So, my son was home sick, it was a sunny day and it was Spring. To me, that means, it’s a great day to pressure wash all the flagstone in sight and whatever else I can get my hands on that might need it.
We used to have a pressure washer from Costco, I think it was a Kärcher, from Germany. It kept breaking. I think we ordered a new hose. I forget what happened, but it didn’t want to work for us anymore after only a few uses. We took it back.
Soon after, I found a smaller Kärcher, the 330 model, at a garage sale. You have no idea how happy I was.
But these things can be temperamental. And from one Spring to the next, you can totally forget that fact.
So I roll the little yellow guy out. I’m going to start in the back of the house, because that’s where the sun is shining that early. I plug it in and then I get the hose and remember that I have to connect it to the little gasket thingy. Well, that isn’t working out so well. It’s not connecting, it’s just sliding right back out again. I’m trying to remember, with all my might, if this was an issue a year ago.
I try it every which way, turn it around, no. The water just isn’t coming out of that thing. So let’s try a different hose with a different gasket. No, that doesn’t work either.
I go up to the garage, find another gasket and figure out how to get it to connect correctly. Houston, we have water.
Okay, fine, but, now we don’t have a motor. It’s not turning on. It JUST TURNED ON! Why won’t it turn on now that I have the water going?!?!?!
I’m frustrated. I go back in the house. I think about e-mailing my husband. No. I don’t want to give up that easy.
I go back outside and bring the thing up to the deck outside of the kitchen. I’m convinced it could be an electrical problem with the cord or the outlets I’ve been trying. But even the kitchen outlet doesn’t make it purr.
I walk around the house a bit, thinking that this was SUCH the PRESSURE WASHING DAY! How could it be ruined. What else would I do?
So I go take a walk down yonder in the back acre where the weeds have declared this Northern Californian backyard, a veritable jungle. I’m actually searching for my other power tool friend, the Husqvarna Weed Whacker. Well, either the jungle weeds have eaten it, or my husband has hidden it from me because he thinks I might attempt this. But as I walk through the jungle, I have visions of paid gardeners and the Wooly Weeder Sheep that have become popular in our neck of the woods. I’m thinking this job has become even too big for little old me.
Back into the house. What’s a girl to do but get on the internet and download the Kärcher Manual pdf file. ”You must hold down the trigger or the motor will not start.” HA! How could I forget this important instruction!
Note to self: Remember to read the Instruction Manual before Pressure Washing. Or remember to hold down the trigger before starting the motor.
Go outside, push trigger, turn knob to “ON,” the little guy starts growling. WOOHOOO!!! We have lift-off. Now if I can just get the hose back on this sucker.
I do and I’m in business.
Oh the joy of cleaning the excessively mossy flagstone to reveal a clean pink sheen. The feeling of accomplishment is oozing from my trigger-holding hand.
So we have some more gasket issues. My quick-fix replacement is not really holding it’s own for very long. And then finally, the motor stops. Just dead stops. I think to myself, am I forgetting something? Do I need to read the manual again? Is something out of balance? Have I flooded the engine, literally? And as I lift it up I smell a hint of warm engine exhaust. Over-heated. Did I remember that from last year either? Nope.
