Powerwasher into portable

Had a debate about a guy who used his powerwasher as TM. He said the guy put the psi at 400psi on his Powerwasher. Added the wand, and started cleaning carpet. He added boosters to his vac and ran the PW from the van seriously is that possibile. I told the guy I would like to see it to believe it?? Thoughts???

DeepScrub, I got your pm about this topic but I will just post my thoughts about it here instead of replying to the pm. Kind of funny you ask this because I came across a Rotovac on ebay months ago and the guy selling it claimed he ran it off of a pressure washer and shop vac to get "truck mount power". I apologize if I get too involved describing pumps down below, but I can't help myself!

As I said in another thread on here, my other business has me involved with pressure washers and high pressure pumps. You are right, some of the portables and truck mounts use the same pumps as a pressure washer. However the truck mounts typically use high end high pressure pumps that you probably wouldn't find on a pressure washer unless it's really high end. Most of the truck mounts that I've looked at appear to use Cat Pumps, which is by far the best pump out there in my opinion.

Now I don't know what type of pressure washer this guy is talking about, but I'm assuming it had to be a higher end one that had an unloader valve installed on it. The unloader valve is what is used to regulate the pumps discharge pressure. Now almost all small electrical pressure washers out there have cheap pumps in them, and that is why you can buy an electric pressure washer cheap at Lowe's.

Without an unloader valve to regulate down the pumps discharge pressure his only real option to lower the pressure would be through the size nozzles he is using on his wand. Some higher end electrical pressure washers, like those from AR, do come with pressure regulators where you can lower the pumps discharge pressure, but I doubt he had one of these because they are really hard to find.

Most gas pressure washers don't come with an unloader valve installed unless it has a higher end high pressure pump, such as a Cat or AR. I know home Depot has a Dewalt gas pressure washer with a cat pump that does have an unloader installed on it.

A pressure washer will only identify it's MAXIMUM pressure. This pressure is only reached if you use a 0º spray nozzle on the pressure washer lance. If you use a larger nozzle such as a 40º, the discharge pressure will be significantly lower than the pressure washer's stated pressure. Why? Because the size orifice (hole) on the 40º nozzle is much bigger than the size hole used on the 0º nozzle. If you have a 3500PSI pressure washer and use a 0º nozzle, you should be able to strip paint. If you use a 40º nozzle, you probably won't be able to because the pressure is much lower.

The product that I make and sell runs off of either a pressure washer or high pressure pump. On my product it has spray nozzles identical to those used on a carpet cleaning wand. For example one of my products has 2 4002 (40 degree spray pattern, size 2 flow rate nozzle) nozzles on it. When a small electric pressure washer with 1500psi and 1.5gpm is hooked up to my product with the two 4002 nozzles, I can get the discharge pressure from the pressure washer to 500-550psi when the water is flowing through the nozzles. So basically this guy could do the same thing by installing the same size nozzles on his wand to get the pressure down from the pressure washer. If he wants the pressure lower, he needs larger nozzles (assuming it's a dual jet wand).

If he had a cheap pressure washer and was flowing hot water through it, he was just shortening the life of the pump. Most of those pumps weren't meant for temps over 125ºf or 140ºF. There are however hot water pressure washers, but they cost $3000+ from Northern Tool.

So long story short could he use a pressure washer? Yes. But then what is he using for a vac? A shop vac? Like duckcountry said, it doesn't even look professional. If it were that easy people would go to home depot and buy shop vacs and pressure washers to clean their own carpets.

There will always be someone with some brainstorm idea thinking he can get into this business on a shoestring budget.

And those that don't - the first to say the business sucks - which it does if you HWE system is working right.