budget electric pressure washer

[bowlofturtle]

Looking for a budget pressure washer to mainly to use on cars. Figure it would speed up the process and save time from going to the actual wash.

Also light cement cleaning, if it doesn't clean the stains off completely its not the end of the world.

I want to stay as cheap as possible/ bang for the buck. Are all low end electric ones the same? Youtube seems to show the smaller ryobi and the HF both to be decent at $100-125ish.

 

[ihateminimumwage]

The Ryobi 141600 was on sale for under $80 earlier this year (IIRC). Picked one up and absolutely love it. It's no gas powered Hotsy, but with some Purple Power has cleaned all our vehicles to spotless of road grime and years of small leaks. Also cleaned cement patios, driveways and walkways with ease. I can't recommend it enough and use the hell out of it. If it broke tomorrow, I'd buy another at full price with no complaints.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-1-600-PSI-1-2-GPM-Electric-Pressure-Washer-RY141600/205566079

 

[nutsnbolts]

I went on Facebook and told everyone I was looking for a pressure washer, and half a dozen people offered up electric ones for free. In about 4 hours the electric one cleaned about 20sf of my patio. I gave it away and bought a gas one.

 

[streem26]

I have a big gas PW for big jobs and a Ryobi 14122 electric for washing the boat, truck, etc. I use the electric 90% of the time. Its awesome for cleaning up the boat. I run hot water through it with some car soap in the soap dispenser and it takes salt off everything without touching a brush and not strong enough to hurt anything. Awesome for the non-skid

 

[jdlong]

I have a Sunjoe SPX3000. It does a decent job of washing cars and the deck but it's slow at it. Anything that makes less than 2.5 or 3 gpm is going to be slow. It does fairly well stripping aged flaking paint. It is lightweight, compact and easy to store, Because I don't do a lot of pressure washing, I like the convenience. Because it draws 15 amps, it needs to be on a 12 gauge extension cord on a 20 amp breaker.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Sun-Joe-2000-PSI-1-76-GPM-Cold-Water-Electric-Pressure-Washer/1000118935

 

[Buck_nekid]

I've had good luck with this one, 4 different angled tips, soap tip.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00L...e824b2883986&pd_rd_w=wBDP8&pd_rd_i=B00LX8Z03K

 

[engineer2]

Since you are in the Chicago area, check out Menards, 11% rebate thru Saturday, and they have a few different ones to choose from.
They give the mfr model numbers so you can look up online reviews.
Avoid the super-cheap units.
Electric units are limited by what a 15 amp outlet can provide power-wise.
Get one with two wands; variable spray and turbo.
If you end up buying used, make sure it was never stored in freezing weather. Symptoms include leaks, continuously cycling pump, or low output pressure. Sellers may BS you into thinking "it only needs a minor repair."