Is there much difference between a hot water pressure washer (Approx. 180 degrees) and a steam cleaner? It would be used mainly for cleaning grease and grime off of equipment. Thanks, Doug
In most cases hot high pressure washers work fine removing oil and grease. Of course steam works better to dissolve grease and oil, but the problem with a true "steam" cleaner is steam requires a different hose, it's much thicker and bulkier than a typical pressure washer hose, much more cumbersome to drag around and over things doing cleaning, and you also don't have the pressure jet spray with steam like you have with a hot high pressure washer.
Thanks for the reply. I purchased what I thought was a steam cleaner but it only reaches 180 degrees. Kind of a misleading description. https://www.zoro.com/mi-t-m-light-d...ic-pressure-washer-gh-1502-0ga10s/i/G8493877/ It does a pretty good job cleaning but it leaves clumps of grease all over the ground where cleaning. I am considering returning it and getting one that gets hotter and would dissolve the grease better.
The steam cleaner I used to use had as much jet spray as any pressure washer. 300 degrees but the water did not evaporate until it had spent some time blasting pretty good. But it was a big industrial contraption and stationary. I also had a commercial water heater at one place and would turn it up to 180 (max) and run that through an ordinary pressure washer. Not good on the pump I'm sure but it got stuff clean. A real steam cleaner is still going to leave chunks on the ground. Its job is to get the equipment clean, not to make the dirt disappear.
Good Point. Unfortunately, the area where I have to wash the equipment is in an area where people (me mostly) walk through and end up dragging grease into the house. I try cleaning it up but always seem to miss some.
Landa.
I know a guy who has Hotsy and Landa hot water pressure washers that when turned to the max temp produces steam. With steam you can never have the same pressure as with water. I would think that what ever you used is still going to leave clumps of grease if there is clumps on the machine. Grease doesn't evaporate like water.
Makes sense. I have one particularly greasy-oily backhoe. Maybe after I get most of the old grease and oil cleaned off of it, it won't leave such a mess on the ground during future cleanings.
And therein is the key, a heavily soiled greasy grimy machine "is" going to make a mess on the ground upon cleaning, don't matter if you use hot water, steam, or a nuke blast whereas machines that are already relatively clean, just oily, dirty, and some grease, not near as bad and a hot high pressure washer will help keep it that way without using steam
Thanks. I will keep the hot pressure washer I have and thoroughly clean the entire backhoe and then regularly wash it and keep it clean after that. I have been using a cold pressure washer and just cleaning the areas when I needed to work on it like changing a hose, pins, etc.
Totally agree with you there. Fact, the difference between cold pressure washer and hot high pressure is night and day even before you enter the world of steam.
We had a stationary pressure washer with a heater coil as big as a 55 gallon drum, heated with enough natural gas to fog your glasses, regardless of weather. A well meaning but ignorant apprentice fired it up to clean the 966H with the Lincoln autolube set maybe a smidge too high. The most lasting effect was clumps of grease spread EVERYWHERE. All over the loader's glass, all over the walls of the washbay, all over the floors, and all over our hero.
I physically scrape off the big deposits of grease and gunk, scraping the stuff off my scraper into a cardboard box that goes in the dumpster. It saves a lot of nasty stuff getting blown all over the equipment and ground. Example: This area was loaded with grease oil and needles/leaves/fir cones about 1.5" deep. If I laid into that pocket with a pressure washer I would wear it all.
The Landa at the shop is set at 200*. It works well at that temp.
Try pressure washing a bell housing-grease mixed with clutch dust-800,000 miles worth. Your washing a bowl-no way to get away from it.
One the 0 degree turbo nozzles on a hot washer really takes off the grease. Even with a cold water washer the turbo nozzles really do some damage, we use one on our 3,800 psi cold all the time in the field cause it's easy to load in the truck.
If I had my way we’d have a steam unit at work. We have a complete POS “hot” water pressure washer that gets slightly warm (when it decides it’s going to heat up at all)
From what I read of the specs on the unit that was purchased, I think you need more pressure and more flow to clean greasy equipment better. From what I've learned over the years, 4 GPM @ 4K psi is a good choice. You can always turn the pressure down for sensitive areas. A good degreaser like Citrol will break down the chemicals for faster removal and cleaner results. I run a large hot water unit that heats to 180 F and 4 GPM @ 4000 psi which works well most of the time. Pretty much the same as this unit listed on the web. Not a high priced unit but works good for hours at a time. If it is really greasy, I skip heating the hot water and run the discharge through the "Hot Box" that produces steam. Can't see much with steam on a colder day but it surely cleans off heavy grease/oil residue much quicker. My truck's PTO mounted pressure washer is cold water only but I can also run that through the hot box when I need steam on a site. It has a variable temp control so it's anything from warm water to blistering 230 F steam.
You also have to be careful no matter what you use. You don't want to damage parts from too high a temperature, damage the paint or worse, force grease out and water in bearings and bushings. Washing dirt bikes, for example, some people have no clue. They put the nozzle too close and draw grease out of the suspension linkage allowing water in to replace it. It's pretty common for kids to not think too much and blast water down the muffler/silencer destroying the packing inside. On a 2 stroke especially it's very easy to tell who needs new silencer packing. Equipment might be a little more forgiving but you still have to be cautious with a washer. One thing you never want to do is blast away at engines with ECM's and electronics. I've read on here of people having constant problems because the wiring and electronics got wet.
