Pressure washer and water barrel set-up..

[CADWELL]

I'm thinking of setting up a rig to do some out of state racing this season and I'm looking for recommendations on a good, reliable pressure washer and what all is needed to hook up a water barrel to it.

What size washer and brand are good?

Do I simply hook up a hose between the barrel and the washer?

How long or how many washes would a 55 gal barrel last?

[kfx400rider03]

a quick spray to get the heavy mud off the fenders and what not should last a while

[JIM GRACE]

Originally posted by CADWELL
I'm thinking of setting up a rig to do some out of state racing this season and I'm looking for recommendations on a good, reliable pressure washer and what all is needed to hook up a water barrel to it.

What size washer and brand are good?

Do I simply hook up a hose between the barrel and the washer?

How long or how many washes would a 55 gal barrel last?

My Honda pw has been going strong for
over 10 years

make sure the water is higher then the power
washer so it feeds by gravity

55 gal at full blast should last me about 45 min or close to it

[sunco]

u wont be able to just gravity feed the water into the powerwasher when turned on and start washing. :( U might need to prime it. Remove the spray hose line & get the water to come out then reconnect the hose & start washing ;) . Good luck

[XXX -rider]

gravity feed is a PITA ..& can take time to start if it does at all
this is what I have been doin for years..& never fails to work & quick

using a 55 gal plastic drum on its side with 1 hole at top ,other at bottom ..then I sealed the drum 100% at both screw in filler caps..now I expoxied an air fitting in the top cap so I can use an air coupler from a tank holding 100psi .( I fill the air tank at home or can do it with a mini aircompresser too ) .to pressurize the water in drum each time I wanna use the waterfor washing ..I open the valve on airtank to ad push from presure to make the water flow to the hose to powerwasher & use a garden hose at bottom to fill it & for powerwashing ..to powerwasher ..

[CADWELL]

Interesting...

That's one of the things I was wondering about. I thought simply gravity feeding the washer was good enough. Better yet I thought that these washers were equip with a pump also to help the water feed.

Would a good used, Honda motored washer get the job done?

There are plenty of used ones on Craigslist that are Honda powered and this way i can save quite a bit instead of new. Would a used one hold up just fine?

What about Harbor Frieght?

[XXX -rider]

well try it experiment ,..do the set up ..try gravity feed or my deal with the powerwasher you choose etc.. I have been using a relatively cheap / middle of road sears type for years ..this set up I made up ..in an afternoon's time works great for me ..

[JIM GRACE]

Originally posted by CADWELL
Interesting...

That's one of the things I was wondering about. I thought simply gravity feeding the washer was good enough. Better yet I thought that these washers were equip with a pump also to help the water feed.

gravity feed and make sure there are no kinks in the hose and it's not to long. Honda is my choice
and you can have it serviced locally.

[mini racer #39]

We use a Briggs and Stratton 6.75 power washer. Also for a barrel check with your local automatic car washes. They will probably give you a barrel FREE. We got ours from a local place and put a valve at the bottom of the barrel with a turn switch to shut it off. It gravity feeds out the bottom. Also in case it does need primed...Jerry also put and air chupp at the top of the barrel so he could blow up the barrel with air to help push the water out the bottom. Hope this made sense and helps. I can send you pics if you like to see what Jerry did to our barrel.

[lonnie1977]

A gravity feed is a PITA but it works as stated above. I like the idea of the air tank pressurizing the barrel though. It worked for me with the barrel in the back of my truck with the powerwasher n the ground. i did have to prime like stated above though. You can pick up an air tank at Walmart for under $30 to use to pressurize the drum though. great idea.

[JIM GRACE]

Pita = ?

