The set up
Using the pressure washer in this way means that the water is gravity fed. It may be helpful to put the water drum up on a step, or on a table or something like that, so that it's higher than the pressure washer, to assist gravity in feeding water to the pressure washer.
- First thing to do is to apply some plumbers tape/thread seal tape to the thread on the sprinkler adapter that will go into the water drum. This will ensure you don't get any leaks from your water source and that you get a good seal.
- Take the lid off the drum (and leave it off - this helps with suction from the bottom bung), and unscrew the bung from the bottom of your water container, and screw in the sprinkler adapter. You may need a flat head screw driver or similar to remove the bung from the water drum. Have a look inside the water drum and make sure there's nothing in there that could potentially block the pressure washer (any foreign material, plastic, dirt etc).
- Hook up the control valve end of the hose to the bung in the water drum, and make sure it's set to stop the flow of water (we're about to fill the drum).
- Place something underneath the back of the water drum, so that it leans forward slightly (here we've used the trigger head of a hose, but a small piece of wood or something similar would be fine). This will help when the water drum becomes almost empty, as it's able to pick more water up from the bottom of the drum. We've used a hose head here.
- Fill your water drum and buckets for washing from your tap.