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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
These look really good. Honda GX engines, good quality triplex pumps with ceramic plungers, adjustable pressure, commercial quality hoses, optional CAT pumps, great warranties. I'm buying one this weekend.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Those costco machines are probably Karchers. My neighbor bought one of those and I borrowed it a couple of weeks ago. Although it was a decent machine there were a few things I didn't care for. For one, the hose was kind of a hard inflexible plastic like material that didn't like to roll up. Also, the quick disconnects were not very good - one of them got stuck on me. The engine is a Honda GC which is a residential grade engine, not the better GX engine. I prefer a pressure washer that has an adjustable pressure feature - the Karcher was around 2500 psi which wasn't enough for our concrete driveway pad and too much for our wood deck. The pump also isn't built as well as the better triplex pumps with ceramic plungers. All of those issues aside I have to say the Karcher did operate just fine and is a good value.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
I haven't ordered yet. Last week I called to ask a couple of questions and was going to place an order but the lady said they would be having a Fathers day sale this weekend and I could save some money by waiting. The prices are the same now as last week so I'm not sure what's up with that. I seem to remember her saying that the 2703 and 3003 were both $65 for shipping but I may be wrong. Old age and memory, etc. I was looking at the 3003 with the CAT pump upgrade but I may opt for the 2703. Both these units look to be comparable to the commercial grade Northern units for a couple hundred less. By the way, since they shipped disassembled I asked how much assembly there was and she said all you have to do is put on the wheels and the upper handle.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
I have benefited from so much good information here that I'm happy to be able to contribute for a change.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Sounds great! I'll probably order the same package sometime today. I want to get a turbo nozzle for it but I think theirs are priced too high at $140 so I'll bide my time until I find a good deal on one elsewhere.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Hey Chief, does that $879.94 price include shipping? If so maybe that's the Fathers Day sale they were talking about.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Hey, I'm up for it! Put me down for a 3003 with the B upgrade package!
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Everyone else is probably out using their tractors on this fine Saturday afternoon. I know that's what I'd be doing if my shiny new 4310 had been delivered yet. They say next week (I hope I hope). I was going to order a pressure washer today but I'll wait a few days to see if more people are interested in trying for a group purchase.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
If I had an unlimited budget I'd buy a pressure washer with belt driven or gear driven pump. Models with those features always cost another $500 or more. I figure a direct drive unit with high quality components that is guaranteed for 5 years should earn it's keep. I have heard that they sell rebuild kits for high quality pumps. Since that's the major wear item I figure a direct drive unit will be fine, and when the pump goes it could be rebuilt inexpensively. Even if you had to buy a brand new pump out of warranty it will still be cheaper than the extra premium for a belt or gear drive washer.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Before you get a 4 gpm unit you may want to make sure you have 4 gpm available at the hose bibs you want to use with the pressure washer. Take a 5 gallon bucket and run water from your hose bib for a minute to measure the flow. I wanted a 4 gpm unit but our hose bibs barely eke out 4 gpm and I wanted a safety margin for when pressure drops due to showers, washing machine, etc.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
If I had to guess I would say that the majority of plumbing systems could deliver 4 gpm. Our house can do 4 gpm but I think the restriction is in the hose bibs. Code here requires funky freeze proof bibs with vacuum breakers which seem to restrict flow. We get more than 5 gpm out of our tub faucets. Old plumbing systems often have restrictions that would prevent delivery of 4 gpm, and well flows can slow down in dry season too. Here they allow new wells to go in that deliver as little as 3 gpm.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
The response to a group purchase of pressure washers seems a bit underwhelming. Whaddya think Chief, should we just order on our own?
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
It looks like we posted at the same time. I'll wait a bit longer to see if we can raise more interest.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
If I ordered right now I'd get the PJ-3003 with the B upgrade package.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Chief, I couldn't justify going more than $1k for a pressure washer. Since the response for a group purchase is so slow I'll probably go ahead and place an order from projet tomorrow for the 3003. They're about 3 hours from me so I *could* drive up to get it, but for $65 shipping it's a lot cheaper to just have 'em ship it. The group purchase was a great idea, and it was good of you to try to organize it, but it looks like most folks here already have one or don't have a need.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Chief, I just ordered the PJ-3003 with the B upgrade package (3200 psi 3 gpm). They said the Fathers Day pricing was never posted online due to system problems they were having, but Don there knocked another $30 off the price. So I paid $915 for it shipped. I'll post a review here after I fire it up and give it a try.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Here's a link to the same unit for $749, no sales tax, and free shipping. I thought about that unit, too, but decided against it because the Coleman PowerMate's really don't have a very good reputation. It has a lot of power at a very good price though. Be careful - there are a bunch of refurbished units on the market and they're not always labeled as such so be sure to ask them about that and make sure it has the warranty. If you go this route be sure to report back on how you like it. I may kick myself for not making the same choice as you.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Yep, I'd bet you could find a CAT pump that would fit the Robin engine. I'm not sure of the reliability of Robin engines, but they look pretty decent on paper. I've never had one so don't know for sure. Generally I try to buy the best I can get, but that attitude puts extra strain on the bank account 
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Chief, I'm glad to help. Hopefully it will do everything you need it to do. Let me know how it works out!
