Mobile guys -- Electric pressure washer running off of a Generator?

[JCDetails]

I'm working on enhancing my mobile capabilities and one thing that I think would be great would be to not have to rely on customer's water or power if need be.

Harbor freight's bigger inverter generator is a great deal, on sale for 650 right now, so I'm considering grabbing it.

The next thing I'd need to upgrade is my pressure washer. I have a cheapo greenworks electric unit from lowes that I think is like 1.3gpm. It'd be nice to be able to run an electric pressure washer because it'd be one less gas engine for me to deal with, they run much quieter, and take up less space.

I contacted AR north america as I really like the looks of the AR blue clean AR630-TSS industrial washer. Electric, 1900psi, 2.1gpm, total stop system small form factor and seems to be a really solid piece for less than what Kranzle charges. Only problem is the (extremely rude) rep that emailed me back said that electric pressure washers can't be run on generators. No further explanation, no offer of a possible solution, but when pressed for further info, responded with nothing but a wikipedia link to some electrical theory dealing with generators (Gee, thanks.)

I've seen plenty of mobile guys running lots of tools off generators, standard ones nevermind inverter generators which provide much cleaner power. It is a pretty stout unit, listed at 19 amps draw. But a 120v outlet on a 3000w generator should in theory be able to support 25 amps.

So, what do you guys have as far as setups for mobile pressure washing? Obviously the easier thing to do would be just go to a gas unit, but I'm curious what others are doing.

[Tempest45]

Sun Joe makes a battery powered PW that will not run a foam Cannon but does a very good job at bugs and rinsing. I use mine with distilled water.

[JCDetails]

Sun Joe makes a battery powered PW that will not run a foam Cannon but does a very good job at bugs and rinsing. I use mine with distilled water.

that sounds cool, but sort of in the opposite direction I'm going. I'd like to stay electric but would like more pressure and GPM to be able to foam a little better than what I've got now.

[Firehouse Mike]

I've been running this ( https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-1-700-PSI-1-2-GPM-Electric-Pressure-Washer-RY14122/203800590 ) unit for the last two year off my Honda EU2000i with no issues at all. Great pressure, sips water (4 cars off 35 gallon tank) and has been super reliable. I did add a 50' 1/4" hose, the OEM one is junk. It does a great job with foam guns too!

Mike

[Mantilgh]

Not much help here with PW question, but I have used that HF generator numerous times and if it were mine I would have thrown it out of my vehicle at highway speeds if it was physically possible. There’s nothing worse than trying to use something important when you need it and it won’t work.

After if left me down a few times I went and bought the small Honda one posted above and have been very happy. Only issue I’ve had was mud daubers build nests in the muffler which choked it out.

[B5visser]

Sorry about the rude rep- thats never fun or acceptable.

FWIW I purchased the AR630 TSS HOT recently and its awesome. I too was between that AR unit and the kranzle 6200 (?) as I wanted something on the prosumer level that I would have for a very long time. I have it in a shop setting but it is portable enough to move around and do mobile work if need be. I can't comment much on it being compatible with a generator or not, but honestly wouldn't see the problem.

[JCDetails]

Not much help here with PW question, but I have used that HF generator numerous times and if it were mine I would have thrown it out of my vehicle at highway speeds if it was physically possible. There’s nothing worse than trying to use something important when you need it and it won’t work.

After if left me down a few times I went and bought the small Honda one posted above and have been very happy. Only issue I’ve had was mud daubers build nests in the muffler which choked it out.

I know the old ‘Buy once cry once’ adage, but 650 vs 2500 is a big jump, especially just starting out and doing part time/weekends only.


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[SWETM]

How is the specs from the HF generator? Watts and ampare?

If the pressure wash is a little under those specs and you only use the PW on it at the same time. You would be fine.

[JCDetails]

How is the specs from the HF generator? Watts and ampare?

If the pressure wash is a little under those specs and you only use the PW on it at the same time. You would be fine.

3500w starting, 3000w running on either of two 3 prong 120v outlets or a twist lock 3 prong 120.

By my math, it should supply up to 25a running and 29a starting limited by the breaker on each circuit. The standard 3 prong outlets only have 20a breakers so with the pw rated at 19a, it may pull enough on startup that it’d pop the breaker. However, I could use a pigtail and go from the 3 prong household plug on the pw to the 30a twist lock outlet and that should have no problem.

