I purchased a manufacturer accessory five-foot tip extension wand for my pressure washer last summer. It was chrome-plated with brass quick coupler fittings on each end. I was not concerned with the construction. After all, who could screw up a water pipe with quick couplers on each end? I only used the extension as needed and kept it hanging on the shop wall most of the time.
After three days (approximately 45 minutes of actual use) the tip discharge pattern started to narrow and quickly plugged. Removing the tip and tapping it on the driveway resulted in pieces of rust falling out. Using a sharpened brazing (brass) rod to probe the tip resulted in even more rust falling from it. Due to my use of irrigation water for pressure washing, I have installed a high-quality inlet filter for pump protection, and immediately had visions of the pump being ruined due to filter failure. An inspection of the filter revealed that it was clean and working correctly.
Visual inspection of the wand extension showed that it was almost completely plugged with rust. I called the manufacturer and was told that the cleaning solution I was using was probably corrosive. My question: "Why didn't the primary wand rust?"
I went to the store where I purchased the wand to exchange it. I tapped the replacement on the customer service counter, and a small amount of rust fell out. Inspection of all of the others in the store had the same result.
Using the rental department's tools, I unscrewed one of the fittings and cut a piece of Poly pipe that fit tightly into the pipe and was long enough to attach a fish wire. With a little wire-pulling lube I was able to line the pipe. After a few trial cuts, I was able to thread the fittings on the pipe without crushing the poly but with enough crush to create somewhat of a seal. I was not concerned with flow restriction as the pipe was sized a great deal larger than the tip for resistance to bending.
I would guess that plating the working surface at the same time as the exterior would be a simple solution, but I don't work in accounting. I am still using the extension without any further problems.
This entry was submitted by Jim Hepler and edited by Rob Spiegel.
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Interesting, William K. Yet many of these companies are fairly competent with their marketing. Seems they would have a better bead on their customers. But, who maybe not.
Good point, Dave2012. Yet at a certain point, I would think crummy products would begin to come with costs -- both in replacement and damage to the brand. I think we're seen quite a bit of this over the past couple decades and once-stellar brands have taken a giant hit on quality.
It is possible that the tube was originally designed to be plated internally. The product was then shipped overseas for mass production at a low cost manufacturer. Someone there decided that skipping the internal plating would save cost and time on the production floor. The product was made and shipped to the US for sale hoping that no one would complain. Now the manufacturer is no longer a supplier, but the end company has too many in the distribution to change them out and the consumer loses. It has happened before and will happen again.
This reminded me of the last time I actually refinished my own deck--a ton of backbreaking work even with one of those sprayers that's built somewhat similarly to this one. Of course, I bought the cheapo plastic one, and of course, no one told me it would clog no matter how I tried to clean it. So yep, when I went back to finish the rest of the project a few days later, the $40 sprayer was plugged and could not be fixed. I was supposed to go buy another one. I did the rest by hand, cussing all the way. I later learned this is standard--what nonsense!
A lot of items are really only intended to be used once, with the rationalizing being that the average consumer would purchase the product for a specific use and then not use it again. Superscope did that with their cassette recorders back in the early 1980s. The mechanical parts were made of cheap plastic and they would wear out with any amount of use. The explanation that I was given was that "they are intended for somebody who buys it, uses it once, then puts it in a drawer and does not use it again".
That kind of thinking is more common today than ever, and it shows up as a constant string of products to be described in this column.
There are alot of products on the market that are not made to perform, they're made to sell. If you produce a product cheap enough for the big chains, it doesn't matter if it works well or lasts.
Busness is business. ...and that's the way Business is taught.
If the extension is chrome plated, then it was probably electroplated. While it might seem as if it would be easy to plate the inside surface of the tube at the same time the outside was plated, in reality electroplating is not this simple. Electroplating the inside of a long, narrow tube is difficult because an electrode must be placed inside the tube. I.D. plating is also made difficult because the anode area is so much smaller than the surface being plated. I am sure the chrome-plated tube looks cool (on the outside), but it was a bad choice because even if the inside of the tube were plated, it would probably be bad plating.
As you discovered, there are other choices for extension wand materials and finishes, such as galvanized steel or (unfinished) aluminum.
Your poly pipe fix won't stop the internal rusting (in fact, it will probably accelerate the corrosion), but at least you'll keep the rust out of the nozzle for a while.
Now how stupid can this be? Here's a device that is designed to be used with water, and it rusts up almost instantly. Apparently this product didn't get a decent field test.
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