Pressure Washing with Lake Water

[ChiScouter]

My new favorite toy is a 3600psi 4gpm pressure washer. I will mostly be using it at my moms place and she is on a well. I really don't like the idea of using her well water and possibly causing problems when I have a lake 300 ft away. It is a typical mud bottom midwest lake with lots of silt in it. I have tried a number of ways to try to filter the water on the suction side, but have been unsuccessful.
First problem is pressure related. I have a lawn watering pump that puts out great flow and pressure near the lake level which will work fine near the lake. By the time it gets up to the top of the hill I am down to around 15 psi. The pressure washer requires 20psi and 4gpm so I think I will be covered by using a booster pump which is a swimming pool pump I scrounged from the neighbors garbage.

Next is getting clean water to the pump. The same neighbors garbage yielded a big old filter. The element itself is pleated and looks like a gigantic shop vac filter. That housing is around 30 inches high. After that I plan on using a whole house water filter again with a pleated element.

I also have a smaller whole house filter I could use that uses the wrapped up string type element.


Do you guys think the first 2 filters will keep all the silt out or should I add the string filter? Any problems with my madcap plan?

[qmansJEEp]

i guess i don't understand why the Well water is bad?, are you worried about her running out of water? I lived back in Illinois years ago, had a well and used my pressure washer on it all the time....

[Wicked_S10]

I don't know much about the water table, and wells, but it seems to me that with the lake 300' away, that you would be in very little danger of ever running the well dry.

I know my buddy worries about running my pressure washer off his well. I think he is more worried about burning up the well pump, not running it dry.

[OlBlueCJ7]

If your lake water is full of silt, a settling tank will be a big help. Pump the water into the tank, let it sit for a few days, then get a floating pickup to suction off the top of it to your pressure washer.

[adampfisters]

If your lake water is full of silt, a settling tank will be a big help. Pump the water into the tank, let it sit for a few days, then get a floating pickup to suction off the top of it to your pressure washer.

My thoughts exactly, something like a horse tank would be plenty enough to run for a long time. You just have to remember to fill it up a couple days in advance.

[ChiScouter]

Both the well and pump date to around 1970 which around here is beyond ancient. All her neighbors have had to drill new wells every 15 years or so, consequently I don't want to tempt fate on the pump, or the well. The settling tank would be a great idea, but would take up way too much space for something I would seldom use. I just gave away a brand new 500 gal plastic tank.

[roverjohn]

You could buy a cheap pressure washer and see how long it runs, before self destructing, to get an idea of how abrasive the suspended silt might be. If the silt is actually stopped by the filter it will eventually clog and the cost of the filters may exceed that of a replacement pump. Running straight lake water is certainly the easiest solution if it's not as damaging as you or I might imagine.

[unimogken]

Could you just run a skimmer from the surface of the lake vs. having the hose on the bottom of the lake in the mud?

[ChiScouter]

Could you just run a skimmer from the surface of the lake vs. having the hose on the bottom of the lake in the mud?

The current intake is a 10 ft section of 4 inch dia. perforated slitted plastic septic tube with 2 socks over it. It is fastened to the pier and sits about 6 inches under the surface in 2 ft of water.

[beater74]

Have you tried some sort of a floating intake at the lake. Maybe using some sort of bowie that is anchored a few feet of shore to float the intake. this would keep it off the lake bad and eliminate a lot of the silt.

[nissancrawler]

we did that wtih our dam. We took a 15" tirea nd wheel, put 35 p.s.i. in it, opened up the hole in the wheel a bit, and dropped a submersible pump in it, then ran hose/wires to shore. Stake it out with two lines so it doesn't float tos hore, done.

[Urban Wheeler]

I haven't been down to the waterfront there, but I know that at my lake the water is considerably clearer on thurdsday and early friday, before the boats come out and churn it up again.

[randii]

Dunno what you are pressure-washing, but if there's much grit in the spray, you may be slurry-blasting... abrasives can be an issue for the pump AND what you spray.

Randii

[ChiScouter]

Ive been using this for about a month now and the pump isn't showing any signs of problems. I am surprised as to how much gunk is still getting into the final filter with the clear housing. The clear housing has the best micron rating I could find so I hope it is catching all the bad stuff. I didn't need the booster pump and flow and pressure are fine in spite of the 3 filters.

[Todd W]

Sweet :D Good to know.

I have a lot of pressure ashing to do @ my new place w/a well.