Are there any cheap highpower pressure washers that deliver 3.5 gallons a minute?
I see lots of cheap ones, but my guess is that they are not durable or effective. Does anyone have any perspective of low cost pressure washers? I don't want a big expensive one because: 1. takes up too much space. 2.Will use 3-4 times per year. 3. They cost too much. 4. I want simplicity. Thoughts?
You have two choises, gas or electric. Electric is cheaper and usually has a lower PSI and GPM, gas more expensive but higher PSI and GPM. I have an electric with 1.7 GPM and 1600 psi and it does about 90% of what i need a pressure washer for. If I need that last 10% I just borrow my nephews gas powered one. Prices for electric start at less then $100 and go up to a bit over $200. Then there seems to be a price gap to where the gas powered ones start in the high $200's and up.
In reply to jimbbski:
Thanks. What is that 10% that the electric doesn't do?
When I'm going to do my sidewalk, I use my electric. When I'm feeling like really doing some work, I borrow a gas pressure washer from my father.
The electric is fine for what I use it for most of the time, which is cleaning car grime. It's really not all that great for anything that's really embedded, like mildew into concrete.
When I want the mildew and dirt off the house I use the electric. When I want the paint off the house I use the gas. 
In reply to Derick Freese:
I live in the PNW and we have moss everywhere. I want to be able to remove it from the driveway and patio.
So I maybe ok with a $200 one for a while. I just could not see renting one for $50 for 4 hours. I have about 8 hours of work to do, if not more. Once I get to spending $100 on renting I figure I could purchase something.
Any advice on brands?
This is the one I have. It works great for dirt and mildew. Pretty much the only one I use unless prepping the house for paint. Then I borrow a gas one from my Dad.
It's about four years old and still works fine.
An electric unit will do the job. It's just going to take a lot more time. I have a Husky unit, and it's about 2 or 3 years old. I've done a couple repairs on it. I think my dad got it for like $120 or something like that. I'd recommend getting something with interchangeable nozzles and a real wand.
In reply to Derick Freese:
That is where I see the price jump. Real wands and tips boost the price to that equal to the price of a gas unit. Then you almost have to make that jump.
What I am finding are cheap = cheap and disposible Expensive ($350 >) = something I will have for 15 years or more
get the 2.5 gallon jug of the chlorine /refillable from hardware store sources to use with a pressure sprayer soak down everything wait 15 mins then pressure wash lots better results
I've been on a kick buying "refurb" / returns from the depot lately. Tip - whatever the marked price is, its probably too high. Find the manager and negotiate.
Husky 3000 PSI, 2.5 GPM washer with a Honda motor... $150.
mikeatrpi wrote: I've been on a kick buying "refurb" / returns from the depot lately. Tip - whatever the marked price is, its probably too high. Find the manager and negotiate. Husky 3000 PSI, 2.5 GPM washer with a Honda motor... $150.
I was about to say the same thing. I went to HD back in the spring to buy an electric one, thinking that was all I needed. They had two different ones, a real cheap POS for $110 and a better one for $150 that was about 1,600psi. The cheapest gas ones started at $250 but I didn't want to pay that so I popped the $150 in my cart. I then headed out to the garden area to find SWMBO and saw they had recon units and snagged a 2,500psi until for $170, add some other stuff so I hit the 10% off card we had and I was a happy camper.
Once I got home and started pressure washing my deck for staining I was really really glad I got the gas unit. I feel the electric would have really struggled to do it and would have taken a lot longer.
My advice is buy a gas one if you can stretch to it. Go recon to save most of the difference in price and beg borrow one in the interim if you need too. If I were to do it again I'd go gas even if I couldn't get a recon one. The gas cleans the deck, concrete, cars, boats etc without blinking and eye!
good advice on the recon units I didn't know about that
What about the Harbor Freight units? Should I just stay away. I remember my experience with their welders. Work ok for a while then the switches started screwing/shorting out which fried the machine.
Does anyone have any experience with Harbor Freight pressure washers? I will be looking for a recon unit at HD too
You want the most powerful one you can afford. More power means a wider swath. Pressure washing a driveway with a 2" wide spray is not something I would like to repeat.
I just picked one up for $99 at Home Depot. I asked to see the reconditioned ones. There was a new one out there. It is not as powerful as I wanted, but I have 30 days to make up my mind. It is only 1600psi. I didn't realize the psi would affect the width of the spray, but that makes sense. We'll see how it will do. I could not beat the price. It is gas powered also. So, I got a gas unit for less than the price of the weakest electric ones. Fingers crossed on performance, but I can take it back.
The most important thing to remember, if you have a gas unit, is not to let it idle. Either spray with it, or shut the motor down. Let them idle for any length will destroy the pumps in a year (usually just out of warranty). The more expensive ones ($500+) will handle that better.
I have heard that the gas machines get returned A LOT. Apparently people either struggle to start them, or they buy them, do the big job they need to do, and return them for a refund. Those are probably your refurbs. I have a 2500 psi Briggs, and I'm very happy with it.
In reply to zomby woof: Good advice. I wondered what happens to all that pressure while the machine is idling. I will see if this little thing can handle the moss on the drive. If it does not, it will be back in a flash.
In reply to zomby woof:
Around here, you see a lot of gas powered equipment sold as refurb at the big box home stores. They usually say something like "Cleaned carb" and are marked at somewhere around half price. I will wait until Spring to buy ANYTHING with a motor because people don't know how to rebuild a carb anymore and they don't realize that ethanol will gum up a carb really quickly.
The more expensive ones tend to have a pressure bypass that loops the pump pressure back to the inlet at idle. If you go somewhere with a bunch of models where you can see the pumps and take a look you will start to see the differences as you go up in quality and price.
http://www.landa.com/showProductSeries.aspx?series=321&type=1
Joey
Guys, All the advice was great. I ended up taking the 1600psi unit back and got a better unit that also has a rating off 2500psi. The difference in speed while cleaning made big-a driveway was huge
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