On 01/05/2011 16:55, Roger Mills wrote:
On 01/05/2011 15:50, Rick Hughes wrote:
I have a KEW Hobby pressure washer ...... been great to date ... but
yesterday started surging.

This is significant enough to make it useless, almost equal cadence
between pressure & no pressure ... the outlet pressure gauge is also
reading nothing ... but that may be just a duff gauge.

Anybody any experience with pressure washers ?

No shortage of incoming mains (pressure or flow rate) even tried
different hoses & fittings to be 100% sure of that.

If I operate lance without unit being switched on ... water is jetting
out OK.
Plus when it 'surges' it does seem right pressure and flow at the peak
of each surge.

At what rate is it surging - like several times per second, once every
few seconds, etc.?

During this pressure fluctuation, is the motor running all the time - or
does it keep starting and stopping?

When you fist turn it on with the outlet closed (i.e. trigger on lance
not operated) does get up to pressure and then cut the motor, like it's
supposed to?

[Anyone know how many pistons a typical pressure washer has in its pump,
and what the rotational speed is likely to be?]

Almost all have 3, they are generally axial swash plate pumps. Motor
speed around 2800 rpm. Cheap ones have universal motors that run really
fast.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk