Stupid Homeowner question #72
I’m currently renovating my home and having an addition built. My front yard had to be trenched for new waste and water lines. The excavators left some dirt on the sidewalks.
Right after the excavators finished the front yard we got a lot of snow. which covered up all the mud. Now the snow has melted and I need to clean the mud off the walks.
The local rental place rents pressure washer between 1000 and 5000 psi. What would be the best for cleaning the mud of the sidewalk. Worst spots have maybe 1″ mud cover.
Thanks!
Replies
It's not the pressure it's the GPM
I have seen electric pw's that produce 2000psi that can't clean the dust off my windshield. That's because they flow at about .25 gpm
A good honda BELT drive that produces 2500psi at 2.5 or greater gpm will do wonders.
If the mud is thick you need volume to get rid of it not psi
just as important as pressure is the amount of water it puts out. 5000psi with a 1/2 gal won't do much,make it 5 gal and you better hang on! i'd go with something in the 2500-3000 range and pumping around 4.5 gal a min and you will be blowing mud 20' away.sounds like its cold where your at,be sure to get all the water out of pump so it doesn't freeze.have fun and be prepared to get wet. larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
GPM and Psi together is a good thing. 2500 to 3500 is usually good at cleaning about anything in general. I have a 3500 belt drive(honda) and it works great. Also if you get a rotary tip it makes easy work of it.
I rented a Honda 3500 psi, 4 GPM unit.I got it home and hooked up. The outgoing house coupling did not fit and was leaking quite a bit. Not enough pressure to spray.I took it back to the rental place and they gave me a new different hose the fit.Got back home and hooked it up and the nozzle end leaked. I just took the unit back and told them to forget about it. Their failure to maintain their equipment cost me half a day.I ended up cleaning the mud of the sidewalk with a regular garden hose sprayer. Worked, but was sloooowwww.
That sucks.. Pressure washers are usually not such a hassle but I find that even mine give me trouble like that and its not been in rental service. Perhaps for me its just not used enough. Sometimes your way is the most predictable, though slow. Good luck with your next project!