What's the Best Pump for pressure Washing? & WHY

Ron Musgraves

Exterior Restoration Specialist
Staff member
I started this as a thread, it seems everyone has views on which is better.

I loved Cat, general was half the price and lasted almost as long. I switched to General in 2006 and have never looked back.

I have heard Cat is not building them as tough, its only a rumor. I have no personal experience with them since I switched.

I will not count the ones I have gotten used not a Fair assessment.
 
What's the Best Pump for pressure Washing? The one that's out making money. lol I have had great luck with general tsf pumps.
 
My experience with ar pumps wasn't good. I bought two of them and both stripped out the head bolts and blew the heads off on the first job, after about 4 hours.
I usually prefer the TS2021 pumps. I have had good luck with them,
 
TS2021 is the best! Generals can be serviced by anyone with minimal tools or any shop. Some Cats have about twice as many parts in the wet end of the pump than a General, and some require special tools. General Pump puts a lot of information on their web site, which helps. Generals are all I spec on my Presure Pros and Black Knights because they are reliable and easy to fix if something does go wrong.

I also had very good luck with AR's. Got 17 years out of one.

The best pump you have is the one you take care of - change the oil and seals once in a while. I see all kinds of pumps come through my shop that are 5 years old and never been serviced.
 
Generals are good and a long time industry standard. Easy to repair and reasonably priced. Udors are amoung the top if not the top pump heavy duty great quality best pump for the money in my opinion. Legacy has some new HD line pumps that are a step above the generals same pricing or less in most cases and use a new u packing design vs the v packing which allows for longer life and wear. Many of them are standard with the hot packing kits too. Cats are good and the probably teh best choice in certain applications but dollar for dollar not the pump of choice for me. So if I were to rank them I would go Udor, Legacy, General, Cat, AR, Comet, Giant, Hypro... may be missing some
 
TS2021 is the best! Generals can be serviced by anyone with minimal tools or any shop. Some Cats have about twice as many parts in the wet end of the pump than a General, and some require special tools. General Pump puts a lot of information on their web site, which helps. Generals are all I spec on my Presure Pros and Black Knights because they are reliable and easy to fix if something does go wrong.

I also had very good luck with AR's. Got 17 years out of one.

The best pump you have is the one you take care of - change the oil and seals once in a while. I see all kinds of pumps come through my shop that are 5 years old and never been serviced.

Thanks pete , your posts are valuable to this community. Years of experience and knowledge from running a business to product lines.

Keep posting pete always glad to see you around.


Ron Musgraves text me 480-5225227 ???Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Generals are good and a long time industry standard. Easy to repair and reasonably priced. Udors are amoung the top if not the top pump heavy duty great quality best pump for the money in my opinion. Legacy has some new HD line pumps that are a step above the generals same pricing or less in most cases and use a new u packing design vs the v packing which allows for longer life and wear. Many of them are standard with the hot packing kits too. Cats are good and the probably teh best choice in certain applications but dollar for dollar not the pump of choice for me. So if I were to rank them I would go Udor, Legacy, General, Cat, AR, Comet, Giant, Hypro... may be missing some

You where trying to get me to change, what pump was that you recommended?


Ron Musgraves text me 480-5225227 ???Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I prefer the TS2021 pumps myself for the simple fact even the local distributors have them on the shelves and the rebuild kits for them in case you get in a bind. Even if you are out of town you can get parts for them fairly easy.
 
Pump abuseability by design

examples and reasoning are more helpful than opinions..
Pitch in some real examples of PUMP failure if you can..
based on the "nothing else was wrong" senario,
or a small problem caused a "big repair bill"

(from 30 years experience in the service dept...)
example:
1.) pump was run 1/2" low on a General TS2021 cuz the site-glass was bashed-in-to,
and running at 3500psi it overheated the aluminum alloy rods and puked a rod.
2.) an AR pump was run 1" low on oil 'cus a piston seal started leaking.
that went un-noticed for 20 hours since the scheduled oil check. (has hour meter).
We inspected the rods and found NO signs of overheating, put the new piston esals in,
and it runs like a champ.
Looks to me like forged bronze rods can take MUCH more heat abuse than Aluminum alloy. Eh?

Most of AR, Comet, and Giant pumps have froged bronze rods.
Ibelive Udor does too, a few General have 'em,

Cat does not, ..not the ones I've seen
the General TS series does not,
and the General TSF series.. are so much more expensive for parts than AR and Comet,
I can't recommend 'em.

Another REAL important topic here is the pungers..
if they don't crack, you don't have to replace 'em..
TS2021's EAT plungers.. add that to almost EVERY repair bill.
I love 'em for repairability, and parts cost are still down there, kinda,
but those thin plungers are way too easy to break..I can't keep 'em in stock.

Comet and AR and Giant plungers are THICK and BEEFY by comparrison,
and I never sell 'em.. they just sit there dusty.

I sell for VALUE.. RELENTLESSLY..
I recommend, based on te above, AR and Comet, Giant, and the 3 plunger Udors.

add your examples for all to share :)
 
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Jerry, I always wondered why some General pumps (TS 2021, eg) on their Italian website are max psi rated at lower pressure ratings than what the US websites have as max for the same pump. I think they can handle the increase psi just not for an extended period, like other pumps that are built with "beef".

Jerry give me a call, need some Sirocco tech info.
 
You where trying to get me to change, what pump was that you recommended?


Ron Musgraves text me 480-5225227 ???Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That was the new legacy pump GT5635. It is part of their new HD line of pumps.
 
Jerry, I always wondered why some General pumps (TS 2021, eg) on their Italian website are max psi rated at lower pressure ratings than what the US websites have as max for the same pump. I think they can handle the increase psi just not for an extended period, like other pumps that are built with "beef".
When you are an OEM, and you want to buy a lot of pumps, you get to max-out the pump performance if you meet certain criteria..
I was told I could run the TS2021 pump by General at 3500psi max way back in 1990 or so.. because of the quality of controls and safeties we use on ouur systems.
Several manufactureers have told me we can run any pump at 10% over the rated psi or volume, IF all safeties are in proper place.

Does udor have a patent on u packings?
Several pumps have had u-cup style pump seals over the years..
AR does in some of the XW series,
Giant does in the R5000 series I think, and others.
 
I look at Jerry's recommendations, and look at my experiences, and just scratch my head. I have no doubt that Jerry knows what he is talking about, but I have a bunch of RK series AR pumps, and they have been nothing short of a nightmare. Leaking oil seals, even though the oil is checked and topped every day. Water seals that if there is even a little flow problem fail in a heart beat. I think that I have spent nothing short of $3000 on water seals for RK pumps this year. I don't think that I have spent ANY money on plungers for the General pumps I have. I have started replacing the RK pumps with Legacy pumps, the GT 5635, and they appear to be a very good pump, and even mounted on the same machine, with the same configuration, they appear to have a much longer life.
I just think it odd, looking at it from a manufacturers perspective, vs that of a contractor with multiple machines.
 
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