is very important that the high pressure pump body is made of aluminum alloy. The sink allows you to work with water, the temperature of which reaches 60 degrees. The length of the hose with which the sink is equipped is 9 meters, there is a reservoir for detergents. The delivery set includes a fine filter for water. The cost of this product is about 9600 rubles.

Makita has also expanded its range of pressure washers. Those who have seen many examples of sinks will easily guess the products of ANNOVI-REVERBERI in these high pressure washers. For comparison, we chose the Makita HW130 sink. This washer is equipped with a powerful 1800 W motor with a maximum pressure of 130 bar. This product uses a 3-piston alloy pump.

A distinctive feature is the presence of a special reel for winding a high pressure hose with a length of 7.2 meters. The washing capacity is 480 l / h. The pressure washer is equipped with special pockets for storing the attachments that come with the kit. The cost of this sink is 10,300 rubles. 1 year warranty.

And we will take another pressure washer as an example. This is a new product from BOSCH Aquatak Clic 125. This sink has an aluminum alloy pump. The power of the Aquatak Clic 125 sink is 1800 W. Bosch pays great attention to the ergonomics of its products. The spray gun, which has a special rotary coupling, is very convenient in everyday use. In addition, the included sink head is equipped with 4 operating modes to make it easy for you to tackle the task (fan jet, spiral point jet, low pressure water jet, point jet). The power of the high pressure washer is 1800W, the maximum pressure is 125 bar, the capacity is 410 l / min. The temperature of the connected water can be up to 60 degrees.

But the BOSCH Aquatak Clic 125 pressure washer has a number of design features that distinguish this product from its competitors. First of all, it is a special automatic winding of a high-pressure hose “Easy-Roll”, and the hose itself “Torsion-Flex” has a higher wear resistance. Such troubles as kinks, hose entanglements simply do not threaten you with this reliable system. The sink is equipped with an automatic disconnection from the mains when it stops working (you release the water supply button on the gun and the pressure washer turns off automatically). A tank for the detergent is built into the body of the sink. The sink switch is located in such a way that you can turn off the tool even with your foot. The power cable also has an automatic winding mode inside the sink body. Moreover, this sink is equipped with an automatic water suction function, which makes it possible to use it in any conditions where there is electricity but no running water. The cost of this product is 10,800 rubles. 2 year warranty. It is this sink, in our opinion, that can fully satisfy all our needs. And there is no reason to doubt the quality of BOSCH products.

We hope that you have learned a lot about pressure washers and now you will not have any difficulties with choosing this product. Happy choice and safe work.