Pressure washers need very little maintenance, and one item on this page matters more than everything else combined. It is in the winter list.
Before each use (two minutes)
- Check the inlet water filter. Rinse it if it looks dirty. A clogged filter starves the pump, which costs you pressure and eventually the pump.
- Check the hose for kinks, cuts and bulges. A bulge is a hose about to burst.
- Check fittings and O-rings. A perished O-ring is the usual cause of a weeping joint, and they cost pennies.
- Gas machines: check the engine oil level. Every time, before you pull.
- Open the water and purge the air with the trigger before starting the motor. Never run the pump dry.
After each use (two minutes)
- Flush detergent out. Pickup tube in clean water, black soap tip fitted, run for thirty seconds. Essential after any bleach mix, and it is what keeps the injector’s check valve alive.
- Release the pressure. Machine off, water off, trigger squeezed, before disconnecting anything.
- Drain the hose and coil it in large loose loops, out of direct sun.
- Rinse attachments. Surface cleaners, foam cannons and turbo nozzles all have a part that residue destroys.
- Store nozzles in their holder. A five-tip set with no holder becomes a two-tip set.
Annually
- Replace the inlet filter if it is deformed or stained beyond rinsing.
- Check nozzle spray patterns. A ragged or wide pattern means a worn orifice; replace that tip.
- Replace O-rings at any joint that has started weeping.
- Gas: change the engine oil at the interval in the manual, and check the pump oil if the pump has a dipstick or plug — which oil, and when.
- Gas: check or replace the air filter and spark plug per the manual.
- Check the hose crimps where the fittings meet the hose. This is where hoses eventually fail, and a swivel connector reduces the strain that causes it.
Before winter — the one that matters
Get the water out of the pump. Water left inside freezes, expands and cracks the pump housing, and a cracked pump generally costs more than the machine is worth. This kills more pressure washers than use does.
One bottle of pump saver, pushed through the pump, takes about a minute and prevents it entirely. The full procedure, including what to do with fuel on a gas machine, is in how to winterize a pressure washer.
If you remember one thing from this page, it is this one. Everything above is good practice; this is the difference between a machine that lasts two seasons and one that lasts ten.
What not to bother with
Descaling, unless you have genuinely hard water and have noticed reduced flow. The inlet filter does most of this work.
Pump rebuild kits, on a consumer electric machine. Most pumps are sealed and not economically serviceable; prevention is the whole strategy.
Fuel additives on a machine you use monthly. Fresh fuel is better than stabilized stale fuel. Stabilizer is for storage.
If something has already gone wrong, start at won’t start or won’t build pressure.
