A customer came into the shop complaining that his rig was barely filling. He had checked the spigot at the house and it had great flow. The problem was not the house. It was a screen inside his buffer tank packed with debris, and it took a couple of minutes to fix. This is one of the most common calls we get, so here is the whole picture: the two filters on a pressure washing rig that restrict water, how to clean each one, and the habit that keeps them clean.
Filter 1: the T-strainer between the buffer tank and the pump
Every skid and trailer we build has a TeeJet line strainer in the suction line between the buffer tank and the pressure washer. Its whole job is to make sure nothing large gets pulled into the pump. Inside is an 80 mesh stainless steel screen, which is fine enough to catch a lot, and that means it fills up.
To service it, unscrew the cover. It is a coarse thread and comes off by hand. There is an O-ring on that cover; make sure it stays in place or goes back on, because without it the strainer will not seal and you will pull air instead of water. Lift the screen out, rinse it clean, and drop it back into its seat. It only sits one way. Cover back on, O-ring in place, done.
We tell customers every three to six months. If you are pulling from questionable water sources, or you have never done it, do it this week. A restricted strainer starves the pump, and a starved pump is the expensive kind of problem.
Filter 2: the screen inside the Hudson float valve
The Hudson float valve is what keeps the buffer tank from overflowing. Water fills the tank, the float rises, the valve shuts. It is one of the most reliable float valves made, and it is the one we put in every tank.
What people do not know is that there is a small screen on the inlet side of the Hudson, and it catches everything that comes down the garden hose before it reaches the tank. On our builds it sits right inside the buffer tank, and we deliberately install it hand-snug with no thread sealant, so you can reach in, unscrew the assembly, and service it without tools. If it ever weeps, it weeps into the tank, which is fine.
To clean it, pull the lid off the buffer tank, unscrew the float valve assembly, and pull the inlet fitting off the valve body. Hold the body so the valve itself does not unscrew while you do it. The screen slides out. What you will usually find in there is bugs, grit, and whatever was living in the last spigot you hooked up to. Rinse it, slide it back, reassemble.
The ten-second habit that keeps both filters clean
Before you hook your garden hose to a customer's spigot, turn the spigot on and let it run for a few seconds. That is the whole tip.
Spiders, earwigs, and dirt make a home in the end of an outdoor faucet. If you connect your hose first and then open the valve, everything in that spigot goes straight down 100 feet of hose, through the reel, and stops at the Hudson screen. Do that at every house for a month and your flow drops to nothing. Flush the spigot first and it goes on the ground instead. We tell everyone this when they pick up a build. The ones who skip it to save ten seconds are the ones we see back in the shop with a slow fill.
If both screens are clean and flow is still low
Work backward. Check the garden hose itself for a kink, especially where it meets the reel; we wrote about the reel kink problem and the whip line that fixes it. Check that the float valve is actually opening and not hung up. Then look at the plumbing between the tank and the pump: any reducer, elbow or undersized fitting in the suction line chokes an 8 GPM machine. Our buffer tank plumbing guide goes through the right sizes part by part.
Parts mentioned
- TeeJet poly line strainer, 1 inch 80 mesh — the T-strainer on our builds; replacement screens and O-rings available in the shop
- High Flow Hudson Float Valve
- Hudson Float Valve Assembly, 1 inch — valve plus the tank fitting, ready to install
- Pressure washer maintenance parts
Further reading
- How to Plumb a Pressure Washer Buffer Tank, Part by Part
- Pressure Washer Starts Then Dies? Check the Fuel Tank Vent First
- Pressure Washing Rig Maintenance Guide: Skids, Trailers, and Vans
Still fighting low flow? Call the shop at 503-403-6185 (landline, no texts), Monday through Thursday, 8am to 4pm, or bring the rig by 13896 S Fir St Suite B in Oregon City, Oregon and we will look at it with you.
