Pressure Washers.
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Intro to pressure washers
A pressure washer generate tremendous force and are used to clean large surfaces. The most powerful pressure washers should only be handled by professionals, but you can get several models that are intended for ordinary household use.
When starting out you should keep good distance to the surface you are about to clean. If you get too close the powerful stream of water may damage the surface. So the trick is to move closer as needed
The pressure washers that generate the most force are gas powered. Usually an electric powered pressure washer is sufficient for household use.
Pressure washers are for people who needs to save time on their cleaning or if they have serious cleaning needs. There aren't very many types of pressure washers to choose from and as with most things it depends on the actual need which would be the wiser choice.
In the following I will try and clarify what different types of pressure washers can do for you and if you need one at all. In other words, if the garden hose is sufficient, there's really no need for a pressure washer.
What is a pressure washer?
First of all, lets have a short look at what a pressure washer is. For those of you who are not interested in the technicalities go ahead and skip to the next section of interest.
As the name strongly implies the pressure washer is constructed to raise the water to a high pressure. This is simply because that a faster spray of water will remove more dirt and notably faster than you or your garden hose would.
The pressure washer is either electric or gas-powered and have different PSI (measure unit for pressure) ratings generally 1000 to 5000 PSI. For higher pressure applications the gasoline powered units will prove the most pressure.
Is this more than my garden hose?
The garden hose at your home will deliver about 40 PSI of water pressure in a flow of 8 gallons per minute. A pressure washer will as mentioned typically have a pressure of 1000 to 5000 PSI and use about 2 gallons or less water per minute. This is less than a quarter of what the garden hose will use so pressure washers actually helps saving water. Maybe it is not much but little still has right.
Cleaning units (CU)
Cleaning units will help the consumer relate and compare the different pressure washers to each other.
More precisely, the cleaning units of a pressure washer will inform you about how effective the pressure washer is. The CU value is calculated by multiplying the PSI and the flow of the particular unit. Naturally, the higher the pressure and the higher the water flow, the more dirt the water beam will be able to remove.
Example: A pressure washer with a pressure of 2000 PSI and a water flow of 2 gallons per minute will have a cleaning unit number CU = 2000*2 = 4000.
| Up to 3000 CU's | Light duty | Autos
Lawn
Furniture
Small Decks
Grills |
| 3000 - 5000 CU's | Medium duty | Autos
Boats
Decks
Lawn Mowers
Sidewalks |
| 5000 to 8000 CU's | Heavy duty | Exterior Siding
Trucks
Pools
Store fronts |
| 8000 CU's and up | Industrial duty | Fleets
Kennels
Graffiti Removal |
How strong a pressure washer do I need?
For washing say 1-2 cars and for home cleaning use an electric unit will be sufficient. If you need your pressure washers to go above 3000 CUs you will usually need a gas powered pressure washer.
For more heavy use and particularly in industrial use it's important that you will have a unit with so much power that it can run continuously for hours. These will typically be gas powered power washers.
Also note where you are going to use the washer. Is it a place near to and electric (and grounded GFI) outlet? If not you should consider the gas powered models that you can take anywhere you want to.
Below is listed the most usual places where power washers are used. Go over them and consider where/what you personally needs are. Main decisions being pressure need and gas/electric need.
Top 10 places to use a pressure washer:
- House exterior cleaning (before restoration and painting)
- Patio
- Driveway and walkway
- Car or motorcycle
- Garage floor
- Outdoor furniture
- Garden equipment
- Dog kennel
- Boat
- SUV vehicles
Types and brands of pressure washers
- Karcher pressure washers
- Honda pressure washers
- Electric pressure washers
- Kew pressure washers
- Generac pressure washers
- High pressure washers
- Delta pressure washers
- Excell pressure washers
- Landa pressure washers
- Hot water pressure washers
- Excel pressure washers
- Refurbished pressure washers
- Devilbiss pressure washers
- Ex-cell pressure washers
- Electric power pressure washers
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