Water Tank and Electric Pressure Washer

[KJW Detailing]

Good Evening AG's,

I'm working on putting together my mobile detailing setup. I want to run and electrical pressure washer attached to a water tank. I assume that a water pump would have to be setup, as an electrical pressure washer isn't able to pull the water.

First, does anyone have a setup like this with photos and a description of their setup?

Second, by chance no one is running this type of setup, does anyone have the know how towards properly setting up a system such as what I'm describing?

Thanks,
Kieran Walsh

[1oldsalt]

Hey Kieran,
I spent the better part of my life in the concrete business. Our mixer trucks all had 50 gallon water tanks and used air pressure to move the water. I'm not sure a setup like that is feasible for your purposes as you will probably be using a plastic water tank.

I think that the main obstacle to overcome when supplying water to your pressure washer is volume of water over pressure of water. If you have for example a 1.5 GPM pressure washer, a 2 GPM water pump should suffice.( someone please chime in here if I am wrong )
Given that, I would look at getting a good marine water system or bilge pump. They are all 12 volt and a bilge pump is designed to move high volumes of water in a short period of time.

Plumb in a pressure switch so your pump only turns on when you are using water.

You can rig your water pump battery to charge up while your car/truck is running.

Have a look at www.defender.com and do a search for "water pump".

You can also pick up some pretty good pumps cheap at marine salvage companies.

[dsigmon]

all excellent ideas

Bilge pumps will work great, so will small inexpensive shurflo pumps like this: ShurFlo 12V 2.8 GPM Clear Water Diaphragm Pump 2088-403-144 for RV Camper Marine | eBay

They also come in 120V if you prefer. Diaphram pumps like this Shurflo can run dry with no harm. Like stated above just be sure the pump GPM is as high or higher than presss washer gpm.