Are Pressure Washer Performance Tests Really Worth the Time and Expense?

Your entire pressure washing business hinges on offering your customers top-notch service. But, you can’t offer that kind of quality assurance without using the best products on the market. The problem is, the pressure washing industries doesn’t offer much in the way of quality performance testing, leaving it up to individual manufactures to test their own products and report those test results.

This lack of information has led many larger outfits to hire third party testers on their own to offer solid performance testing on the products they regularly use. The problem is, this type of independent testing can be very expensive (costing anywhere form $8,000 to $20,000), leaving many companies wondering if it’s worth the expense.

Performance testing is especially helpful if you are planning to invest large sums of money into new pressure washers and other service products. Just be sure that the company you use has a refined methodology for performance testing that covers the eight most important product aspects:

1. Cleaning ability
2. Pressure and flow
3. Power consumption and input voltage
4. By-pass endurance
5. Run-dry endurance
6. Self-priming
7. Cyclic endurance
8. Ease of assembly

Most independent performance testing agencies will use your current equipment for their tests, giving you a detailed report on each product’s ratings under the eight guidelines listed above. It’ll be up to you and your staff to take their results; compare the findings and determine which pressure washer products can withstand the type of abuse your company will put it through on a daily basis.

Some of the biggest issues this type of testing presents is:

• The cost. Not cheap, performance testing can run thousands of dollars.
• The Equipment. Since the tests are so detailed (and extreme), the odds are good that the equipment being used may break or even be destroyed during the procedures it undergoes.
• The results. Since testing results can vary due to a piece of equipment being overly used; or even used improperly, results can be skewed a bit, leaving some wondering if “true results” are even possible.

While many large-scale power washing outfits may indeed be willing to spend thousands of dollars on independent performance testing before buying new equipment, smaller companies simply can not afford this luxury. Does that mean they are left wondering which equipment purchases are best? Not necessarily. The good news is that most manufactures conduct their own product testing to ensure that they offer their customers quality products. While it is important to understand that no manufacturer is going to tell you what’s wrong with their products they sell, you can glean some important information from their public testing results. Use what information you can, and forget the rest.

The bottom line is this: if you can afford professional performance testing and think you need it, than by all means find a qualified tester to handle it. Otherwise, use the information the manufacturer offers to make the best buying decisions you can.

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The publisher of these pages is in no way responsible for any damage caused to you, your pressure washer, anyone else, your property, or anyone else's property by trying to implement or by successfully implementing the above-mentioned performance and services.