Who has hooked up a Pressure Washer to their RV?

[FirstAscent]

I have a Momentum 381M and I'm staring to look into being able to hook up my Pressure Washer.

It's electric, I know I'm good to power it with my Generator (I wouldn't be using it in parks where I have 50A service). But I'm curious as to hooking up the water side of it.

My pressure washer has it's own pump built in, so really all I need is a supply line from my water tank but I can't have the supply operated from the internal RV water pump.
From what I've noticed so far, the only current hookup would be from the factory outdoor shower connection which is some type of quick disconnect and fairly small hose so I'm not even sure that would work.

I'm thinking worst case is I could maybe tap the tank and add an aux line, I just need the water to gravity feed. Ideally I need a typical water hose connection to connect directly to my pressure washer.
My specific pressure washer operates at about 2 GPM for what it's worth.


I'm sure someone out there has connected a pressure washer to their RV before Hoping one of you has some insight to this, thanks!

 

[Richter]

I have a smaller Ryobi electric unit that I picked up at HD. In the operating instructions, it specifically states to use a 3/4” ID hose. Not 1/2”, not 5/8”, but a full 3/4”. It needs a lot of water input to put out any effective pressure. You might want to look at the specs on yours to see what the requirements are.

 

[FirstAscent]

I have a smaller Ryobi electric unit that I picked up at HD. In the operating instructions, it specifically states to use a 3/4” ID hose. Not 1/2”, not 5/8”, but a full 3/4”. It needs a lot of water input to put out any effective pressure. You might want to look at the specs on yours to see what the requirements are.

Oh sure state the obvious. Haha thanks that’s a good idea. I actually just ordered it and it should be here next week so I’ll have to look that up. If it requires any specific size then I may have to tap the tank

 

[llr2800]

Are you sure it will work just drawing from the tank without input pressure? The ones I have seen expect pressure on the input side. I have not tried it without input pressure.

I would test with a 5 gallon bucket before modifying the RV.

 

[el Rojo]

It's just me but I would never add another way for water to leak in my underbelly.

Just my two cents.

Red

 

[NB Canada]

It's just me but I would never add another way for water to leak in my underbelly.

Just my two cents.

Red

All he needs to do is glue a coupler onto his fresh water dump (I assume it has one)
Pull the dump handle and it will gravity feed to the washer


2021 Imagine 2400 BH
2018 GMC Sierra 4x4 crew

 

[FirstAscent]

Are you sure it will work just drawing from the tank without input pressure? The ones I have seen expect pressure on the input side. I have not tried it without input pressure.

I would test with a 5 gallon bucket before modifying the RV.

Yes because it has its own built in pump so it doesn’t have to rely on input pressure, so that’s why I’d just need it to be gravity fed. But yes typically most pressure washers don’t have a pump for that type of use

All he needs to do is glue a coupler onto his fresh water dump (I assume it has one)
Pull the dump handle and it will gravity feed to the washer


2021 Imagine 2400 BH
2018 GMC Sierra 4x4 crew

Good idea! And that’d be easy to access. I’d either want some type of quick disconnect or diverter so that I could still easily drain the tank quickly too. It’d take forever trying to drain it out of a garden hose haha.

And the use of the pressure washer would not be a normal occurrence, but I do want to be able to use it easily when I want to.

 

[el Rojo]

So if I camp next to you will you wash my rig? I'll buy the beer...LOL.

FYI. I carry a pressure washer too. I just feel if we're dry camping we're off the grid and there's no use to clean it.

Red

 

[NB Canada]

So if I camp next to you will you wash my rig? I'll buy the beer...LOL.

FYI. I carry a pressure washer too. I just feel if we're dry camping we're off the grid and there's no use to clean it.

Red

I assume the OP wants it for the toys in the garage that could be encased in mud
It is a good idea as pressure washers clean quicker with less water than any other method


2021 Imagine 2400 BH
2018 GMC Sierra 4x4 crew

 

[FirstAscent]

So if I camp next to you will you wash my rig? I'll buy the beer...LOL.

FYI. I carry a pressure washer too. I just feel if we're dry camping we're off the grid and there's no use to clean it.

Red

Deal! Haha

I assume the OP wants it for the toys in the garage that could be encased in mud
It is a good idea as pressure washers clean quicker with less water than any other method


2021 Imagine 2400 BH
2018 GMC Sierra 4x4 crew

Yes that’s definitely one reason, but also for washing the rig itself easily if I want. In my experience it hasn’t been easy finding places to wash it. I did pay this mobile RV wash guy while in Sedona but that was also in a well know populated RV area which I’m not in as often.

 

[Rockdaddy]

I have a Momentum 381M and I'm staring to look into being able to hook up my Pressure Washer.

It's electric, I know I'm good to power it with my Generator (I wouldn't be using it in parks where I have 50A service). But I'm curious as to hooking up the water side of it.

