pto power washers

GERMAN ROCKS

are they worth it over a petrol driven one. basically we are buying a new power washer. €800 for a new hawk pto washer. 3000psi. not sure how much the petrol equivilant would be. but are the petrol ones more manouvable. like you have to have a tractor on the thing the whole time and the bother of putting it on and taking it off. would love a hot washer but its hard to justify almost €3000 for a thing that only washes machinery

what power washers do ye have and how would ye rate them.

Sisu200

I have a Hawk Powerwasher and a Lavor Steam washer, I rather using the Hawk as it is god for slatted sheds and so on, the steam cleaner is great for cleaning machinery and getting rid of oil of engines and so on, I recently fitted the Hawk with a Turbo Nozzle saves water and trebles the cleaning power, this is a great job and the tractor has a 1000 rpm PTO which saves having to rev the nuts out of the tractor

irishh_bob

GERMAN ROCKS wrote: »

are they worth it over a petrol driven one. basically we are buying a new power washer. €800 for a new hawk pto washer. 3000psi. not sure how much the petrol equivilant would be. but are the petrol ones more manouvable. like you have to have a tractor on the thing the whole time and the bother of putting it on and taking it off. would love a hot washer but its hard to justify almost €3000 for a thing that only washes machinery

what power washers do ye have and how would ye rate them.

pto driven pressure washers are impractical ( try rigging anything but a medium sized tractor up to them ) and laborious if you ask me , i wouldnt touch one when you can buy a 3000 psi honda engine one for around 1600 euro

MrFoxman360

I bought this Frank steam washer last summer for €250 of donedeal. Had to get a pump rebuild kit for it and a few other things. Took a bit of adjustment to get it right but now it works perfect and all for less than €500, (check out the price of a new one :eek: )




Steam washers are far superior to a cold wash for the likes of machines and stuff, not really designed for concrete cleaning etc.. Frank is one of the most highly regarded steam washers, and they last for ever as they are designed to be able to be fixed if they breakdown, and parts are available.

You could pick up a secondhand steam washer for a reasonable price,

GERMAN ROCKS

irishh_bob wrote: »

pto driven pressure washers are impractical ( try rigging anything but a medium sized tractor up to them ) and laborious if you ask me , i wouldnt touch one when you can buy a 3000 psi honda engine one for around 1600 euro

well the tractor isnt a problem beacuse we would just have it ticking over at the 1000rpm

roosterman71

GERMAN ROCKS wrote: »

well the tractor isnt a problem beacuse we would just have it ticking over at the 1000rpm

Engines don't like been left ticking over for long periods. Keep that in mind

GERMAN ROCKS

ah well not completly ticking over maby at 1000 revs. anyway for the amount the power washer is on the tractor is not worth talking about

kincaid

most of these pto washers are more suitable for obvious reasons to the smaller tractor etc but then these small tractors have only the pto speed of 540rpm so definately would have to have this wee tractor rev out to get the power and wouldnt be good for the tractor...
i had to myself change my hawk direct drive to one with the gearbox to suit tractor which was much more pricey at the time...

Richmountman

I have a pto washer, a hawk pump, 3000 psi. When buying it I specified that it would have a step up gear box fitted so that i can put it on small tractor and not have to have the engine screaming.
Turbo head , a great job! Asfor being akward to put on and off the tractor I solved that one. Make up a small trailer, remove the pump from the frame and mount it on the front of the trailer and get an ibc and plumb it up to the pump and you have a 1000 litres reservoir that can be filled with roof water. This unit can be picked up using a pickup hitch and all you do is put on the shaft.

Stinicker

Richmountman wrote: »

I have a pto washer, a hawk pump, 3000 psi. When buying it I specified that it would have a step up gear box fitted so that i can put it on small tractor and not have to have the engine screaming.
Turbo head , a great job! Asfor being akward to put on and off the tractor I solved that one. Make up a small trailer, remove the pump from the frame and mount it on the front of the trailer and get an ibc and plumb it up to the pump and you have a 1000 litres reservoir that can be filled with roof water. This unit can be picked up using a pickup hitch and all you do is put on the shaft.

I would love to see a picture of that setup?

19driver83

Sisu200 wrote: »

I have a Hawk Powerwasher and a Lavor Steam washer, I rather using the Hawk as it is god for slatted sheds and so on, the steam cleaner is great for cleaning machinery and getting rid of oil of engines and so on, I recently fitted the Hawk with a Turbo Nozzle saves water and trebles the cleaning power, this is a great job and the tractor has a 1000 rpm PTO which saves having to rev the nuts out of the tractor

Thinking of buying the hawk powerwasher aswel. Dont know whether to get one with a gear box or not...any advice. Its a significant extra.

I would be using it on a Ford 5000 or a TS115.

Also, where did you get the turbo nozzle and what is the spec.?

Muckit

I've a hot washer. They can be ran hot of cold. The pump is ran on electricity and the burner (to heat the water) on diesel. Like the other lads said they won't be beaten for cleaning machinery. It also has a separate suction hose to add detergent. Did you ever try grubbing grease off your hands with cold water and no washing up liquid?

Mine will put out 1750psi, so they're well shy of the force you'd have with a 3000psi cold washer. If cleaning slatted sheds is going to be it's main duty, then the pto or diesel cold washer would be much better suited machines for the purpose.

More force isn't always the answer though for all cleaning jobs, as it can do damage to paint, plaster etc. Hot water will shift more dirt with much less force required.

Also re sucking from a barrel. It's old hat and inefficent. Why? Because your asking the pump to do two jobs, suck and pump. I use a small tank. I hook up the garden hose to tap and it fills in near the top and cuts out with a ballcock. It has the draw at the bottom. The head pressure of the water in the tank will force the water into the washer If you've 2bar of constant pressure at the tap, you mightn't even need a tank.