Pressure Washer Tips

How to get the most out of your pressure washer

Pressure washers can blast dirt, moss, algae, and mud away with just the power of water, reducing your use of chemical cleaners. They’re also heavily used in the construction industry to clean equipment and materials.

Their pressure rating is determined in Bars. 110 bar is low pressure, good for gardens and sensitive surfaces. 180 bars or over is high power. Their flow rate will come in litres.

You must also look at the PSI, or pounds per square inch. Anything under 2,000 PSI is considered best for light use, and high pressure is above 6,000 PSI. Anything over 7,000 PSI gives incredible cleaning performance beyond what an ordinary household would need.

Ensuring your pressure washer performs how you need it to is a matter of choosing the right bar and PSI level, and ensuring you set your power washer up correctly. While you can’t change the inner workings of your pressure washer, such as the pump, you can change the cleaning performance of the outgoing water.

Speedy Hire has a range of pressure washers available to hire, whether you need a hot pressure washer to blast away oil and grease, or a cold pressure washer to clean flagstones.

Below are some tips on how to get the best cleaning performance out of your pressure washer. Always remember to wear PPE such as gloves, work boots, and eye protection when pressure washing, as the force of the water can be dangerous.

Any required PPE can be purchased through Speedy Hire, at the same time as hiring your equipment and power tools.

How to increase the power of your pressure washer

The most important factor is to hire the pressure washer with the correct bar for your needs. If you’re blasting away years of dirt, or tough stains such as grease and oil, you need a high GPM. Just cleaning your patio will need power but not too forceful, and cleaning a car/windows will require a low GPM so it doesn’t cause damage to the surface.

Make sure there’s no kinks in the hose

For the water to flow at full force, it needs to be able to travel smoothly through your hose. If it has to go round bends or is stopped by kinks, it will reduce the pressure, and potentially even cause too much pressure to build up inside the hose, causing it to disconnect from the tap.

A hose which isn’t kinked or rounded will help here, so don’t use one which is too long for the job and area. A hose with a large diameter will also help with water flow.

Avoid expandable hoses

Don’t use an expandable hose. While it can be done, they’re generally quite thin and have a small diameter, and the pressure running through them can be too much for the material, causing issues or even loosening the hose from the pressure washer.

Using an expandable hose may be fine if you’re using a low GPM, but not for high pressure jobs.

Adjust the nozzle

You can adjust the nozzle of the pressure washer, and indeed change the nozzle, to suit the application.

Just as with the nozzle of an ordinary hose, nozzles can often be adjusted for the correct flow rate, but to change the output type of the pressure washer, you will likely need to change the nozzle.

A smaller nozzle opening gives you a more precise, narrow stream of water, which is more forceful. This is great for targeting really tough stains on hard surfaces, such as concrete. You need to avoid fragile areas when using this, though.

A larger nozzle opening is good for sprays covering a larger area, but the water force won’t be as strong. Specialist nozzles, such as turbo nozzles, can also be used for frequent tough cleaning, such as in construction or a garage.

Only use nozzles designed for use with the model of your pressure washer. Anything else could affect the power, having a detrimental effect on your washer.

Choosing the right accessories

While for most jobs, a nozzle will suffice, you can also purchase additional attachments which can help if cleaning specialist items.

Firstly, pressure washer accessories from one brand are usually not compatible with a pressure washer from another brand. So, you need to decide what you want your pressure washer for and the types of jobs you will be doing to decide which you want.

Patios may benefit from a dedicated patio cleaner. This is a large flat disc, often with bristles, which rotates while cleaning, loosening the dirt which the water then blasts away.

Tough but fragile items to clean, such as barbecues, may benefit from a smaller scrubbing brush. These are often nylon bristles, but can also be tougher materials if needed, similar to a Brillo pad or metal scourer.

A foam cannon will allow you to also use cleaning foam with the pressure washer, which can help loosen tough dirt and result in a more thorough clean.