This is my fourth pressure cleaner. I’ve had a 13hp, gas powered commercial unit, as well as a couple of small electric units. Of course this can’t compare to the gas unit in terms of PSI or GPM, but this beats that one and the others in different ways.
First of all, the simplicity of this is incredible. There is no yanking a cord over and over to start it. There is no gas to haul around or stink up your garage, and no carburetor to get clogged up with stale gas over the winter months. There is no unloader to adjust. There are no seals that need replacing.
True, this doesn’t put out as many PSI or GPM, but I’ve found that unless I need to strip the paint off of something, or use hot water to “steam clean”, this is perfectly adequate. This is on the high end of an electric pressure cleaner’s abilities, and has proven more than adequate for everything I need it to do. Gutter cleaning, car washing, exterior house cleaning, sidewalk and driveway cleaning are all within the abilities of this machine.
Unboxing and assembly was super simple and intuitive. I didn’t need the instructions, although I do enjoy puzzles. In 10 minutes, I was done with the assembly and ready to fire it up.
The electrical cord is greate. It has a re-settable GFCI end on it, the insulation is heavy duty but flexible, and the length is the longest of any pressure cleaner I’ve seen. I can use use it pretty much anywhere around my home, and it’ll reach an outlet.
The hose connects to the machine and the sprayer with screw connections. I got used to (okay, spoiled) with the quick-release connectors on my big gas unit, so I put a couple of adapters on this one. Now I can pop off the sprayer for storage much faster. (And I also put one on the garden hose connection.)
The hose feels a little cheap to me, but it works fine. I don’t think the Westinghouse designers put a lot of thought into where the hose hangs, because you’re forced to either remove it completely, or go from the front to the hangar on the back, which makes no sense. I will be adding another quick-release adapter to that, so I can completely remove the hose for storage.
The wheels are one of the handiest things about this unit. I love that the machine can roll around, following you as you clean. But they’re super cheap, made entirely of hard plastic. So engaging the wheel locks (each caster has one) doesn’t do much… the plastic wheels just skid across the concrete and remove plastic from the wheels.
So how does it clean? Beautifully. This is much stronger than my last electric one, and it’s very evident, especially while using my small, 12” dual-head rotary cleaner. I am shocked at how much quieter it is, too. My old one made an annoying, high-pitched whine. This one’s much quieter, and not high-pitched.
Although I would change a few things mentioned above, overall I’m very happy with this unit. Hopefully, I get a few years out of it, and if I do, it’ll be money well spent.