I got a hydro tek, I had been talking to sales guy for weeks and it just made sense, plus he got me into a Honda engine for an extra $120 can’t beat it… and I went 115 volt because I plan to add a filtration system in the near future
I’m having a hard time deciding between the 120v or 12v burner. I’ll likely never have to recover but I like the idea of an outlet if I ever need to run a grinder or something. That won’t happen enough to really include it in my decision making though. I’ve just heard the 120 are more reliable but the 12v have come a long ways. It’s hard not to be picky when dropping the amount of cash these things cost.
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I was going to go 12v. I don’t really see a difference at all besides having to buy a generator
I currently have a 12 Volt system… And although it’s been trouble free… In large areas like parking garages where you have the heater going for hours at a time, the heat seams to be somewhat inconsistent, in my experience anyway…
I keep up in all it’s Maintnance so no issues there, but once you have the heater going say 4 hours and its heating up water I do feel the slight temp drops… That’s really all I can say about the 12 volt, oh and it likes a nice fresh battery to feed from.
I’m in the same boat, looking at the hydromax and wondering if it’s worth the $600 upgrade for 120v.
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I plan on going with the Kohler ech749 and right now the 120v is only $100 more on it. That’s only because they raised the most of their prices a little and I don’t think they updated all yet. They say a 120v burners robs about 2-3 hp from the engine so if you go with a GX690 you’ll only be getting 7 gpm when running hot water. A 12v doesn’t rob any hp. Just something to think about. The Kohler ech749 is a 26.5 hp engine so you’ll get 8.5 gpm cold and still get 8 gpm with hot if you choose the 120v. If you go Kohler with the 12v you’ll get 8.5 gpm both hot and cold.
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It takes about 1.4hp to power one kw so 2k watts would need 2.8hp but here’s the deal, I only end up with a 1/4 of the load on a 2kw generator powering a 1/4 horse motor. So do the math for 500 watts needed. FYI 1/4 horse motors are quite large as far as blower motors on burner assemblies. It’s spinning a 6-1/4" blower wheel.
Is this the unit you’re looking at? DC8540KG 8.5gpm@4000psi-ECH749 Kohler Engine- $7350
On my end down below it says that the 120v upgrade is $600. Where are you finding $100?
So are you saying one or another is better? Are you running 120v or 12v?
12v is play play 120v belt driven is your industrial solution.
Ryobi vs Detroit Diesel
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Just look at a 12vdc motor compared to a 110vac counterpart it’s laughable
Yeah that 12v looks like a real workhorse
@marinegrunt Disregard, I followed your link above and saw the pricing that you stated. I couldnt find the AC machines anywhere until I followed that link.
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What brand 110v do you have?
delete
I know you said you’re running all diesel engines now. Are you just running larger engines than what the pump needs and dialing down the throttle? I remember you saying something like that in the past. For an 8 gpm Hyrdomax the largest engine is a 26.5 hp Kohler. There’s not too much turning down the throttle if I want to get 8 gpm when running hot water. What do you recommend? You can’t throw all that info out there and not help with the machines Hydromax has. I can probably upgrade to the 38 hp Kohler for another grand but then I’m only a few grand away from the diesel. I’m already spending more than I want to spend…lol
I’d go with the 12V. Plus if you’re going to have a 12V pump on the trailer and wired like my truck you’ve got 2 batteries to pull from if needed. I’ve run my heater a lot longer than 4 hours and never had a problem. I’m sure you’ve already got a generater if you need to run a grinder and I won’t even ask why you’d need a grinder on a pressure washing trailer, lol.
That all being said, that diesel machine is a real beast. I’m not sure why you’d need that unless you’re doing parking garages all day long or their main market for them are certain oilfield or gas fields, I believe he said , but it is a sweet looking machine. I snapped a pic of one they were building when I was there.
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Good ole kubota, the benchmark of reliability 
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Brian, you just need to hook your trailer up, load your piggy bank up and drive down there. You could drive down on a Sunday and be there when they open Monday and I promise you’ll be going home with at least one something,. You could spend all day down there watching them build stuff, it’s pretty cool. It’s worth the trip just to talk with Randy about history of the industry.
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Any particular reason you prefer the 12v over the 120v @Racer? I do have two batteries for my 12v system so plenty of power. From the research I’ve done it sounds like the 120v is more dependable but I guess having two batteries will help with that.
My reasoning for liking the diesel isn’t so much of it being a beast but longevity. It would pay for itself because it would go probably 30k hours before needing a rebuild compared to around 5k hours or less for other gas engines. @florida_condo_cleani said switching to diesel was one of the best things he ever did. Reliability was one big reason. Granted, he has a lot bigger operation than I do. I don’t plan on getting a diesel yet though. Would just be nice. I think it would also be nice to have just one large fuel tank to fill for the engine and burner instead of two separate fuels. Not that it’s that big of deal though.
That’s a pretty good drive for me to get down there. About 10 hours. The wife would love it if I tell her we’re going on vacation and instead of taking her to the beach and I take her to see how pressure washers are assembled and I come back with one…lol. I would love to check them out though.
Anyways, I’m sure both 12v and 120v have their pros and cons. It’s not like I use hot water all day everyday so I can take that into consideration. For what it’s worth Hydromax recommended the 12v. I’m not sure why though. I always have a hard time deciding on purchases because I want top of the line. I know I’m overthinking all of this though.
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RIP Brian
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