pw

March 20, 2025 7:30 PM

What's wrong with my pressure washer?

Less than 1 year old, used a handful of times.

posted by falsedmitri to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

have you run water through it with it off, and does the water flow normally?
posted by zippy at 8:44 PM on March 20

I've heard that running a pressure washer closed, without pulling the trigger and actually spraying out the water, wears them out extremely fast.

After which they need to be rebuilt.
posted by jamjam at 10:14 PM on March 20

I'll put a few quatloos on "that's a crappy brand." I bought one on recommendation from Consumer Reports, but right out of the box the pressure was trash, which kind of defeats the point.
posted by humbug at 12:33 PM on March 21

It looks like this model does not use a lubricating fluid in the pump (if it did I'd say check that). Instead it seems there's a "pump protector solution (not included)" that should be part of regular maintenance (see page 11 of the manual).

Also check out the troubleshooting guide on page 13. Maybe you have a dirty inlet filter?

Seconding not letting it run with the trigger not pulled.
posted by achrise at 10:18 AM on March 23