Hows this pressure washer for a weekend warrior?

Well, I just ordered the AR383. I should have by next week. I'll give a review once I use it.

 

were you able to find a foam lance for it?

 

what fitting you using for foam lance?

 

To tell you the truth, I never knew it needed one. Where would I look for one? I hope I dont have to cancel my order

 

Apparently it comes with one.

Product Description
AR383 Features: Cold water electric pressure washer. Constructed of Copper, Aluminum and Plastic. Includes an accessory kit complete with gun, adjustable jet nozzle, high pressure hose and lance with foam dispenser. With a two-wheel trolley mounted unit with handle and hose reel. Automatic safety valve with pressure shut-off at pump head. -Total Stop System (TSS) for automatic start/stop. Attachable foamer/soap bottle. Equipped with a 3 axial-piston wobble plate pump, long-lasting induction motor, gun-wand. Gun wand assembly with a fully adjustable spray head, detergent tank, water filter, detergent injector kit and high pressure hose. -Rotary nozzle and TSS standard. GFCI and automatic safety valve with low pressure by-pass is standard on all blue clean models. Max. Volume: 1.5 GPM. Max. Pressure: 1,900 PSI. Universal electric motor 120 Volts, 60 HZ, 11 Amps. Annovi Reverberi Triplex 3 axial-piston wobble plate pump with tempered stainless steel plungers. Manual Sheet Instruction Sheet.

 

Congratulations, looking forward to see what your thoughts are on this product!

 

The PW showed up this morning. I havent done a thorough inspection, but at a first glance it looks great. I'll try to use it this weekend and give a review on it.

 

I have not tried it on siding, but I'm sure it would do just fine. It's not as strong as my gas powered, but I see no reason to have that powerful of a unit for auto detailing.

I'm sure that unit will work awesome for you, I went over a year without using a power washer even though I always had one. I just hated lugging the gas powered unit around, electric is so much more convenient. I will never wash a vehicle with a power washer now.

The fitting I have on my foam cannon is called "Karcher HD/HDS". If you look at the different fittings on autogeek (not sure of another site that shows the fittings) you can tell what kind of fitting I'm talking about.

Congrats on the unit, I'm sure it is going to be a reliable unit. Just be sure to read the instructions (sounds dumb I know) but I wouldn't have thought to squeeze the trigger on the gun at the same time as hitting the power button on my unit without reading the booklet. Anything to make the unit last longer I do by the manufacturers instructions.

 

So you have an AR610, and are able to connect a foam cannon using the Karcher fitting? What model foam cannon do you have? Are you connecting the cannon directly to the gun (or the short lance attached to it)?

Want to find a unit under $200 or so to which I can connect a foam cannon, but it really is proving to be quite difficult. I was hoping that the AR118 might be an option since it uses 1/4" quick connect as the 610 does.

Don't want to hijack your thread, as I'm very interested in hearing how you like this PW. I had just purchased an AR383 like the OP, and got this MTM Hydro foam cannon from Pressure Washers Direct, and was unable to connect them. I also had tried this adapter set at Home Depot in hopes one of the generic adapters would work, but no luck.

Just for grins I called AR North America and asked one of their salespeople about connecting the 383 to a foam cannon, and it sounded like there would be several different adapters needed, if it was even possible (didn't sound hopeful).

 

There'se a Q&A page on the foam lance at MTM Hydro 14.0263 - Detergent Foamer Attachment

Q: Which connector would I need to use the MTM Hydro Detergent Foamer Attachment with your AR blue clean 1500psi pressure washer?

A: This foamer attachment will not work with AR pressure washers. AR connections have a larger 15mm inner connector that are only compatible with AR attachments. Unfortunately we do not carry an AR foamer attachment seperately.

 

The foam cannon I bought from autogeek hooked right up to my AR610, in a roundabout way. The gun on the AR610 is a 2-piece mechanism, the spray nozzle can screw into the gun nozzle. However, screwing/unscrewing both pieces makes it difficult to swap between the foam cannon and spray nozzle. So I went to the power washer section of home depot and bought a couple adapters so my foam cannon and spray nozzle have quick disconnects on them.

Power Care 3/8 in. Female Quick Connect x Male M22 Connector for Pressure Washers - AP31041 at The Home Depot

This connector connects to the gun, similar to a disconnect on an air line.

Power Care Female M22 x 3/8 in. Male Quick-Connect Connector for Pressure Washers - AP31040 at The Home Depot

This connector connects to the spray wand.

