Even though though they’re more powerful and allow you more freedom to work or more portable, gas powered units can be noisy and require more maintenance. Their engines make use of oil and fuel, that means maintenance is needed. Pressure washers can either be gas powered or powered with electricity from your outlets at home.
With an external soap bottle there’s always the danger of dropping it somewhere or forgetting to bring it on your trip (the SHP2150 has no tool/ attachment storage options on the outside). Just connect the detergent bottle like you would a spray tip and start blasting. At 26lbs and 26.77” tall, the SHP2150 is not as large as some of the other electric pressure washers on this list.
You have to basically stop using it and let the motor build up pressure before you can get usable cleaning power from it. Although our tests measured slightly less power on the Simpson compared to the Generac, we were unable to tell the difference in real-world cleaning. It had enough power to Champion Power Equipment chip paint off in our tests and enough power to clean outdoor furniture, decks, and concrete floors. This unit had considerable power, which was good enough to handle just about any cleaning task at home. High-quality build and components all around with much more power than electric models.
If you’re doing general maintenance cleaning of siding, windows and furniture once or twice a month, you’ll be very happy with this unit. It was pretty closely tied to the Sun Joe, but the more we used the Ivation, the more it became apparent that the Ivation team put lots of effort into polishing this machine’s details. We also loved its lockable wheels that can spin 360 degrees so the pressure washer follows you around without having to push or pull it.
There are surface cleaner attachments which have a rotating arm with nozzles on either end that push out water jets to spin the arm around. With the ePX3000 you can comfortably transition between paved and unpaved surfaces without any hiccups. This thing climbs up slopes like a champ, and you can simply lock each individual wheel to make sure it doesn’t slide off the slope. It also has no trouble rolling over grass that is 4 or 5 inches tall. And it can handle some stones or pebbles without immediately tipping over. In fact, you need to actively try in order to make the ePX3000 tip over.
This is a truly heavy-duty piece of equipment that’s designed for tough jobs. With a brushless 1800W induction motor allows it can run longer than consumer models, plus maintenance and on-the-fly pressure adjustments are much easier. It has the largest wheels we could find on any electric pressure washer, which make it very easy to use on an uneven lawn or up a patio step or curb. Even the end of the power cord is well thought out, with a design that makes it easier to use in a crowded outlet box. This gas pressure washer is significantly heavier than the electric models because of its metal frame and engine, but it makes up for it in quality. Everything from the frame, spray wand, spray tips, high-pressure hose and connections on this engine are noticeably higher quality than every electric model we tested.
If the motor didn’t have such a low-key sound, this constant operation could have been an issue, but at no point did the motor noise bother us. But gas pressure washers do have their place, due to their power. They’re considerably faster at cleaning—roughly twice as fast—than electric models. This difference is most noticeable when you’re cleaning large areas, such as a driveway or a big deck.
It’s the lowest-priced machine we tested, and it gets the job done, but its shortcomings became very obvious once we saw what the other machines had to offer. Not wanting to risk a fire or explosion, we called Simpson’s support for help. We were informed the engine on this pressure washer was made by Honda and that Simpson couldn’t provide help, and they didn’t seem particularly interested in customer satisfaction about it either.