[KAWIRYDER]

PITA= Pain in the arse

[born2ride14]

First of all, ( i am suprised this hasnt been brought up) if you are buying a preasure washer, i would reccomend putting one together your self or buy one form a local preasure washer shop. Not only do the motors need to be good quality, the pumps need to be too. we bought a 2500psi washer from our local store, and i thinke the total came over $500. the reason the prices are so high, they come with good motors and they have really good pumps. The ones from lowes or home depot have decent motors but the pumps are by far the CHEAPEST ones on the market, those pumps might last 40 hrs where a good pump will last 400 hrs. The really higher end washers are designed to pull from a tank where a normal use washer should not pull from a gravity feed tank. So putting a shreader valve in the tank would be a great idea, just make sure you have a good amount of preasure.

Also DONT GET A VERTICLE SHAFT WASHER!!!!

[mxpimp2000]

id like to see some pics of this setup. im going to be doing the same this year with takin my own washer to the track to clean my bike.

i see the pro rigs with their gravity fed tanks how do they work out?

[protraxrptr17]

Originally posted by XXX -rider
gravity feed is a PITA ..& can take time to start if it does at all
this is what I have been doin for years..& never fails to work & quick

using a 55 gal plastic drum on its side with 1 hole at top ,other at bottom ..then I sealed the drum 100% at both screw in filler caps..now I expoxied an air fitting in the top cap so I can use an air coupler from a tank holding 100psi .( I fill the air tank at home or can do it with a mini aircompresser too ) .to pressurize the water in drum each time I wanna use the waterfor washing ..I open the valve on airtank to ad push from presure to make the water flow to the hose to powerwasher & use a garden hose at bottom to fill it & for powerwashing ..to powerwasher ..

Please tell me you have a regulator on that setup? That has the potential to be a 55 gallon water bomb. Maybe the portable air tank doesn't have enough volume to sustain high pressure IDK, but I'm pretty sure a plastic barrel can't contain more than about 30 psi. I build fuel tanks pretty often and check them for leaks with air. I built a 300 gallon tank just a couple weeks ago from 3/16 steel. With just 7 psi, the center of the tank would pop out and scare the hell out of you. I don't want to be the safety police here, but I don't want some kid to hook his dads 80 gallon 175 psi compressor to a plastic drum and get killed. I would add a regulator and turn it up to no more than 3 psi.

[XXX -rider]

lol water tanks & fuel tanks
..apples to oranges :huh
I understand your concern for the kiddos .. yet you seem to be going "extreme" on us ..

I have no need for the regulator( they may consider it ..(like I said already ..experiment some !!) .. I have been working with my set up for years now ..perhaps my ONLY mistake here in the prior post was NOT stating I add 10-15 psi while the hose is already hooked to P/w then turn off the valve off on the air tank ..this immediately reduces internally pressure of drum as the water is pushed to wards the p/w etc..so logic tells you the higher pressure only exist in side the drum at the pressure just for a few seconds etc.. & JFYI the drum absolutely will with stand that pressure ..

[CADWELL]

Originally posted by mini racer #39
I can send you pics if you like to see what Jerry did to our barrel.

Please if it's not a problem, I'd like to see some pics.


Thanks for all the great feedback guys. I've already got a good water barrel lined up, I'm just trying to find the best deal on a washer.

The air tank sounds great also and if the are that cheap a Wally World, then I may just pic one up.

[protraxrptr17]

Originally posted by XXX -rider
lol water tanks & fuel tanks
..apples to oranges :huh
I understand your concern for the kiddos .. yet you seem to be going "extreme" on us ..

I have no need for the regulator( they may consider it ..(like I said already ..experiment some !!) .. I have been working with my set up for years now ..perhaps my ONLY mistake here in the prior post was NOT stating I add 10-15 psi while the hose is already hooked to P/w then turn off the valve off on the air tank ..this immediately reduces internally pressure of drum as the water is pushed to wards the p/w etc..so logic tells you the higher pressure only exist in side the drum at the pressure just for a few seconds etc.. & JFYI the drum absolutely will with stand that pressure .. .yeah, 15 psi is probably ok. I have been standing next to a truck tire that exploded and am lucky to be alive. So please understand my concern. No need for the attitude.