High Pressure Value
By Earl Kauffman
DECK: Use of pressure washers can add value to your equipment,
reduce the repair
costs and help keep your equipment running longer.
If you work on your own equipment you know how nice it is to be
able to work in
a grease or mud-free environment. Even on the job-site,
depending on the time of year,
a pressure washer can power-away grease, grime and friction
producing grit. A clean
machine often brings more money in a trade than a dirty one,
just like a machine with
good rubber often brings a higher price than one with bald
tires. How do you pick a
pressure washer that works in your operation?
The use of the washer determines which one is right for you.
Sales
demonstrations that split a board at 3000 PSI aren't exactly the
criteria for choosing a
good washer. One-hundred-ten and 220-volt electric washers are
the quietest while
gasoline or diesel powered washers give the portability often
needed in the field. Hot
washers rarely get moved from the place they are put when first
placed. Water supply
volume is critical.
Shopping for the right washer can be tricky. Although there are
some good
foreign brands, if you can't get service when you need it, your
experience will be
disappointing. Washer manufacturer's like Camspray (www.camspray.com)
match a
motor, pump and gun, package it for the application selling 180
styles through servicing
dealers. A dealer can help you navigate between the different
specifications like, does it
have plastic or stainless valves or stainless or longer lasting
ceramic plungers in the
pump, etc. You will find pumps manufactured by CAT (http://www.catpumps.com/),
Giant (http://www.giantpumps.com), General (www.generalpump.com),
Hypro
(www.hypropumps.com) and most recently Udor (www.udorusa.com) on
many washers,
just like you find Detroit's, Cumming's, Cat's, Perkins, Kubota,
Isuzu, and International
engines under many brands of hoods.
Lynn Strickler at Messick's in Elizabethtown, PA, (www.messicks.com)
says the
place to begin is to know your water flow. He says "take a
five-gallon bucket and time
how long it takes to fill from the supply spigot. If it takes
two-minutes, your pump
capacity should be no more than 2.5 gallon per minute." Most
pumps sold today are the
plunger or cup-style positive-displacement pumps. Though known
for it's suction or lift
ability, twelve-hundred pounds-per-square-inch (PSI) is usually
tops with the cup-style
while the ceramic plunger pump can reach pressures up to 4000
PSI but needs a ready
water supply. For commercial machines requiring longevity and
optimum seal life
choose a pump with 900 to 1,400 revolutions-per-minute (RPM's),
generally belt or gear
box driven. These slower pumps matched with water supply allow
the pump cylinders to
completely fill with water preventing cavitation, or the rapid
formation and collapse of
bubbles caused by the vacuum due to inadequate water supply,
causing early seal
failure. Higher RPM shaft drive machines are great for light
use. The injection of soap or
aluminum brighteners are best done after the pump and heating
coil on hot machines.
Trigger guns and wands often come with an adjustable tip that
has a push-pull
action to activate the soap suction. Many users prefer using the
individual quick change
tips with a 0, 15, 25 or 40 degree spray pattern tip.
Recommended safety precautions
include temperature and pressure regulators on the pumps.
Releasing the trigger
allowing the pump to cycle the small amount of water in the pump
head can cause the
water temperature to rise, without added heat. A temperature
relief valve on the pump
set at 145 degrees as well as a pressure relief valve set at 500
PSI above operating
pressure is a simple inexpensive precaution that will prevent
the hazard of a pump head
failure.
Your next repair job could be on a clean well maintained
machine, ready to be
traded-up in this, or many seasons from now.
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