Looking For New Driveway PW Setup

rykertest

New member
Hey folks, new guy here. Long story short, I've been doing driveways and porches almost exclusively and came into it by accident. I was cleaning my elderly parents driveway, which led to another elderly neighbors driveway and I was just trying to be a good son. Well, fast forward a year and it's become a great P/T job all thru word of mouth. I try to provide a fair price (not lowball) and do good work and it seems to be working. I have a nice little honda 3000 PSI pressure washer with a CAT pump (3DX29GSI) and it's running good but I'm looking to upgrade a little. I am not wanting to get into any trailered systems, just a beefier version of what I have now and add a surface cleaner to streamline the process.

I've been lurking on here for a good while reading a lot of stuff and the temptation is there to go bigger but just so we are clear, I really only do flat work. It's almost all driveways and walkways/porches so I don't think I need a 4000 PSI PW.

I see a lot of guys are general pump fans but I'm not familiar with them, Cat I am. Honda is a must. With all that I've shared above, what units would you point me towards?

This site is a goldmine of info, thanks in advance for any information you are able to provide.
 
GPM is more important than PSI. Get 8 gpm if you can afford it.
 
Hey folks, new guy here. Long story short, I've been doing driveways and porches almost exclusively and came into it by accident. I was cleaning my elderly parents driveway, which led to another elderly neighbors driveway and I was just trying to be a good son. Well, fast forward a year and it's become a great P/T job all thru word of mouth. I try to provide a fair price (not lowball) and do good work and it seems to be working. I have a nice little honda 3000 PSI pressure washer with a CAT pump (3DX29GSI) and it's running good but I'm looking to upgrade a little. I am not wanting to get into any trailered systems, just a beefier version of what I have now and add a surface cleaner to streamline the process.

I've been lurking on here for a good while reading a lot of stuff and the temptation is there to go bigger but just so we are clear, I really only do flat work. It's almost all driveways and walkways/porches so I don't think I need a 4000 PSI PW.

I see a lot of guys are general pump fans but I'm not familiar with them, Cat I am. Honda is a must. With all that I've shared above, what units would you point me towards?

This site is a goldmine of info, thanks in advance for any information you are able to provide.
Higher gpm. Rinsing is king when doing flatwork. You can always compensate lack of pressure, with a stronger cleaning mix.
 
We use 5.5 gpm units that mak at 5000psi. Usually run at 4500 at the path cleaners. Just have to make sure the concrete is hard or have to turn the pressure down which takes so much longer and doesn't remove things as well.
We've found it so much better than the 4gpm, 4000psi machines.cleaned and dirty.jpg If you are cold water you need the extra psi when dealing with serious marks.
 
For flatwork you need 8 GPM with hot water and always use soap. Personally I use 10 GPM and hot water and a good soap. Add the Big Guy in the mix and you can knock out some Sq.ft. fast. I run a HydroTek unit.
 
CAT makes a very good pump, shouldn't be afraid of it if you are getting adequate water flow to it. If you are staying in residential a basic cold water unit is fine. Driveways you don't need reclaim you could split it and do it side by side to the landscape and typically capture most of the water or a sand dam works good too. Better yet when you start at the top at the oil where you put soap down just make sure you get that diverted. Gallons per minute is what's going to get your job done faster. 4000 PSI in the wrong hands is dangerous your 3000 PSI should work fine. If you use it a lot go with a belt drive, over a direct drive.
 
What is your budget? For about $2000 you could get a 5.5@2500 and a whisper wash classic, that would be a decent starter machine.
For around 3k you could get a 5.5@3500 and a whisper wash classic.
8 gpm would be great but you would want a buffer tank.

If you are trying to go low budget find a gx390 or a predator 420cc and put a ez4040 pump on it and get a 16 inch surface cleaner.
Also when you get a surface cleaner order extra nozzles and make sure it comes with the correct size nozzles or you will be back on this site asking why it's leaving stripes.
cache_2911863604.jpg

Here is a nozzle chart, find the psi you want to run on the top row then go down to the closest gpm and then go all the way to the
Left to find the correct nozzle size and divide by 2 for the 2 nozzles on the surface cleaner.
Whisper wash does make some 4 nozzle bars but I wouldn't recommend a 4 nozzle bar with 5.5 gpm or less because you will constantly clog the nozzles.
Good luck and let us know what you decide to go with.
 
Just to clarify about nozzles, if you go with the 5.5@2500 machine you would go to 2500 on the top then down to 5.6 (close enough to 5.5) and that would be a #7 nozzle, divide by 2 and you get 3.5 so that would mean that you need 25035 nozzles.
With pressure washing nozzles the first 2 numbers are the degree and the last part is the orifice size.
 
Back
Top