My pressure washer has it's own pump built in, so really all I need is a supply line from my water tank but I can't have the supply operated from the internal RV water pump.
From what I've noticed so far, the only current hookup would be from the factory outdoor shower connection which is some type of quick disconnect and fairly small hose so I'm not even sure that would work.

I'm thinking worst case is I could maybe tap the tank and add an aux line, I just need the water to gravity feed. Ideally I need a typical water hose connection to connect directly to my pressure washer.
My specific pressure washer operates at about 2 GPM for what it's worth.


I'm sure someone out there has connected a pressure washer to their RV before Hoping one of you has some insight to this, thanks!

I already do this, hookup PS to either your outside shower or the hose hookup by the front door. Put rv in dry camper mode on the water panel turn on the pump. I run 50' of 5/8 hose hooked up to the squirly hose that came with rv PS on the other side works great never any issues also works hooked to city water same way.... don't make any holes in your tank. just an opinion, but holes leak

 

[AZCamper-MGRV]

Anyone try this one or a similar one?

https://youtu.be/btXhdvqXq0k

Would be nice for washing our side by side before putting it in our Momentum.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FirstAscent]

I already do this, hookup PS to either your outside shower or the hose hookup by the front door. Put rv in dry camper mode on the water panel turn on the pump. I run 50' of 5/8 hose hooked up to the squirly hose that came with rv PS on the other side works great never any issues also works hooked to city water same way.... don't make any holes in your tank. just an opinion, but holes leak

Sweet thanks!

Do I have a hose hookup by the front door??? Haha if so I never knew [emoji23] I only knew about the small outdoor shower hookup. I should be back at the RV tomorrow.

And yes I would prefer not to add additional holes, but was willing to if I had to as a last resort.

Anyone try this one or a similar one?

https://youtu.be/btXhdvqXq0k

Would be nice for washing our side by side before putting it in our Momentum.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I haven’t but I bet it would work just great for your needs! And the small form factor would make it use to haul around.

 

[CaptDan-MGRV]

yes. Works OK. You have to experiment with the nozzle attachments to get to where the flow is acceptable. Its a far cry from a real pressure washer but for campsite use, I find it useful.

 

[Tgunter5]

Do you mind providing the pressure washer info? I'd be interested to see this. Sounds like a cool idea!

 

[CaptDan-MGRV]

Lippert Flow Max™ 40V Portable Power Cleaner SKU: 2020111765 520 psi
You can order from Lippert or Amazon (I just saw it there)
Comes with two batteries. One last pretty long.
Only downside so far is that it goes thru a 5 gallon bucket relatively fast
and the soap dispenser is a bit annoying to work with and takes a little while
before the soap actually gets to the nozzle tip. The only time you get decent
"pressure wash" is when set to the "jet" setting on one of the nozzles.

 

[FirstAscent]

Hey everyone,

Ok so I've successfully got this all hooked up and working perfectly for use off-grid (generator).

Step 1 - Install dedicated 20A receptacle
My specific pressure washer can push close to 15A by itself, with a foam cannon it has potential to surge up to around 16-17A.
I didn't have any open slots in my main breaker panel but I did have one 15A existing breaker that was a double-width breaker, so I replaced that with two single width breakers, one 15A for the existing circuit and one 20A for my new dedicated circuit.
I then ran new 12ga wire from my new 20A breaker to the existing receptacle outside near the front door. This outlet will now be my dedicated 20A receptacle.

Side note: I didn't think about it at the time but I would like to relocate this to an interior position to be more protected from overspray/soap etc from the pressure washer.

Step 2 - Fill up water tanks
Next I filled up my water tanks which is about 150 gallons at an apartment complex (yes with permission). After they were filled I already had a side street in mind near by that I planned on testing this setup. It was just a mile or two away.

Step 3 - Final connections
My specific pressure washer (Kranzle) with my chosen nozzle requires about 2gpm, which my chosen nozzle and at 2gpm I'm right at about 1000psi. My water pump in the RV has an output of up to 3.1gpm. So I knew my water pump could keep up with the demands of the pressure washer.
My RV was supplied with one of those flex coiled hoses for the outdoor shower hookup or whatever else you want to use it for. It has the quick connect on one end and a standard garden hose male threaded fitting on the other. This allowed me to connect my pressure washer directly to that hose for the water supply.
I then simply plugged in my 120V cable to my new dedicated 20A circuit, turned on the generator and everything worked great!


I was able to wash the entire 43' fifth wheel (381M), I did run out of water at the very end rinsing a last small section but was able to finish. Since this was the first time doing it I know I can save more water too since I was testing everything and that wasted some water. But at no point did anything not work, I am super excited about this.
I have used this pressure washer hooked up to a standard city supply as well and everything functioned the exact same.

So for my setup, there were zero issues and functioned exactly the same as if you were hooked up at a typical "home".

Happy to provide any further info if anyone has any questions.