Power Care 3/8 in. Male Quick Connect x Male M22 Connector for Pressure Washers - AP31039 at The Home Depot

This connector connects to the foam cannon. Please note, the foam cannon I got from autogeek gives you the option to pick with connector that you will need for your power washer. I chose the Karcher HD/HDS connector, not because I had/have a Karcher, but because that is the TYPE of connection the power washer uses.

I took everything apart and snapped a couple pics to better show what I'm talking about. Gun-->Female Disconnect-->Male Disconnect-->Spray Wand
Then, Male Disconnect--->Adapter that I chose with the foam cannon-->Foam Cannon


Closeup shot, having the disconnects allows me to quickly change between the spray wand and foam cannon.


So, you just have to understand what type on connection your power washer has. If it's the type that has the spray wand that can screw on to the gun, then the setup above would work, as it works great for me and its quick and easy for my setup. I'm sure other power washer connections may be easier, but I'm working with what I got.

Hope this helps, let me know if anyone else has any questions.

-Kody-

 

Excellent write-up & photos, Kody, thanks for that - it was really helpful.

Evidently the AR610 utilizes a different gun with a different connector type on the gun than does the AR383. In order to connect anything to the gun requires using a bayonet type adapter like this



but since these aren't readily available that I know if, it's tough to tell what type of connection can be made to the end. So I ended up trying the generic adapter set from HD that I listed, and the bayonets are close but not quite right.

My sense is that on a lower end model like the AR118, the connection on the gun won't be like yours which makes it easy to use readily available QC fittings.

To stay within the price range it sounds like it's just easier to get a Karcher.

When I talked to the AR guy, I discovered that their office is here in the Twin Cites, and he actually lives about a mile from me. Maybe I can get him to look at my gear & see what adapters, other guns, etc. might be workable.

 

In looking at the AR383 online, it looks like the the gun/wand assembly is in 3 pieces, gun-->wand extension-->spray wand

If the wand extension is screwed to the gun base, you might be able to utilize the same setup as I use. It all depends if that one extension piece screws on/off. Obviously, it's probably not designed to come off, but if it does, it might open some options for you. This is where seeing the actually unit would be beneficial. Maybe you can go check one out since AR is close to you.

One of the fittings on autogeek that comes with their foam cannon looks like it's pretty similar to the connection type on the AR383, but again, there's no guarantee since you can't try everything out first.

Good luck with your search.

-Kody-

 

the AR383 has a wand extension? weird mine didn't come with one.

 

Yeah, it comes with the gun/handle & 2 different lances. I got mine on Amazon.

 

right, still no wand extension...

 

Just an informative post as I see this *gun fit* question all the day.

Guys, if you step away from the pressure washer unit itself, then the remaining components is the hose, gun/trigger, extension and tip.
Depending if you decide to stay with OEM, or just go industry standard....it just boils down to the fittings to make them work, which they all exist, it's just a matter of obtaining them. Gender changers, etc.

I run 1/4 quick disconnects, 3/8 on the hose, etc. The only other quirk for me was a M22 I needed on my portable camspray.
I spend a little $$$ on standardized connectors but now, I can use the hose, gun, extensions, etc on both my portable camspray and larger pressure washer....

 

What I mean by "wand extension" is the shaft that the spray wand attaches to. In the pics it looks like it can unscrew from the gun. Which could open up different options for running the foam cannon.

 

Ok, heres my brief review of the AR383. It appears well made, especially for the price. The cord is pretty long and the hose is too(though very stiff). It come with a soap container and 2 wands. The pressure is perfect for what I need it to be. I dont need to strip paint or anything for that matter, just a steady pressure of water to clean. Its not too loud though this is the first PW I have ever operated so I really cant compare it to others. The biggest disappointment for me is the fact that there is no extension to the soap canister. I tried it out and it shot a week soapy water with no real pressure or foam at all. I tried to see if I can connect any of the wands to the canister to add pressure and really foam the car and I couldnt. I was very disappointed to say the least. I shouldve done more homework on this. It wouldve made sense for them to have an adapter to the canister to add a wand. Its too bad. It looks like I'm gonna return this to Amazon unless I can some how find a solution.

 

it doesn't come with a foam lance, it's a detergent bottle to use with the detergents AR sells.

I am going to get the foam cannon from autogeek with the lavor fitting and see if it works on the AR383 unit.