Pro tip: Spent $3,800 on a hydrojetter and it paid for itself in 6 months or burned me bad

I dropped cash on a new hydrojetter for clearing stubborn grease lines in restaurants. First two jobs went smooth, but on the third I blew a fitting and had water spraying everywhere in a kitchen. Now I'm wondering if I should've just rented one when needed or if the buy was worth it for long term jobs. Anyone else go through this with expensive gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

victorcoleman1mo ago

Didn't I read somewhere that most of those hydrojetter failures come from not checking the o-rings before every job? That $3,800 price tag stings when you're standing in a puddle on someone's clean floor. I've seen guys go back and forth on renting versus buying and it always comes down to how many jobs you're really running through it. If you're doing restaurant work steady, the buy probably makes sense once you get the kinks worked out. One blowout doesn't mean the whole thing was a bad call, just a bad day.

the_wyatt1mo ago

Yeah but didn't you read that one thread where a guy said his hydrojetter lasted ten years because he treated every single hose connection like it was made of glass? I heard something about how most of these blowouts happen when people skip the basic checks and just crank the pressure up. Sounds like you got unlucky but that doesn't mean the machine is a dud. Rentals are fine for one off jobs but if you're doing restaurant grease lines every month the math works out different. You just gotta slow down and check those fittings like your paycheck depends on it, because it does.