Is this a good unit for beginning pressure washing

Hi guys,

This is the unit suggested to me by a sales rep. I’m only going to be washing siding as an add on to my window cleaning service. Since I will only be doing siding, I don’t think it’s necessary to pay the cost of a hot water unit. Do you guys think this is a good starting unit for my situation.

Cold Water Honda 4@3500 Elect. 1 ea 2,095.00T
General Pump, Belt Driven, 100ft. Hose, Wand,

That’s what I have used for 4 years, actually I have 4 of them. They work great on vinyl, with the right chemical can do driveway’s. And the belt drive hold up really well

But you can definitely find a better price
do you really need electric start on a portable unit

Lightweight Aircraft Grade Aluminum Frame EZ-View Sight Glass No Welds to Crack, Break, or Fail General Belt Drive Pump, ( 3 V-Belts ) Gen. Pulsar Modular Unloader with EZ Start Valve 4GPM @ 4000 PSI, 13 HP Honda Engine 50’ High Pressure Hose with QC
Same specs, lower price plus Bob will set you up with all the right stuff for downstreaming.

Thanks for the info guys. I don’t know crap about pressure washers other than what I’ve been reading on these forums for the past couple days. Is this the type of unit that is good for a trailer. It looks pretty small for a trailer to me but I could be totally wrong. I will not have a dedicated vehicle for pressure washing so I will need to be able to carry window cleaning and pressure washing supplies with the same vehicle. Do you suggest I get a trailer mounted system or is that overkill? I definitely want a setup that is professional and will do the job fast and efficiently. But I don’t want to spend too much money and go overboard either?

Also, I heard the electric start is the way to go but maybe that is overkill too. What do the rest of you guys think about the electric start vs. a pull start for this unit?

Kurt - save your money and cruise CL for awhile.

Anything over 3 GPM and 3000 psi will do just fine especially for softwashing. Just be sure to get a Honda motor and a good pump like General. Also try and find a nice belt driven unit. Mine pull starts every time first pull. Get one on wheels and you can pull it around the house, or mount one in the work truck, and spend your extra money on hoses and reels. If you have any questions you can PM me anytime

+1… I think this is your best option… If you’ve got the money buy this new, not somebody elses problem. There are sometimes awesome deals on CL, but that’s a great price from Bob.

My next suggestion… if your convinced all your going to clean is siding you could buy a 12v pump from Bob.

Electric start is good if you are getting a trailer mounted unit, but if its portable thats just extra weight to pull around. A trailer mount is nice but not neccesary. The advantage to a trailer is having the water with you, but I have never had a customer complain about me using there water, the trailer is more for commercaial work.

Ok, so I think I’m going to toss the trailer idea. From what I’m reading here, it simply just isn’t necessary and overkill. That will save me a heck of a lot of money. I appreciate the feedback. Won’t I need 100 foot of hose though. It just seems like 50 foot won’t be enough? Maybe the 100 foot of hose is for trailer mounted units only. I guess 50 foot is enough when you have a portable?

Get 300 feet of hose and leave the washer in he truck.

Absolutely.
The Bob-ified injector that I got from Pressure Tek will pull through 250’ of hose. Using 200’ it will suck the bottom out of the bucket.
Have an extra 50’ for insurance.

Just make sure if you use more than 150-200 feet of hose you may have to put the down stream injector further down the hose line because it may not pull the chemical properly. Just install it after the first 50-100 foot section.

here a link to another company of good quality service - Direct Drive Pressure Washer 4000 PSI 4 GPM #4040HG

Ya, that’s a good price. Do you guys think it would be better for my situation with 4000 PSI or 3500 PSI? I’m sure more is better but that may not always be the case.

Wrong idea. Less is better. You wash siding with 4000 psi your going to have issues.

I’d rather the 3500psi, especially of there is an increase in GPM. In fact I’d rather a couple more GPM and loose 1000-1500 psi. You can build a custom housewash rig using a 13hp Honda and a 5.5gpm pump. I think that works out to about 2500psi.

The most important thing is gpm the more the better in most cases. You can clean most homes with 150 ft of pressure hose. Unless you want to carry water and or a buffer tank I would stay around 4gpm for residential pressure washing as most homes water supply won’t keep up with more.

Good to know, thank you.

I’ve seen a lot of you write about staying local because of shipping costs. Also, I think it may be easier for maintenance instead of possibly having to ship the unit back and forth. Here is a unit from a local outfit here in St. Louis. What do you think of this one? I did notice it’s only 3.7 GPM. Will there be a noticeable difference between 3.7 and 4 GPM?

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Kurt I would highly recommend you don’t get a 4 gpm machine if you are going to use professionally. I would buy at least a 5.6 gpm. 3000 or 3500 psi. If you really wanna rock and save a whole lot of time buy a 8 gpm machine ( I use a 8.7 hot rig) . I say all of this because you will out grow that 4gpm machine and will stuck with it, and loose a bunch of money when you go to upgrade. Call Bob at pressure tek Cleveland Oh or Russ at Southside equipment in Louisville KY. Just my opinion …Call me if you need anything…