PLUMBING A PRESSURE WASHER

I'm launching a new series of videos on to help guys building their own rigs.  So this Plumbing a Pressure Washer video post is the first of the series.  We always begin with the water inlet to the pressure washer.  That's usually the first thing we plumb.  The water inlet is how you're feeding the pressure washer with water.  There are two ways to do this.  You can either plumb it direct aka force feeding, or gravity feed using a water tank.  Direct feed or force feeding means using a water hose connected directly to the water supply on a house or building.  There is something very important to remember when using a water supply from the property.  Make sure your gallons per minute water supply flow is producing more gallons per minute than your machine.  At the 2:00 time stamp, I show how you can calculate this by performing a bucket test.  Don't overlook this important step in the plumbing a pressure washer process.

GRAVITY FEEDING

Plumbing a Pressure Washer can also be done by gravity feeding with a water tank aka buffer tank.  I recommend any belt drive or gear drive machine that is 5 gallons per minute or higher utilize a water tank for gravity feeding.  This way you can have the unloader bypass water back to the tank.  This allows you to be off the trigger for longer time increments than when force feeding from a water supply.  This prevents the water from heating up inside the pump.  When force feeing, make sure you're not off the trigger for more than one minute.  I do mention the high temp valve at 4:45 into the plumbing a pressure washer video.  Be sure and watch the entire video for other specific pluming connection details.  And another great video you might want to watch is this video on hose reel fittings.