Power Pressure Washers

Power Pressure Washers have become a very common sight for household users, and different models and brands have flooded the market to cater to this need. There are an entire range of machines with different levels of cleaning efficiency from 1200 PSI to 4,000 PSI to meet all your cleaning needs, from the light weight handy man cleaning to heavy duty applications for small businesses.

Here is a brief power pressure washers buying guide to help your narrow down your choices.

What Are You Cleaning?
If you are planning to do household spring cleaning, your criteria of choice should be very different from those who are planning to start a pressure washing business with power pressure washers for industrial environment. If your business contracts require to disinfect apart from cleaning the surfaces, you would also require steam pressure washers as well.

If you are conducting normal home cleaning as in the scenario above, Cold water pressure washers will do the job just fine, are less expensive and use much less fuel. However, should you need to clean dirty, stubborn thick globs of grease, hot water pressure washers are more powerful and is the better choice.

Note that there are some models in the market which provides both hot and cold pressure washing functions which hence does not require you to buy two pressure washers, but of course, the cost would be higher for the great convenience accorded.

Where Are You Cleaning Most Often?
Should you be cleaning nooks and crevasses and difficult to reach exterior areas, or your summer lodge in the middle of the wood with limited and unreliable electrical power source, you would need a very different pressure washer from the cord connected electric pressure washers. Since mobility and portability is key to your needs in this case, you would do well to purchase a gas powered pressure washers instead.

It is important to note though that Gas Pressure Washers are more portable but is only for exterior cleaning use as the units will produce lethal amounts of carbon monoxide when used in enclosed areas.

How Often Do You Clean?
If you are planning to do regular weekly household cleaning, you will need a reliable pressure washer which lets you stretch your dollar further. You would not want a buy a pressure washer which keeps breaking down in the midst of cleaning out the greasy garage oil drips or the dog house for instance.

For Home Or Commercial Use?
Should you be planning to stat a power pressure washing business, you might need to have a wider range of machines to cater to different contracted cleaning jobs. Cleaning an industrial factory is very different from cleaning a home. Pressure washers which fit the bill for cleaning homes would have PSI ratings of 1,200 to 2,000, and most of which are electric pressure washers which cost less. Gas pressure washers have higher PSI ratings from 2,000 to 4,000 and are designed to handle heavy duty cleaning.

If saving time is important your purpose, then a heavy duty Power Pressure Washers would suffice better as they are capable of cutting cleaning times by at least half. That said, heavy duty power pressure washers would need more storage space compared to their compact counterparts.

Get more in depth understanding of PSI, GPM and CU at Power Pressure Washers Buying Guide Part 2 or visit our other categories for more good reads.

Cold Water Pressure Washers are by far the most popular type of Power Pressure Washers. There is no need for a burner to be attached to the machine for heating up water, hence do not require heating fuels. They are much more light weight, and are multipurpose in handling very varied types of cleaning tasks, catering to both indoors and outdoors general cleaning purposes. The most common and popular version is the Cold Water Electric Pressure Washers and have become a basic cleaning tools for many households. The other popular type is Cold Water Gas Pressure Washers which are powered by gasoline but these models can only be used outdoors due to the carbon monoxide emissions.

Cold Water Electric Pressure Washers vs Cold Water Gas Pressure Washers
Most Cold Water Electric Pressure Washers are very handy and light. They are designed to look like vacuum cleaners and are small enough not to take up too much storage space. Most can both stand vertically or horizontally and have roller wheels for easy maneuvering. The technical specifications of the electric models range from the less powerful 1,200PSI to 2,000PSI. Alternatively the gas or diesel models are mostly mounted on portable metal frames and wheels with metal covers for greater protection and enhanced mobility. These units are for outdoor use only and can be hand truck mounted, cage mounted on wheels and skid mounted without wheels. Each style has its application. These models usually have cleaning efficiencies ranging up to 4,000PSI.

