Pressure Washer not working

[qclark]

I have a Kew Alto Force X-TRA that I have had for 5 years or so and has worked fine until recently.
Usually works initially then it stalls and will not pump. I have found that if I turn the cold water supply off and release the pressure eg disconnect the feed hose at the tap, then reconnect it, it starts working again, sometimes until next time I stop using it, sometimes for a while (sorry, not sure exactly how long).
I assume there must be some form of a pressure sensor on the cold water feed that is giving a false reading and resets when the pressure is released?
Any one got any experience of this type of fault?

 

[joe-90]

Pressure washers have a notoriously short life. Just buy a new one.

 

[wotan]

Average life of domestic pressure washers, is in the region of 100 hours use.
You need to pay a lot of money for a good pressure washer, the usual swash plate design, soon wears out the seals, for durability you need to consider a multi ram reciprocating pump.

Wotan

 

[ellal]

Got a slightly different problem with a karcher..

I have to turn the setting on the lance to minimum to get it started, and then turn it back up to use. Everytime I stop, I have to do the same thing.

Am I right to assume this also is knackered, or is this a different issue? It's also about 5 years old, but probably only gets a few hours runout each year to clean the patio in the spring etc..

 

[jetwashking]

The pump was made in Italy for KEW and has a combined dump valve and TSS (total stop switch) The common Force problem is the springs of the pressure switch are steel and rust. It has two springs one inside the other and one will e snapped. Clip off the pressure switch wire and box from the side of the pump and you can see the pressure switch piston. This comes in a kit of parts and is removed by unscrewing it. The kit can be bought online from suppliers like sparesgiant.com and the part number is LAVWPK60050104