I have a question. I am not new to pressure washing but as a side gig I have been working out of my Suv for about 2 years. I finally decided to upgrade and get a trailer to tow around the pressure washer, tank, etc. but I have a question regarding the elements. For all the truck and trailer rigs, I never see them covered, but I heard you can severely damage your pressure washer if it is left out in the rain. What is the best advice to keep me equipment from getting ruined. (I live in Florida and it tends to rain alot at this time of the year)
Did you hear that on the dumpster fire train wreck that is facebook?
My rig is uncovered and sits outside yearround. Hasn’t died in three years. I cover it with rubber roofing in the winter, you don’t get snow and ice in Florida.
The worst thing that can happen is if you have a hot water unit and get water into the insulation. I don’t know, I read that on here.
Would love a picture of what your pressure washer looks like after 3 years outside. I bring mine inside for storage usually but left it in the rain 2 days (for science 
) and it seemed to get powdery stuff all over it just during that limited time.
Yeah, you can cause major damage. I always carry a tarp with me incase it starts raining while i’m driving. I pull over and tarp it until the rain stops.
You can’t cause any damage to a pressure washer sitting out in the rain mine stay running in the rain storms snow whatever the weather is it’s no different than your lawn mower sitting outside in the rain it’s just a hunk of metal
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That was a joke, I thought i laid the sarcasm clearly enough lol
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What you’ve heard is nonsense. I even pressure wash my pressure washer, you’ll be ok.
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Ditto, just don’t turn your exhaust upwards, or shoot the water into it (much) while cleaning…most of our guys like it better when it rains, less bleach on them, and easier to rinse (plus: no dead plants ever in the rain!) We do park indoors, since we need to avoid the freezes in winter anyway…
Don’t listen to these yahoos in here. Every time you introduce water to a pressure washer, it causes wear & tear which ultimately depletes it’s serviceable life span.
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I keep WD40 on the trucks to get the belts spinning when we start up in the rain. Those suckers will just sit there and squeal sometimes until they grab
especially the inside of the pump…
Saw the smaller $5 cans at Autozone last night…going to pickup one for every truck next time I have the chance (the ones with the flip up straw…no one can ever keep track of the loose ones). We only have one belt drive, never heard of it having that issue (although he does conspicuously keep a can of WD40 in his truck…I thought it was just that he’s always hoarding tools 
)
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I’ve read on the internet it’s even worse if the pump is direct drive.
maybe, but gear drive really increases the ratio of the water pressure. If you get water in your pump, and let it get under pressure…big problems!
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I cover my machines with thick grill covers. Slip right over the machine and cinch them down around the elevated stands. Works great and my 8gpm still looks nearly new.
Been doing this part-time myself since early 2019 and I’ve always had the washer carried around in the bed of my truck. Originally, business was slow so I would take the washer out and store it in my garage until the next job was lined up. But within a year I just started leaving the washer in the bed of the truck. It is now mounted in the bed and I’ve had zero issues with it due to exposure to the weather. I live in South Carolina and it does get just below/right at freezing for maybe several weeks total throughout the winter months. To combat that, I plug in a heat tape wire that I have wrapped around the pump and whip line. A lot of folks on this forum use RV Antifreeze for winter storage, but the weather usually never stays below 40/50 degrees during the day throughout winter here and it gives me the opportunity to wash often. Bottom line, your machine can operate just fine while being exposed to the elements.
I use one of those rubber motorcross exhaust bungs, little Dimond shape thing and absolutely go to town on it.
If I remember I will get a pic so you can see all the rust and staining on it after 3 years of use and winter storage. I haven’t stripped or painted a thing. It does get hit with the PW quite often though.
It’s just a large PITA to get the pic, put it on the puter, convert the image from HEIC to a jpeg, then upload.
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here you go, too hard to get pics of other side, too close to tote for me and phone to fit. This is a BCE unit. I got the unit based off of the recommendations of @Racer and @marinegrunt . They built them, based off of what the guy said, for the rigs (frackers and wells). I have no complaints with the unit. advertised as 8gpm and 4k, but according to @Kentucky1234 and @Innocentbystander you can’t get both with that sized engine. as near as I can tell, it is about 7.6 gpm and about 3700 psi.
The unit is powder coated, but it will still get surface rust. Will probably sand it down and repaint it next season.
Here are some other rando pics of different areas.
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Looks pretty good to me…we have worse looking stuff that gets a full wash weekly, and lives indoors…and some of that’s just in season 2 right now
