Also, pressure washing them can, in the worst case, send water inside their electrical box, leading to a corrosion-induced electrical failure. ![]() ![]() These objects are both easily damaged by high pressure water. Don’t wash outdoor light fixtures, outlet receptacles covers, transformer boxes, doorbells, cameras, or backup generator cabinets. Their narrow spray angle provides more cutting action but is more likely to damage a surface. Reserve red and yellow nozzles only for the toughest cleaning. Use a green or a white nozzle for most jobs their broad spray angle is less likely to damage surfaces.There are some key things you need to know to clean safely and effectively. Of the two, the risk is higher with gas-engine machines owing to the fact that they’re generally more powerful. However, pressure washers by their nature demand careful and deliberate handling, both for your sake and that of whatever you’re cleaning.īoth electric and gas pressure washers can damage surfaces. Photo: Trevor Raab A Word About SafetyĪll the machines we tested were safe to use, and we encountered nothing in them that caused us any concern. Also, these are best stored over the winter in the garage or an outbuilding. Today’s alcohol-containing gasoline quickly degrades and can damage fuel-system parts like carburetors and gas lines. Not to mention you have to be careful about fuel degradation. A gas engine is much louder than an electric motor, plus requires maintenance in the form of oil changes, replacement air filters, and a yearly change of the spark plug. The power afforded by a gas engine can drive a large and powerful pump, enabling these machines to shoot water to higher surfaces, clean heavier deposits of mold and dirt, and even slice thick deposits of mud from equipment such as farm machinery, trucks, and off-road vehicles. Gas: These are best suited to heavy-duty cleaning. As a bonus, they’re easy to store indoors during the winter. These are much quieter than gas-engine pressure washers, and they need hardly any maintenance. Their motor, cord, and ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) can get extremely hot. They’re not well suited to heavy-duty cleaning or long sessions in the height of the summer. They work well on wood and synthetic decks that need only gentle cleaning, all types of outdoor furniture, single-floor ranch houses, all types of exterior siding, and will clean the undercarriage of a pickup truck. They have enough power for general washing of outdoor surfaces. One is not necessarily better than the other, but which you buy will depend on your cleaning needs, budget, and how you feel about maintaining the equipment you own.Įlectric: These are best suited for brief cleaning sessions, running from 15 to 30 minutes. The pump that provides the high-velocity jet of water out of a pressure washer may be driven by a gas engine or an electric motor. By selecting the right one, you rely less on the pressure washer’s force and more on the gentle removal of grime by the chemical action of the cleaner. “The cleaning agent you use is as important as the pressure washer itself,” says Morabit. ![]() The cycle is always the same: clean, rinse, repeat. You apply the cleaner and then rinse the surface. “Think of it this way: The kinetic energy in that pulse of water is like a chisel being struck repeatedly by a hammer.”Īnd since residential pressure washers also dispense cleaner, either out of a built-in tank (e) or by siphoning it out of a bucket, they clean via mechanical and chemical means. “It’s important to understand that the pump produces cleaning and rinsing efficiencies with high-velocity water pulsations,” says Vince Morabit, a mechanical engineer who’s designed and developed outdoor power equipment from pumps to chainsaws since the early 1960s. When you pull the gun’s trigger, you send a series of high-pressure pulses of water out the nozzle. Next, the water travels down the hose to the gun (d). This component unloads water if it gets too hot because the gun’s trigger is off. The water moves through a component called the unloader (c). The last pulse of high-pressure water exits the pump. Each plunger boosts the water pressure sequentially, one feeding higher pressure water to the plunger next in line. The plungers are powered by an output shaft on the engine or from a motor. Water enters the pressure washer via a garden hose (a) and moves through a pump, which consists of a series of two or three plungers (b) arranged in a line or a circle.
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