Definitely a chance that the thing is a pile but I see a lot of people using predator stuff and it runs well for quite a while. Hard to beat the hf warranty even though it’d be a pain to swap it out. Main problem is most peoples household outlets are set up for 15a circuits, and at 19a the ar630 would pop the breaker every time. That makes using house power at least for the pw a no go.


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[SWETM]

It's going to be a close call to it work. But if you now one of them useing it you maybe can get the specs from them of the electric tools they are useing. And that you get that electric power from one of the outlets alone. Is it a big difference to the PW under the one you thinking of? Maybe they have a electric tool with the specs like the PW you thinking of getting? So you can see if it would work with that generator.

[JCDetails]

I mean the other option is get a lower end gas pw for half the cost, and run everything else off the customers house power. This makes things a little simpler but much more noisy, though I don’t have the same kind of noise issues that the rest of the country deals with. Whichever way I go I need a little more pressure and more gpm to get more effective foam. 1600psi and 1.2gpm aren’t going to cut it with my current mtm cannon.


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[Mantilgh]

I know the old ‘Buy once cry once’ adage, but 650 vs 2500 is a big jump, especially just starting out and doing part time/weekends only.


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No, the Honda EU2000i is priced just over $1000 depending where you get it.

It has a 20A outlet. I use it with my large shop vac but have never tried it with a pressure washer.

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[SWETM]

I mean the other option is get a lower end gas pw for half the cost, and run everything else off the customers house power. This makes things a little simpler but much more noisy, though I don’t have the same kind of noise issues that the rest of the country deals with. Whichever way I go I need a little more pressure and more gpm to get more effective foam. 1600psi and 1.2gpm aren’t going to cut it with my current mtm cannon.


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I had a PW with those specs and a cheap chinese foamcannon. Was just to change the orifice to 1.1mm and the foam got good. Sometimes I would be haveing a high dilution to get that really shaving cream foam. But did not want that cause a thicker foam and a little to much of it on the car would run of faster than a little more runny foam. It's a sweet spot thing to get it efficient to cling as long as possible before clean rinse. So as to foaming with foamcannon the difference for me with my new kärcher k7 premium plus flex pressure wash with specs 2600psi 2.6gpm 230v 3000w. Is I use alot less prewash foam concentrate than with the old setup. The big difference is the time it takes to clean rinse and the more cleaner it gets. So if it's only the foaming difference you are after it's a high cost to get that. But I think you are after a better cleaning ability from it also and that excells with a higher gpm from the PW. To be honest I think this is importened when working on cars which drives in the road salt and to cars which the maintance washes is longer between than a autogeek standard. So much depends on what kind of cars you are going to wash. And if you use the water pressure from the PW to clean with.

Is that generator from HF fuel motor? Since you say the noise level of the gas PW is higher. If noise levels is a problem you can get the muffler diy to be very low noise and still effective if useing the right flow in the muffler. You would be able to weld or know someone to get you a new manifold so you can attach a more noise reduced muffler.

I would go with to a start with a gas PW and use the customers outlets to begin with. When it's possible get a gas power generator to ad to the setup. You rearly use the gas PW and the gas generator at the same time. The big problem with a electric PW and other tools is you are useing 120v. Where I live se have 230v and that's a bit difference to electric power tools. If I would have a proffessional mobile detailer business I would consider to import a 230v electric generator and use 230v electric power tools just for the mobile setup. Sure it would be less versitale but in effectiveness you would be better.

A little thoughts about it from IMO. Hope you get the perfect setup for you.

[215Detailing]

I put my HONDA EU2000i INVERTER GENERATOR with RYOBI PRESSURE WASHER 1600 electric unit on a cart with a water tank................
no issue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXVLdHN3cSw
and my KARCHER electric pressure washer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR9tlFIkDKk

[SWETM]

I put my HONDA EU2000i INVERTER GENERATOR with RYOBI PRESSURE WASHER 1600 electric unit on a cart with a water tank................
no issue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXVLdHN3cSw
and my KARCHER electric pressure washer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR9tlFIkDKk

What kind of kärcher PW is it? K3 or k4?

He's thinking of a PW with up to 2600psi and those needs 3000w outlets and up to 20amp.

Nice setup for those PW and generator and water tank!