So here's my Friday the 13th afternoon story:

In one of my annual idiot moves I buy a pressure washer on promo at Home Depot last May long weekend, very low price like $55 or something.

Note to self: The big sign over the pallet: "This product cannot be returned to HD for warranty issues" means this is a "special purchase" put on to get saps like you in the door on a long weekend.

So I buy it, then throw it still in the box in my shed until last October. Don't even ask, okay? I do dumb scat like that every year.

Of course when I do finally take it out, I don't read the instructions. Like where it says "DO NOT TURN ON POWER SWITCH UNTIL SOURCE WATER HOSE IS CONNECTED AND TAP IS TURNED ON." (Yes it WAS in BIG-ESSED CAPS, by the way.)

I plug it in, turn on the power and the unit makes the normal powerwasher noises as I walk over to turn on the tap. Just as I turn the tap it dies.

And that's it. Pressure washer roadkill.

I try doing some research and I note that it's the same size, unique blue colour and shape as PWs branded "Michelin" sold by a major chain up here. When I read the customer reviews/ratings on those, guess what? Repeated references to the units dying within minutes or even seconds of being powered up (and blowback from the stores when taken back for exchange).

Anyway, the kicker is that it turns out the warranty was basically 90 days, you send it back to the distributor (250 miles distant) and they send you a new one. What a joke, can you imagine how much the postage would be to ship back a PW unit???? So I'm completely SOL on that.

So before I put this at the curb, does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Much appreciated.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Take it back to the Home Desperate. Plug it in, dry, in the flammable solvents and paint section. Hope it takes the store with it when it completely burns out

Seriously: take it apart -- I'm guessing that pumps aren't that hard to understand once you have it in pieces.

dont buy a $55 pressure washer again.

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Eugene

10 E63 AMG
93 300te 4matic
07 BMW X3
14 Ford F-150 Fx2

I figured I should follow up on this sad little story, as it might help someone else out there, someday....

I did eventually pull the unit apart and turned my immense mechanical/electrical knowledge (COUGH, CHOKE) to the guts of it. I eventually worked out that there is an electrical switch that is actuated by what I will call a thin plastic sensor prod that passes into the flow tube inside the unit, where the hose hooks up.

If you attempt to run the unit without water flow, which I did, this prod pushes up and flips the switch as a safety cutoff for the pump. On mine, it stuck in that position, preventing the pump from running.

I simply pushed it back in place and the unit now functions fine.

Something to remember if your teenager, SO, etc., reports that your pressure washer has suddenly crapped out "for no reason".

Cheers to all

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Oh well then. I was going to post a diatribe against Deep Homo.

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You fry the pump and its usually a big time outlay of cash. Most I saw just replaced the entire a$$y.

Don't buy anything from HD that you expect to be durable.

The products have turned into absolute junk, from the fasteners, to the power tools.

Agreed...

I remember snapping a massive lag bolt while driving it in to wood. I swear it was made of pot metal.

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Eugene

10 E63 AMG
93 300te 4matic
07 BMW X3
14 Ford F-150 Fx2

Just bought a 2nd EPS for our Xmtr. site near Colfax, sooooo....I didn't have to lug the 1st/previously-only-one all over the western side of Wisconsin. Paid about $135 for it. Reason?

Read above for #1.

#2?: The 1st unit (which is, actually the station's 3rd EPS ) is about 4 yo.

#3. These units last about 7-8 years if all goes well...water at the pump, pressure always present, etc...

#4. Life-expectancy with these units is debatable at best...warranty coverage depends more on your fortitude/princple-of-the-thing than the manufacturers' longevity.

#5. It's plastic, copper and some sort of low-grade Chinese-cast slag wipe-off material. My heart and mind can use a rest more than I need to argue about something that gave me about 10-15 good/OK uses.

#6. Check out a few local Rent-It places in order to appreciate the fact that YOU AREN'T SPENDING a few hours chasing to-from, then to, to return a power-washer for 4 or 5 hours, let alone a 24-hour rental.

Need I say more? (BT,DT. NM!)

Cut your loses a save your sanity. Buy another unit, save whatever is useable from the other unit, put the rest on the curb overnight (the "I can fix that!" knomes will clear it out for you...) and relax.

China isn't taking you without a real fight! Don't take a dive over $55.00.

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M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
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“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

If I recall correctly, Consumer Reports tested pressure washers a while ago and basically recommended people shop around for a decent gas unit.

In my case, I had just splashed out a load of cash for a new aluminum cc servo for the TD so $55 for a pressure washer sent me into Pavlov's-dog mode.

Also, as the local coin wash had just increased its prices for the third time in less than two years -- it's hard to wash a car properly for under $10 now -- I figured that even if the unit was short-lived the cost-benefit calc was in my favour.

That being said, I am usually the first one with the rant against disposable Chinese crap appliances. So when the thing died on me I sort of saw it as Karma biting me....

Interesting the comments on Home Depot. Things must be more sad in the big-box home store market here in Canada than I imagined. Home D is actually considered a premium store here. Lowes isn't big yet in Canada, they came into our market very late in the game.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

I bought an elec PW at Home Despot a couple years back. Some Italian company. Is occasionally temperamental and then seem to heal itself. I don't get it. But yeah, always have the water hooked up with pressure on. I failed to do that briefly a couple of times and it sounds funny. Luckily it still works pretty well. About $130, 1800 or 1400 psi, there's a choice on pressure. Enough for my work. You have to be careful even at 1800 not to score redwood.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Oh man, something from Italy that is both electrical and handles water . . . other than espresso machines, that's a risk combination.

"Hey, no make-a fun!" (spoken by Italian father with family in tow to Chico Marx in 'The Big Store' when Chico tries to seel them a bed in his Italiano accent)

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K