Pressure washers and soap

[Calendyr]

So I purchased this new pressure washer this week, it was 150$ off from it's original 250$ price so I could not resist ;)

It's a 1700 PSI unit that comes with 23 feet of power cord and 23 feet of pressure hose.

There is no foam bottle on the unit, instead it uses a reservoir where you can add soap.

Now here is my question. In the manual it says to ONLY use pressure washer compatible soaps. I am wondering if this is a scare tactic to make me buy their product or if in fact i can damage the unit by using regular car soap in it.

I understand acidic or base products might cause an issue, but I am really unsure about car soaps.

Do any of you have experience with this?

[CDot]

Not the owner of a pressure washer, but "pressure washer compatible soaps" is a pretty ambiguous statement. In fact, it doesn't mean much to me at all.

I'm sure it's marketing language made to persuade you to use formal "pressure washer solution"--they do a lot of psych studies to determine how people react to/think about things. As to the acidic/basic pH scales...most car shampoos are pH neutral anyway.

[ShaunD]

You don't want to use a high foaming soap in a siphon tank that runs through the PW pump. This could probably damage the pump similarly to having air in pump, IMO.

[Calendyr]

Not the owner of a pressure washer, but "pressure washer compatible soaps" is a pretty ambiguous statement. In fact, it doesn't mean much to me at all.

I'm sure it's marketing language made to persuade you to use formal "pressure washer solution"--they do a lot of psych studies to determine how people react to/think about things. As to the acidic/basic pH scales...most car shampoos are pH neutral anyway.

If you go to any big store (Wal-Mart, home depot and so on) you can find soaps that are made specifically for power washers. So the question isn't if they exist, rather if I can use something else.

[Calendyr]

You don't want to use a high foaming soap in a siphon tank that runs through the PW pump. This could probably damage the pump similarly to having air in pump, IMO.

The role of a power washer is to add air to the water though. But you might be on to something.