Hello all, firstly I want to thank you all for the wealth of information on this site. It has been very informative and entertaining at times. It’s nice to know there’s a good community here who doesn’t gatekeep information from each other.
Next, I’m about to purchase my first pressure washer, I really want a skid since I want to attach it to the back of my work truck. I could be swayed on whether or not I purchase a skid or a cart though, not married to the idea. Anyway, here is the machine I’m leaning toward. I like that it doesn’t have overpowered psi for what I need, though I’d like to know if this would be enough pressure to run a surface cleaner. I also like that it’s 5gpm as I know it can get the job done faster.
I am more than happy to hear any feedback or advice regarding this machine or anything you might recommend.
Honest opinion, it’s a decent starter machine for house washing but you’ll figure out it’s limitations almost immediately. They’re being a bit liberal with their specs on that machine. You might get it to push out 3k psi at the pump with the unloader adjusted for the max pressure but you’ll absolutely lose some flow if you do that. Then when you figure in friction loss you might get 2k psi after 200’ of hose and running through the injector. You can probably get through some small driveways with that and a small surface cleaner (probably 16" or smaller) but anything bigger and you’ll be there all day and you will absolutely have to use more chemical to help get concrete really looking good.
Personally, I think Comet pumps are barely a step above an AR pump and those are junk. Belt drive on a small machine like that makes no sense. You can’t really upgrade the pump and even if you did you’d need different pulleys but you can’t really spin a bigger pump with 13hp. Not efficiently anyhow.
Here’s what I would do:
Source a Honda GX390 locally. New, used–doesn’t matter. Preferably new.
Call Russ at Southside Equipment and tell him you want a gear drive box and a pump to go with it. He’ll steer you in the right direction. I like GP pumps because they’re solid quality and decently priced and I’ve run them for years with no major issues to speak of. Many guys will say go with Udor. For a larger machine that can do it all I would tend to agree but absolutely nothing wrong with a GP pump. Russ also sells a decent quality aluminum skid to mount it on. Any bigger machine and you’d really want to go with a welded steel skid but for a little one like this aluminum is fine. Just don’t forget to get some rubber isolators to mount the skid on. I used small block Ford engine mounts. Worked great and four cost me maybe $20 at my local Bumper to Bumper.
Assemble all that shiny new stuff and revel in the fact that you built it yourself and ended up with a better quality machine than that BE for the same or possibly even a couple hundred less.
Then when you start getting defeated by only being able to do one or two jobs a day you can upgrade to a 8gpm machine and then you’ll be walking in tall cotton, my friend.
I’d echo most of what @DisplacedTexan said… cheaper to build then buy in most cases. I’m running a 5gpm (getting closer to 6 gallons) and 2900 psi but with a 440 engine. It works and makes money, but I’m already eyeing a 8/3500 for next year. One thing that I didn’t see mentioned… with any machine above 4gpm you are going to want to have a buffer tank (more gpm = bigger tank) so factor that in both from a cost and space standpoint. I was able to get by running a 30ish gallon tank at first, but have since upgraded.
How’s that 440 holding up for you? Gear drive I’m assuming?
I’ve been kicking around the idea of grabbing one for a go kart build but I’ll probably end up getting a Predator and buying the warranty then just beating on it like a rented mule and grabbing a new one when I feel it’s had enough.
Yup gear drive, I’ve only got about 11 hours on it so jury is still out. I believe @CHogue and Blue Line Pressure Washing use them as well so they may have more insight… but it comes with a 3 year warranty (1 year for commercial use) and was cheaper then the 500cc and the Predator 459… If you haven’t checked out Red Beard’s Garage on youtube he has a ton of videos/upgrades for karts using the motor and seems to have favorable opinions recommending them often for new kart builds.
Yeah I’ve seen some of his stuff. Have to take it with a grain of salt as I believe he is a paid promotor for a lot of the stuff he uses. They seem to have some pretty decent aftermarket going on so I might give one a try. Not like I rely on the go kart for transportation or income at least lol
That may be, I haven’t really looked into him much, but there isn’t a whole lot out there on these engines… Redneck Computer Geek does a tear down side by side with a gx390 as well… either way they are cheap enough so worth a shot.
There’s quite a bit on the go kart and golf cart forums. Seems like they don’t like being revved past 5k or they like to scatter into bits but otherwise seem pretty decent especially for the price. I just may grab one.
Those guys above won’t steer wrong and know a billion times more than more than I do (I’ve washed two houses at this point). My buddy bought that same machine and I got a 4pm/4k psi belt with a landa pump. He bought a 16” surface cleaner, think he’s running 25025 tips in it but I forgot, anyway his doesn’t clean as well as my 4gpm machine. I bought a pressure gauge off Amazon and he’s at about 1800-1900 psi at the SC and I’m at about 2900 psi. Neither of which are super ideal from what I’ve read, but mine works waayyy better for surface cleaning, and like Anton mentioned I don’t need a buffer tank. His is better for rinsing but we both agree that these GX390s have their limits, they’re gonna be solid little backup machines for GX630/690s soon. If you’ve already got a buffer tank/trailer I’d save for a 8gpm/3500 since you’re probably gonna buy it later anyway. If you’re just working out of a van or something with no buffer tank then I’d get a 4gpm/4k machine. Good luck