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Wow, I didn't know that unit had an AR pump. I've never seen that mentioned on any of the ads. You sure got that unit fast - my ProJet hasn't arrived yet. Does it have adjustable pressure? I hope it treats you well for a long, long time.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Chief, I'm still waiting for mine to arrive I'm still amazed that they shipped yours for free using Fedex freight. Wow!
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Chief, my ProJet washer arrived today. Here's a review.
It arrived in two boxes via Fedex ground. The biggest box contained the CAT pump attached to the Honda GX-270 engine and mounted to the frame base with wheels already attached. The smaller box had the handle, oil, hose, wand, and hardware kit that had the six nozzles and attachment hardware required for assembly. It was all well packed.
I looked for manuals and didn't find any - a call to ProJet confirmed I should have received an envelope with manuals and startup information and they said they'd ship them to me.
How hard could it be to assemble and startup? Bolting the handle to the bottom frame with the four supplied bolts, nuts, and washers was very straightforward. I then had to attach the quick disconnects to the pump and the hose. The pump end was already wrapped with teflon tape but I needed more teflon tape to attach the disconnects to the hose. Since I couldn't find the tape I have (it's here *somewhere*) it was off to the hardware store to buy some. Once all the disconnects were attached everything snapped together.
I had no instructions on the pump, but it has a sight glass on the end and the oil level was up to the line so once I removed the pump vent tab labeled "remove tab for operation" I figured it was all set to go.
The Honda engine was shipped dry so I needed to fill it with oil. It had two oil fill caps which was sort of confusing. I went online and downloaded the engine manual from Honda's web site. One of the filler caps was for the engine and the other was for the transmission. Transmission? Not sure what that's about. I added a quart to the engine filler and then cracked open the transmission fill cap and some oil seeped out. Since it seemed to have oil already I proceeded. Set the choke, open the fuel shutoff valve, set the throttle to 1/3, one pull on the starter and it started right up. I was impressed!
I only ran it for a couple of seconds since it wasn't hooked to water yet. My first job was to wash the deck. I moved it around to the deck, hooked up the water, and started it right up. Man, I love this thing - it did a beautiful job, and is much quieter than the Karcher I used before.
The hardware is top-notch, chromed steel wand, big beefy connectors that connect with a "snick" sound that just exudes quality, beautiful machine work on the pump (and it's a pretty anodized blue color!), sturdy frame, smooth pneumatic wheels with zerk fittings, a nice flexible 50 foot hose with built-in stress reliefs on each end, and a trigger assembly that is a work of art and incredibly easy to control.
Complaints are few. It came with a hose that was stamped 3000 psi, but the washer is a 3200 psi unit. I called ProJet and they said the hose had a burst rating of 12,000 psi and would work fine with the unit. That didn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling, but it is covered by the warranty so I let it go - for now. I will contact the hose manufacturer and verify this information. The unit has a larger footprint than should be necessary so it's a little cumbersome to move around (especially up the stairs to our deck). The cart has no built-in storage for the wand so it just lays across the cart anywhere it fits. Lastly, they really should have shipped the manual set with the unit. I get the impression that ProJet is overwhelmed by their web sales and is really trying to staff up and service customers at the same time.
All in all, I really like this unit. The five year pump warranty and two years on everything else gives me a lot of confidence that this unit will do everything I need it to do for a long, long time.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
I'm really glad it's working out for you Chief! It did seem like a good deal.
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Best Pressure Washer for Father s Day
Glad your PW is working well, Chief. I notice that Stateline Power still is out of the PW deals you got. Looks like you ordered just in time.
I probably have 10-12 hours on mine so far. The pump on mine has a six year warranty and it never mentions changing the pump oil, but I'm sure that's a good idea. It's a CAT pump so I'll use CAT oil in it. I'll probably change the engine oil after about 25 hours or so.
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06-13-2003, 19:37 
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