Using a pressure washer to clean your home or commercial space can save you a lot of time and money, especially if you have decided to clean it yourself. Driveways, sidewalks, patios, pool decks, courtyards and even outdoor barbecues can be cleaned quickly and effectively with this tool, but it is important to know how to use it properly in order avoid damaging these surfaces, the machine you’re using, or harming yourself.
There are two kinds of pressure washers available; garden house attachment nozzles and motorized spray wand washers. Both take the pressure of water and concentrate it through a funnel opening in order to maximize output pressure and clean efficiently.
Garden hose attachments are simply added to your run of the mill garden hose for a more dramatic, more powerful cleaning effect. These are not as powerful as the motorized pressure washers and can be found at almost any local home and garden store.
The motorized versions are powered by pumps, which run with the aid of gasoline engines or an electric motor. The hose end of these pressure washers is called a spray wand. The spray wand is similar to a hose, except that is rigid and has a handle with a sort of trigger that acts as the release valve. As with garden hose attachments, the spray wand uses a variety of interchangeable, removable tips that concentrate the pressure stream of water into a particular shape (such as a linear spray) or funnel it further to give it more power.
Before trying to use your pressure washing tool, it is extremely important that you read though the entire user’s manual, particularly if your first use will be a difficult cleaning job. Not all pressure washers work in exactly the same way, so it is best to become acquainted with how your machine functions before hand, so that you know how to control it once it is up and running. Not doing this could be catastrophic, resulting in damage to property, machinery or physical wounds to yourself and those around you.
Most motorized models will come with at least five different attachment nozzles the most common of which are the zero degree (the most powerful and dangerous of the nozzles), the fifteen degree wide spray pattern (meant for heavy duty cleaning), the twenty five degree tip (general cleaning), the wide forty degree spray pattern (adequate for light cleaning) and the widest tip, the sixty five degree spray pattern, which is the safest of the nozzles and is best used for applying cleaning detergents to surfaces before pressure washing.
Safety accessories are essential and for anyone using a pressure washer, these should always include safety goggles, ear protectors and work gloves, no matter whether the wash is taking place in your backyard or in a commercial area.
Learn more on general pumps and High Pressure Hose.