Here are some tips to prolong your pressure washer's life. All of these things are covered in the fine print in the user manual and the maintenance manuals.
1st thing to go bad in mostly everyone's pressure washer is the pump. "Replace the pump" is eventually heard by every pressure washer user. I searched these forums and found many troubleshooting threads with this exact phrase. But why is that? Do all these manufacturers build defective, unrealiable products? Not at all.
(A) Pump maintenance: 1. Your pressure washer requires an input GPM that at least matches the output GPM rate. My 2700psi 2.4 GPM output gas washer specifically says in the manual that it requires an input hose of 5gpm @20psi. That means hooking it up to a water pump that can push that. Gravity flow from the water tank was not enough. I put an outlet near my water pump for this reason. The water pump is cooled by the water flow and there is a safety venting feature that will activate on your gas washer if you don't depress the trigger for more than 2 minutes to allow the water to flow. If you don't do what the manual says you are going to put the pump under stress that will wear it out faster.
2. The pump oil needs changing every 250 operating hours. This is crank case oil specifically made for pressure washer pumps. It is not car oil. It is not the engine oil. It is the pump oil that lubricates the pump unit. You can find popular brands of pump oil. I will use Mi-T-M as an example
https://www.mitm.com/accessories/pump-oil/2030/ Requires a bit of mechanic expertise to service these factory sealed water pumps, so when in doubt carry it to a small-engine repair place.
3. Storage: You need to run antifreeze pump saver through the pump before long-term storage (more than 1 month) of your unit. Think about it: there is still going to be pipe water deep in the pump resting and corroding inside it while you wait another 6 months to pressure wash the yard. The manual again specifically says to do this, and there are instructions how to within the manual and on Youtube. Mi-T-M example:
https://www.mitm.com/accessories/pump-saver/2031/I know what you're thinking "why do i need to winterize my pressure washer? This is not a winter country!" The same reason you use antifreeze coolant in your car's radiator: to prevent corrosion. Further research has lead me to understand that pressure washer pumps can be flushed out with non-silicate coolants. The Japanese types pink or blue coloured antifreeze coolants. Not the EU coolants. No need to spend too much money on "Pump Saver" Fluid when phosphate P-HOAT coolant can be used. Again, only the pink or blue colours.
This applies to electric pressure washers as well. The water pump needs to flush out. (B) Engine Maintenance: 1. The gas powered 4-cycle 1 cylinder engine in pressure washers requires maintenance as well. Change the oil every 50 operating hours. Most use 10W-30. I use a fully synthetic found in any car shop. This is just car oil, but use the oil weight that the manual says. Change the oil while it's hot, just after you turn off the unit. It's a simple procedure. 355ml is about what's required.
2. Long term storage: Just like brush cutters you must run the fuel tank dry until it cuts off. You do not want gasoline sitting in that engine and gumming up the works for months. Not just the carburetor, but the fuel lines will be filled with gunk from the gasoline after the ethanol has evaporated. Engine can't start when you ready to wash the yard for Christmas and you have to take apart the carburetor and lines and flush and clean everything. Some engines are designed to have a bit of reservoir left that can't burn off so simply. The manual states that you must use a fuel stabilizer for long term storage of your unit. STA-BIL, Star-Tron enzyme, Ethanol-Shield, they are all going to do the same thing, as long as the bottle says "stabilizer" and "fuel storage." Mix a bit with some fresh gas in the tank and run the pressure washer engine for at least 3 minutes so you know the stabilized fuel has reached the carburetor. Once a fuel stabilizer has been added, you can now leave this gas in the tank until the next season and the unit will cold start with no problem.
https://www.goldeagle.com/brands/sta-bil/ Look for these products and use them.
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As I said above, all these things are in your user manual. It's tradition that 99% of persons operating machinery don't read the manual before operating, it's just tradition, so all these very important points will be easily missed. Another very important bit is safety that is covered in the user manual. Eye, ear protection, proper clothing, sun protection, and it states it not operate the unit if you are feeling unwell. I just wanted to add these tips to the discussion for education purpose.
