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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 89 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
70 of 72 found the following review helpful:
 Great pressure washer! May 30, 2008
By A. Valencia
I bought this for my husband early April 2008, after reading reviews online. And we are VERY HAPPY with it. He pressure washed all our fences before we stained them, then washed a patio, a driveway, our pool filters numerous times, the siding on our house, etc. and he loves it. The pressure is very good, he's happy with the level of pressure he gets on the adjustable nozzle (some cheap models lose decent pressure if you choose a wider spray), and he liked that he could roll up the hose on the back of the unit when he was done, and I was extremely happy with the price.
89 of 96 found the following review helpful:
 Not happy with mine. Aug 05, 2008
By MrFin
"The Big Red One"
I really wanted to like this pressure washer, and I did - for the first five minutes. It was all downhill from there.
I wanted an electric pressure washer for its ease of storage and this unit had all good reviews at the time. The price was right. Somebody has to make a good electric pressure washer, right? After all, my last one worked for ten years before it quit.
The PWS1800-U assembles easily, is relatively lightweight and is attractive looking. The first five minutes of use were a joy. The motor was much quieter than expected and the wand felt light and easy to hold. The cleaning pressure was very good. I had a smile on my face.
Unexpectedly the seal on the variable pressure wand burst with a popping noise and water sprayed sideways in all directions.
Crap. It lost usable pressure.
I tried to reseat the nozzle and troubleshoot but still couldn't fix the problem.
I thought I would call the manufacturer's tech support and maybe find a quick solution. But the only way I could contact them was through a "live chat" feature on their web site - which was closed during scheduled operating hours. Not a good sign. I left my email address (but am still waiting for a response).
I replaced the defective wand with the included turbo wand and that solved the immediate problem and got me back to work. It was doing a nice job of cleaning until...
The auto stop feature shuts off the motor when there is no water flowing through the unit to cool it. The auto stop feature started to act up, requiring additional "press and release" cycles to turn off the motor. Eventually the motor would not shut off at all but would instead wind up to a continuous high rpm in the idle state. I shut it down for fear that the motor would burn up.
Did I mention that this unit is made in China? Total time of use: one half hour.
If this thing had worked properly I would have rated it four or five stars. But having two major malfunctions in the first half hour and considering the time wasted in purchasing, returning, refunding the money and then starting over again - it earns it a big fat one star rating from me.
If you get a unit that works as advertised, this would be a good deal. If you don't, you hope for a generous return policy.
On the bright side, I returned it to Amazon without a problem and they refunded the full price I paid including shipping (which is significant on a product this heavy). UPS even picked it up at my location. Thank you, Amazon for the easy return.
Since then I've purchased a more powerful and more expensive gas unit. I'm still not sure where I will store it but it has been very reliable so far...
26 of 27 found the following review helpful:
A Great Machine Jul 23, 2008
By James M. Croop
"JMC"
I bought this machine after having decided not to buy a larger gasoline engine based washer. This machine has done everything I expected and then some. I have cleaned siding, sidewalks, mold off of my roof, and stripped paint from my outside porch. This machine is realtively quiet and easy to use. The documentation isn't the best, but there isn't much to running this. After a couple of months I can say this has been a very good purchase.FAIP Powerwasher Electric Pressure Washer #PWS1800-U
27 of 30 found the following review helpful:
FAIP - Terrible Customer Service / Useless Pressure Washer Jul 29, 2008
By R. Bulchis
I purchased the PowerWasher PWS 1750 about 2 years ago. I only used it for a few small jobs, but it kept tripping after short periods (about 5 minutes) of operation. It would automatically reset itself after 30-60 seconds It also had an oil leak. So, I paid to ship this heavy machine back to FAIP for warranty repair. When I got it back, it ran for longer durations, but still tripped periodically. Since I only used it for relatively small jobs, I decided to live with it, rather than pay for returning it again.
A few months ago, the washer starting tripping more frequently and finally it would only run for about 3-5 seconds before it tripped. It reset itself after being off for about 30 seconds. Talk about frustration - trying to clean a deck or patio with a washer that was off about 10 times more than it was on. I could not locate a number to call FAIP for help, so I tried their online Chat. I ended up wasting 4-5 hours chatting with their only help rep. It was obvious that the washer was tripping due to an internal electrical problem. All other possibilities had been eliminated in the with input from the chat rep and my testing. The Chat guy did not have an electrical schematic to trouble shoot the problem and continually refused to check with his service personnel to get one. He kept saying that even he could not get a schematic for "security and safety reasons". That sure didn't make any sense to me. I think he was just lazy, but their was nobody else that I could talk with. Since it is essentially impossible to solve electrical problems like this without a drawing, I did not end up getting any help from the chat sessions. So now I am stuck with a washer that will only run for 3-5 seconds before tripping off. Needless to say, this unit will be garbage as soon as I can purchase a reliable washer from a reputable supplier.
18 of 19 found the following review helpful:
 Works great Sep 07, 2008
By SB Book Reviewer
I bought this with caution, I heard electric power washers were pretty weak and unreliable. I have to tell you I'm very happy with this one. While not having the power of a gas operated one, this one did the job better than I thought. I used it on my deck which was about 8 years removed from it's previous cleaning. It really cleaned well, I probably should have used a cleaner in conjunction with the unit but it cleaned it pretty thoroughly w/out.
I also used this on my front walkway which is a combination of concrete leading to the front door and a slate walking path up to the concrete. I've never cleaned the concrete and this washer turned it from a very dark, dirty, moldy look to brand new. It also took off a hardened licen/moss that was growing on the slate which made it slick when it rained. The slate looks brand new as well. I will even caution anyone buying this to be careful as to not damage what you are cleaning. It is pretty powerful. I saw chips of the slate coming off so I pulled back on the wand to reduce the pressure.
On a side note, I could tell this being an electric motor, it wasn't good to stress it for long periods of time. I would give it a short break after about 20 minutes of use. The motor did seem to get hot so keep that in mind.
See all 89 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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