Electric Pressure Washers

[jmellc]

I've used a few pressure washers but mostly gasoline powered ones. A woman at the plant said she has a fairly new electric model with a GFCI plug & cord. Plug is tripping constantly. My thought was that the head got some water or the terminations from cord to machine, in wiring compartment. Have any of you worked much with these & seen any patterns? I haven't seen the machine to examine it.

 

[zbang]

My sole experience is with a pro-sumer grade Karcher, no problems with it and it hasn't been treated kindly by some of the users. Probable got some water in the wrong place.

 

[suemarkp]

Did she pressure wash the power cord and cut into the jacket?

 

[jim dungar]

Is she slashing water on the plug? It's leakage detector could be more sensitive than a GFCI.

Don't ask me how I know.

 

[Eddie702]

One of my relatives bought a Karcher at Costco. Kept in a box for a year then tried to use it and it was defective out of the box

 

[zbang]

"Stored improperly"

 

[jmellc]

I told her to try laying out the cord on her deck on a hot sunny day, that the heat MIGHT dry it out if moisture was the issue. I don’t think I’d buy an electric, for that very reason. I’ll check website when she gives me a brand name.

 

[kwired]

Use megger to see if there is any ground faults. If not possibly defect/failure of something in the GFCI?

Make sure cord is in good condition, may test fine if it is dry but has leakage when wet.