I agree about needing more pressure but unfortunately, I only have around 3gpm available here. That leaves me pretty limited on my options. Especially since you're supposed to have a gpm or so more available than the machine is rated at.
Even if I had all the hot water or steam in the world, I will still pre-scrape the gunk. You end up with a better product and less water forced in where the grease belongs.
I'm not sure what your limiting factor for gpm is. I use my washers with either tap water (well) or water in a tote/drum when on a job site. Pressurized water is best but gravity fed reservoirs work fine. I could always add an RV type pump if I determined that I needed pressure to feed the pump or had to mount the reservoir lower than the pump.
Absolutely! Had a buddy show up to ride and his shock linkage was rusted solid! gotta use your head when pressure washing to not blow out seals too. I got a bit overzealous on an old ford 445 and blew out the steering knuckle seal... that was a lesson learned. I have a question: If I don’t have a couple grand to pick up a hot water pressure washer could I rig up and feed hot water through a normal pressure washer?
yes up to the temperature limit of the pump. I used to build car wash systems and we made it all from scratch, and had to size and design the combinations of pump and instant hot water heater. You can put together your own system with a gas fired instant water heater, a high pressure pump, and even a feed pump so you can run it off a tank or barrels in a truck bed. Make it so it has picking eyes and/or fork pockets to load up and take with you.
It's probably not good to feed the pump hot water, but I did so frequently back in the day and it never seemed to hurt anything. It's a risk you take for being cheap.
I think most cold water p washers are designed for 104F max. temp. Good triplex pumps will handle hot water but always check with the pump manufacturer. I'm just setting up a low cost gravity fed (hopefully) pressure washer. Water will come from the 2000 gallon tank on my water truck. I picked up a Teejet 3/4" 50 mesh strainer since I will be using pond water. Pond water is soft and apparently cleans better. I went with a bigger filter so it would have a larger surface area for filtering. I'd be worried the little micro filters would get clogged too easily. One place told me to do a bucket test to make sure there is enough water flow. He said if the pump is 2.5 gpm you want at least 3 gpm flow and preferably more. Book for the washer says 3.7 gpm and 20 psi but many people have had success with a gravity feed system. I have a small pump if necessary. I also had a 3/4" hose made up that is stiff and won't collapse. It cost about $80 to set up the inlet line but should greatly extend the life of the pressure washer.
I think where there could be big problems is when you're not pulling the trigger. Most pressure washers recirculate the water when the trigger is let off and it causes the water to heat fairly rapidly. Starting off with hot water would accelerate the heating which could/would damage the pump in short order.
here's a Giant 3000 PSI pump, the temperature limit is 160 F. https://www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-35...8F8ZyGOS43KWvDa4xY08kYbJfjrkopCYaAlISEALw_wcB We would give them no more than 120 F water. They bypass enough in the carwash setup to keep cool. if you were concerned about heat you can make a setup that does not completely shut off, like a carwash.
I have ruined pumps quite quickly hooking them to the hot water heater and another one has been hooked to hot water for years its a little more commercial looking and the others were simple homeowner jobs
that bypass water that comes out the carwash is the key. It is not just circling through a bypass valve and back through the pump.
The one I used to abuse had a temperature relief valve as well as an unloader. The unloader would trap pressure in the hose and recirculate the water with no load. But it would still get hot eventually. The temp relief valve would spit it out on the ground until it cooled. When I had it hooked to the water heater, that temp valve was spewing constantly. Good for keeping the water in the hose hot when not spraying, I said.
Look at the "Hot Box" that I posted in a previous reply. It is plumbed in downstream of the PW pump so it handles 4000 psi incoming water and then heats it to hot water or steam depending on the thermostat setting. It has a flow control switch that shuts the burner off when the water flow stops. It's not designed to be plumbed ahead of the pump. Any pre heated water before the pump is asking for problems, IMO. The thermal expansion of the pistons and seals due to heating would likely wear out a pump quickly. Every hot water system that I've looked at always heats the water after the pump pressurizes it. To me, this would just be common sense to plumb it up this way but then I'm not (much of) a PW engineer either. Although I did build my own PTO driven system for my work truck via hydraulics.
Treemuncher, Funny you mention the hot box at Northern tool. I had seen that before and it always piqued my interest. I went to their site last night to post the info here and I can’t find it on there now...maybe not a big seller?
That explains why most heating coils are schedule 80 pipe... to handle the pressure off the pump.
Here: https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200377863_200377863 It's even on sale. I complained when I paid $950 for mine a few years back but it's been a worthy purchase and works well. It does not have a pressure pump built into it so you must have a pressure washer upstream of this heater.
I didn't see any mention of it but industrial soaps (Hotsy stripper 2 works really well) in a weed sprayer (wear a face shield becasue blow back on skin sucks). Procedure: Scrap the grease and dirt off, quick spray down to wet everything, soap, and spray away all the dirt and grease. For best results do this over some kind of grating to avoid walking and dragging the hose through all the sprayed off grease and mud.
TM, Thanks for the northern tool link. I tried their p washer category and p washer accessories and even search function and couldn’t find it.