Pressure washer

[madasahatter]

As above own a nilfisk 110.4 not used in a while. when i tried it today it kept stuttering then nothing coming out at all. There was a little bit of muck in the filter.

which i cleaned out but still the same.

[steve2006]

There are usually a lot of O ring seals in pressure washers, lack of use can cause them to perish.

[madasahatter]

Yes had a look on utube and the like, not a great deal on them to be honest. It must be over a year since used.

[Arqum]

Make sure there is no air in it.  Before powering it on connect the water hose and let the water run through it for a few min. 

[madasahatter]

Yes i tried that it runs ok then starts to splutter. I have taken cover off but not a lot to see. I have had a look for a pdf but no success.

[Bondis]

I would not use I power washer. although it might prevent swirls on a filthy car... This weekend I've washed my car, and for the first time i've used a pressure washer. Although I kept distance, i discovered a lot of new paint chips. even on the door. So depressing

[NemesisUK]

8 minutes ago, Bondis said:

I would not use I power washer. although it might prevent swirls on a filthy car... This weekend I've washed my car, and for the first time i've used a pressure washer. Although I kept distance, i discovered a lot of new paint chips. even on the door. So depressing

Probably washed out the SRP that was masking the chips etc..

[Linas.P]

22 hours ago, Bondis said:

I would not use I power washer. although it might prevent swirls on a filthy car... This weekend I've washed my car, and for the first time i've used a pressure washer. Although I kept distance, i discovered a lot of new paint chips. even on the door. So depressing

Discovering paint chips is not bad thing, it is not like pressure washer caused them - they were there all the time . Obviously, some common sense is needed when using pressure washer, but it is almost impossible to cause damage with normal pressure washers for personal use. Good accessory is foam lance - cover it in foam and let the chemicals do their job before rinsing - all around the best way to prevent scratching and care for the paint in general.

As for the issue with pressure washer above, I had similar issue when using Kercher from the bucket. It simply spread water quicker then it sucked it and was stuttering, as such I found I can only use it when connected to the tap to add some pressure to the inlet. After connection I would normally press the trigger before powering the washer ON to the water fill-up hoses and the washer itself, and get rind of air bubbles. Then if the hose get bent or otherwise blocked it would start stuttering from time to time - but that generally indicates the issue with water supply for me.

[rayaans]

On 15/02/2018 at 11:49 AM, Linas.P said:

Discovering paint chips is not bad thing, it is not like pressure washer caused them - they were there all the time . Obviously, some common sense is needed when using pressure washer, but it is almost impossible to cause damage with normal pressure washers for personal use. Good accessory is foam lance - cover it in foam and let the chemicals do their job before rinsing - all around the best way to prevent scratching and care for the paint in general.

As for the issue with pressure washer above, I had similar issue when using Kercher from the bucket. It simply spread water quicker then it sucked it and was stuttering, as such I found I can only use it when connected to the tap to add some pressure to the inlet. After connection I would normally press the trigger before powering the washer ON to the water fill-up hoses and the washer itself, and get rind of air bubbles. Then if the hose get bent or otherwise blocked it would start stuttering from time to time - but that generally indicates the issue with water supply for me.

Ah mate, thats not true

My wife's previous car has a little chip in it. Used the pressure washer, nothing special just a home use karcher and it turned the chip into a 5cm diameter blob

[Linas.P]

I think we talking about different things here. If your paint is failed then you run a risk of further damaging it - agreed. On normal paint the pressure washer would not cause any damage... unless you deliberately going to try it.

[Bondis]

On 2/20/2018 at 9:16 PM, Linas.P said:

I think we talking about different things here. If your paint is failed then you run a risk of further damaging it - agreed. On normal paint the pressure washer would not cause any damage... unless you deliberately going to try it.

I believe that in my case, the pressure washer removed the touch up paint I had. I'm not sure, and I might be wrong. But I'm sure that I've never seen the chips before, and I hand wash my car weekly, so I should have noticed them.

[ColinBarber]

Typically you shouldn't pressure wash fresh paint for a couple of months.

Have you applied a filler/polish (e.g. Autoglym SRP), it could just be it that has been removed making the stone chips more obvious?

[Bondis]

5 minutes ago, ColinBarber said:

Typically you shouldn't pressure wash fresh paint for a couple of months.

Have you applied a filler/polish (e.g. AutoGlym SRP), it could just be it that has been removed making the stone chips more obvious?

To my knowledge, the paint wasn't fresh. I imported the car from the UK. It arrived in Malta late July 2017. I applied SRP when it arrived and in December, but there were no stone chips. Also if it didn't even correct/mask the very light swirls, I don't think that SRP would cover the stone chips or make them less obvious. Having said this, I might be wrong!