Archive for the ‘Pump Maintainance’ Category
Karcher Pump Guard Instructions
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010It’s That Time of Year
Thursday, October 14th, 2010Once again it’s that time of year to get your pressure washer prepared for the cold months ahead. Proper winterization will protect your pump from the freezing of excess water in the pump over the winter. There are many ways to winterize your pump; we like to classify it as the good, better and best.
Good: (Gasoline powered) Leaving your machine in the off position with the high pressure hose disconnected pull the recoil rope 4 to 5 times or until you don’t see any more water coming out of the high pressure end of the pump. (Electric powered) Disconnect your high pressure hose, turn the machine on for 5 to 10 seconds or until you don’t see any more water coming from the high pressure end of the pump.
Better: If you have a air compressor around the house, hook the air line to the garden hose end of the pump and blow the water out until you don’t see any more water coming out of the high pressure end of the pump.
Best: Purchase Karcher’s Pump Guard, follow the simple directions that come with the product. This product is specially formulated to keep your pump from freezing, corrosion, premature wear, adds lubricant to the valves and seals to prevent sticking in the spring. You can usually get 2 or 3 uses from one bottle of Karcher’s Pump Guard. Click here for more information
(Gasoline engines) We also recommend dumping gas stabilizer into the gas tank and running the machine for 2 or 3 minutes or until the engine starts to die out while the machine is hooked up to a water supply and under load. If you don’t plan to use the machine for a longer period of time (10 months or more) then we recommend draining the engine completely of gas.
The fall season is also a great time to change your engine and/or pump oil in your pressure washer to have it prepared for the spring when you are ready to use it again.
Delta Shopmaster/ DeVilbiss Pressure Washers
Friday, February 5th, 2010If you were unfortunate enough to have purchased a Delta brand “Shopmaster” model or Devilbiss 5 or 5.5 h.p. Honda powered pressure washer, you have or WILL experience a loss of pressure at some point. There are several models that used the same pumps, but the affected machines will have a plastic shroud or cover around the entire pump area. These machines were sold by Home Depot, and maybe some other “Big Box” stores. The bad news is that there are NO REPAIR PARTS available for these units. The pump cannot be fixed in any way. Also, the engine shafts on these Hondas were cut down by Honda at the request of the pressure washer manufacturers so that there is no other application that these engines can be used for (i.e. a go cart, log splitter, lawn mower, etc.). The only thing that you can do with these units that makes sense is to put a different brand pump on them. We have available a replacement pump made by Giant that is much better quality than the OEM pump and has replacement parts available. These are $225 plus S & H.
Winterizing Pressure Washers
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Now that the cold weather is upon us, it is time to think about protecting your equipment from freezing. You MUST protect EVERY pressure washer from sub-freezing conditions or the consequences can be VERY expensive! If you have a cold water machine, your pump head may freeze and crack and if you have a hot water machine, you have the additional concern that your heating coil can freeze and break. In either case, this is a very expensive mistake. It is highly recommended that you purchase a 16 oz. bottle of “Pump Guard”. This not only protects your pump from freezing, it also protects your internal aluminum parts from oxidation caused by non-use. Please contact us w/ any questions. Click on the following link for directions on how to use “Pump Guard” or if you want to purchase this product.
http://www.wmpcs.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=45_53&products_id=285