Where and When To Use Cold Water Pressure Washers
Remote areas where AC power is unreliable or not available, like a summer lodge in the woods or by the river, use gas versions. You might also consider diesel ones as well if you are located in areas where diesel fuel is easily available. Bear in mind that these washers can only be used for outdoor or exterior cleaning as the carbon monoxide released from burning the gasoline or diesel could be fatal when used indoors or unventilated enclosed space.

Direct Drive or Belt Driven Units
Both electric and gas versions are configured as direct drive or belt driven units. Direct drive units are lower maintenance while the belt driven units gives longer life. Direct Drive units are made very compact, much more affordable and most suitable for household usage whereby you do general house cleaning twice a year and the activity levels are not high.

The Belt Driven units redirects the drive motor vibrations away from the pump with the belt, helping to isolate the vibration, thereby extending the life of the pump. So, if you plan to use your pressure washers over long hours on a daily basis, probably for your own cleaning business, the Belt driven units will be more suited to your needs.

Always understand what your needs are before you commit to the right power pressure washer model. Cold Water Electric Pressure Washers serves household cleaning tasks well enough, but should you be looking for mobility and versatility for cleaning in more energy challenging locations and venues, Diesel or Gas Pressure Washers are more suitable.

Before you can decide whether you need Cold Or Hot Water Pressure Washer, you need to understand the difference of the two and which would work better for you.

Know The Two Key Types of Power Pressure Washers
The truth of the fact is that often enough, Hot Water Pressure Washers work better than cold. In most cleaning tasks, you would notice that hot water works best. Take a simple example for instance, when doing your dishes, try using cold water to remove the grease on your plates and cutleries. Then switch to hot water and the grease is gone in a jiff. The same applies in the case of the water pressure washer. Hot water coupled with right amount of pressure serve as very effective cleansing tool for the user. Effective as hot water pressure washers are in removing stubborn grease and aged dirt marks, there are certain tasks that the cold water pressure washers excel better.

Cold Water Pressure Washers are the more commonly used counterparts of its hot water based machines. The cold water version is more versatile in its usage and practically used in almost all heavy duty general cleansing which do not need to remove extensive patches of grease. Its versatility lies in the powerful pressure jet stream which enables pressure cleaning with the sheer force of water. It is powerful enough for general exterior cleaning and grime removal, but not oil and grease. If used to remove oil, the power jet would scatter the oil deposits around the area instead of breaking down the oil components like its hot water counterpart. That said, you would surely prefer to use a cold water pressure washer to clean your garden fence and the exterior of your home. Imagine melting the paint on your garden fence and killing all your plants with the hot water version!

In addition to its versatility, there is the element of weight, which the cold water pressure washers weight a lot less, without the cumbersome water heater pack that comes with its hot water version. A water pressure washer would cost a lot cheaper with the heater pack and of course, the fuel consumption is also very much reduced. Apart from costing less, you also enjoy the convenience for carrying along a less bulky water pressure washer.

Match Your Cleansing Tasks with the Right Power Pressure Washers
In order to decide whether you need a cold or hot water pressure washer, you must firstly know what you need it for. That is, what you are cleaning will largely decide which of the two you should use.

Cold Water Pressure Washers are a common sight whereby the municipal offices commissions for cleaning public works like pavements, sidewalks, drains, gutters, government buildings etc. Commercial property management setups utilize the cold water pressure washers to maintain the required level of building cleanliness under their charge. Due to its light weight, the home user is catching on with the cold water pressure washer and saving tons of money doing their own cleaning instead of renting cleaning services. I too, am a direct beneficiary of this tool. The key reason of its popularity for home use is the flexibility it accords their users,

Hot Water Pressure Washers, by contract, are most effective when used to remove stubborn grease, oil, wax etc, they are more often utilized in industrial factories such greasy engineering manufacturing plants, oil exploration rigs, fatty foods processing plants, abattoirs, just to name a few. The heat and pressure power form a formidable force capable of even thoroughly removing and melting away the waxy clumps of grease in seconds, which the cold water pressure washer is not able to do.

Check out Hot Water Gas Pressure Washers, more on Hot Water Presssure Washers and other good reads.