Electric Pressure Washers vs. Gas?

[the-ex-files]

I plan a buying a new pressure washer, mostly just for washing my truck and 400EX. When looking at prices, I see that electric is a lot cheaper then gas. Would anybody recommend an electric washer or are they junk? Thanks.

[TRX250X]

We have a little electric one, and a big electric hot water pressure. They both work very well, and are pretty much maintenance free. Gas is nice, but it's one more little motor that you have to mess with.

It would be nice not having to string an electric cord out to wash anything, but when we wash our farm equipment we do a lot at a time. If you're just washing the truck and quad, go for the electric. Just make sure and buy a good quality one with a good pump, and it will last forever.

[ATC Crazy]

We just recently got an electric pressure washer. 1600PSI at that. Its enough to make the Foreman shine better than a hose and brush ever thought of. I dont know the name of it, but it was a foreign sounding name (started with a "K" and had 2 little dots over another letter in the name....like german)

I've only used it about 5 times. Working great so far.

[MichaelS693]

gas is the best way to go in my opinion:D

[andrew360]

Originally posted by ATC Crazy
We just recently got an electric pressure washer. 1600PSI at that. Its enough to make the Foreman shine better than a hose and brush ever thought of. I dont know the name of it, but it was a foreign sounding name (started with a "K" and had 2 little dots over another letter in the name....like german)

I've only used it about 5 times. Working great so far.

Karcher

I have the Karcher 1300 electric and it's been allright so far. I am going to buy one of the gas Honda powered ones what they sell at Home Depot soon....I'll be sure to report on it.

[SGA]

I borrowed my neighbors small electric one. It had a upright handle and two wheels, kind of like a hand truck is. It worked great for me, plenty of power. I think he said it was about $150

[hondarider2006]

Go and get a Honda gas presure washer....you will be happy:cool:
















Just remember not to spray to close...unless you want some holes in your plastic;)

[TGW_400ex]

We had a eletric then traded it in for a gas one 2000psi......Gas is better

[dirtmomma]

We also have a gas Honda one & it's an awesome one, I just don't like the idea of "electric" & water mixing :huh plus w/ the gas one you can take it anywhere if you need too & don't have to look for an outlet, plus if your doing something besides a vehicle ie house you don't have to drag a cord behind you!!

[quadrcr161]

both are good, the electric dosent use as much water per min and can get most things clean. the gas has more power and can clean anything you want. mine busted so im about to get a small electric one for the track and a gas one to use around the house.

[XANDADA]

I bought a Husky electric one for something like $150 and broke it the first time I used it. Luckily I took it right back to Home Depot and they gave me a full refund - I told them it never worked. I turned around and bought the cheapest gas one ($300) and it has worked great for last year now. I'd stay away from electric...

[OCMANJOE]

We had bought and electric unit from Karcher about a year or so ago. It was the 1350 psi one, We used it maybe twice and it burned up!! then they sent us a 1400 psi and that burned up, then they sent us another 1400 psi and that burned up so after a year of chatting on the phone everytime it broke they finally sent us their industrial electric pressure washer i think its the model 320. These us an actual metal pump head instead of the composite on the smaller models and it also uses a fan to keep the unit cooler when using for long periods of time unlike the other ones where you had to give it a brake after about 20 mins of use. I would get a gas one they make small ones that are 2000 psi that you could throw in your truck and use wherever.

[xr50layke]

I have an elc p-wshr and it works well for semi think caked on mud but, its not gonna take out the weeds in your shock/swingarm linkage etc, but, does make it shine :)

remember you dont want something too powerful that will tear your seat or take off your decals.

[Quadude32]

Gas is the way to IMO i have one and never have to look for a power outlit,Just make sure you have Gas:macho

[Juggalo]

we have an electric at school. never really liked it too much and it doesn't seem to reliable (it was broken last time i used it and its still fairly new). i have a gas at home, she hasn't failed me yet and she'll tear the blacktop off my driveway if i want her to. i say go with gas

[xr50layke]

yes but, we dont want to tear anything cept mud off a bike :eek2: i can see one ripping a carb right off the intake.

[k2-dawg]

Originally posted by MichaelS693
gas is the best way to go in my opinion:D

[spliffy]

I bought a 1900 psi GAS one from walmart for $200 about a yr ago, its just a generic name but has a Briggs & Stratton motor which IMO is a great motor & is what you are basically buying anyways & it works great so far. :)

[wilkin250r]

Basically, the electric pressure-washers are usually low-pressure, low-volume. Typically about 1200psi and about 1.7gallons per minute.

Gas pressure washers are much higher, typically 2000+ psi and 4+ gallons per minute. With more pressure, you can clean things better/faster, but you need to be careful of overpressure. 2000psi will probably take the decals off your plastics, 1200 psi won't.

Obviously, the little electric pressure washers are generally cheaper, both in price and quality. For cleaning your quad, the electric ones usually do just fine, without danger of damage because of too much pressure. However, if you want to peel the old paint off your house before you re-paint, the little electric ones aren't going to do the job.

[bulkdriverlp]

imo yu get what you pay for. you pay 150$ for a power washer, thats what you have a pos. itl last bout a year then itl be junk. you work hard for your money are you willing to throw it away? i have had 3 powerwashers all gas, dont even monkey with electric. youll wind up whipping it in the trashcan. i will never
own a broken scrap iron engine again. i have a honda 2750 psi.starts on one pull and kicks booty.buy it once and be done with it.:grr: ed

[hondafox440]

I went through about 7 cheap electric ones last summer before getting the DeVillBiss/Honda gas one I have now, and I would never go back to electric. Plus, you can't bring an electric to a race unless you have a generator.

[Woodsrider]

But the gas one. The Honda powered Devilbiss pump that is sold at Home depot is a great unit, as is the Honda powered Karcher that Costco sells. If you keep the tip well away from your graphics and sensitive areas you should never have a problem.

As others have said a gas powered unit is very portable. Last weekend we were at a race out in the middle of BFE and there were people using there gas units to clean there quads before they loaded them up in the toyhualers. Made me wish we had brought ours.

[TRX250X]

To expand on my first post:

We've had a little electric 1.5 horse for like 15 years. It's heavy to carry it around, but it's got a good motor and good pump. And as someone stated earlier, it's about 1200 psi. When we wash farm machinery it got used for like 6 hours straight. I wish I knew the manufacture, but I don't. If you buy a good electric one, it will work forever.

Dad just bought an electric HOT pressure washer 2 or 3 years ago. The guy who builds them and sells them also sells Aaladin systems, which are very good. This thing is like 2250 psi, and does an awesome job. It's so nice to have hot water too.

You can get big volume with gas or water, but you don't really need it. I work at a carwash and we have 1200 psi in our bays, and also where we spray cars off for the automatic part. The bays feel like they have no pressure compared to the other ones. The big reason for this is the flow rate, and the type of nozzles that are used. That is the biggest thing when it comes to how much pressure you feel like you're getting.

We have CAT pumps at the carwash. If you want something that will last forever, find something with one of them on it.

[xr50layke]

whats the difference between hot/cold washers?

[TRX250X]

Originally posted by xr50layke
whats the difference between hot/cold washers?

HOT water.

http://www.hotsy.com/

It's got a big electric burner on it that burns diesel fuel to heat the water, and that thing gets really hot. You can run cold through it also though.