Power Pressure Washers

Power Pressure Washers come with an average warranty of 1 year of parts and servicing although some do cover a period of 3 years for servicing. When planning to buy a pressure washer, you will need to consider many factors such as frequency of usage, the types of usage, and the type of machine considered for purchase. Often enough, electric pressure washers are effective for home cleaning, be it indoors or outdoors, as there are certain skills in using them to enhance the effects of the cleaning.

On the other hand, if you are buying a few machines to start a small pressure washing business the nature of usage would be very different from that of a home use machine. If the purpose if for business, you need to account for potential the amount of usage indoors and outdoors, all depending on your cleaning contracts. Most commercial pressure washers would be at least 3,000 or 4,000 PSI for effective industrial cleaning. Commercial Diesel or Gas Powered Pressure Washers are more often the choice for small businesses. In addition, if you deal mostly with industrial grease removal, you will require powerful commercial machines with the full array of detergent and grease removal agents. To meet such cleaning needs, Hot Water Pressure Washers are more effective than the cold water units. This would mean not only buying bulkier machines, but also having the storage space for them.

If you are running a power pressure washers rental business, whereby you lease or rent out your machines to third parties who will conduct the cleaning, you need to factor in a higher cost for wear and tear. Third parties conducting the cleaning tasks are often more concerned with getting the job completed rather than machine care.

You will also need to note whether your power pressure washers are direct drive or belt driven units. While direct drive units are more compact and require low maintenance, they wear down much faster as compared to the belt driven units. Belt driven units have a mechanism which works like a shock re-director which routes away the motor vibrations away from the pump, thereby enhancing the machine life span. The belt driven models will suit your business needs more often than not.

Knowing the differences in cleaning requirements between household and commercial pressure washers is imperative as first steps to your purchasing guide. Always remember that the nature of your business or your household cleaning needs drives your buying decision.

Are You Trigger Happy? If you are, nothing gives you greater satisfaction than to blast away dirt and debris with pressure washers off your dirty driveways, your patios, decks, dirt bikes, moss-ridden walls and the list goes on. What you need is the Power Pressure Washer, of course, which includes a high pressure pump, water hose, spray hose and nozzle which forms the gun, and the electrical cord where you tap power to drive your machine. Turn on the water tap connected to your hose, switch on the AC, turn on the electric power button on the machine, and you are good to go.

Power Washing Physical Hazards
On key note you must be aware is to take caution when handling the spray nozzle. The least pressure you could get in the market depending on the brand is about 1,200 PSI to 1,400PSI which is a powerful force to contend with, especially when this is the first time you are using your power pressure washer. How to use the spray - adjust the distance of the spray nozzle to the surface to be cleaned, confine spraying to inanimate objects and surfaces only, do not aim at human. (NOTE - this is NOT a water gun, regardless of how fun and trigger happy you have become with the machine) In fact, when mishandled, the force of the water spray could actually badly sear skin surfaces and cause severe lesions.

Handle with Care Lest You Will Need to Get New Fixtures
There are also commercial pressure washers which are much more powerful than one would deem fun when it comes to washing hazards. The power of your pressure washing mean stripping paint off your fence, peeling the wood off your deck, denting sand walls and cars if you apply the wrong pressure or the wrong distance. There are incidents when amateur users gorge their wooden flooring at the porch and up heave the sidings well manicured garden.

When you are cleaning the exterior of the building, especially the sidings of your office building or home, do not forget your interior. To prevent water seepage, ensure that side windows are tightly shut and all louvers are securely blocked up before you start your power pressure washers.

Power Pressure Washer Art Anyone?
My personal experience and target time to beat is 40 minutes for cleaning up my driveway, a rather difficult time to beat if you take into account my perfectionist nature to clean every nook and crevasse. Not to mention that I do indulge in some sort of new art form that I personally deem as Power Pressure Washer Art which literally makes you feel like a master artist, what with endorsing your “art piece” with your signature at the end.

So, Power Pressure Washing can be a lot of fun and even takes on as a new art form at power pressure washer art, if safety rules are abided by.

For more good reads, visit Gas Pressure Washers and other categories here.

The pressure washer pump is the heart of any power pressure washer system. Guiding the heart of the pumps used are the parameters and specifications namely the PSI as well as the GPM.

The first parameters driving a pressure washer pump is the PSI, pounds per square inch or the output pressure. This is essentially pressure power as the lay person would deem it and measures the cleaning efficiency of the unit. The pressure power required depends on the cleaning task in question. For most household applications like cleaning wall sidings, driveways, patios etc, a PSI of 2,000 or less would be sufficient. Conversely, industrial applications require pumps from 4,000 PSI to 10,000 and most are not commercially available for home usage.

The other parameter is the GPM or gallons per minute, referring to the flow rate or the spray rate. The higher the flow, the greater will be the volume of water passing through the nozzle. One may conclude that holding all things constant, the higher the flow, the faster the cleaning task is completed.

There are a variety of pressure washer pumps available currently but three key types reign in the market, namely the direct drive, belt driven and gearbox driven pumps.

Direct drive pressure washer pumps mount directly to the motor. Some are built in within the units as part of the components with the drive shaft of the motor is directly driving the pump. The benefit of this layout is that there are lesser parts required and hence direct drive units are more compact, lighter weight and also cost less. The key disadvantage however, is that the constant vibrations and heat created by the motor directly impacts on the longevity of the machine. The gearbox version is a variation of the direct drive version with gears for adjusting the ratios to fit existing motors, be it gas powered or electric units.

Conversely, Belt driven pressure washer pumps are both complicated with more components in the drive assembly and there is need to constantly replace the belts, hence driving up the cost. However, that said, there are great benefits to be had from owning a belt driven pressure washer. Separated from the motor by the belt, the pump absorbs lesser vibrations as well as heat, hence resulting in a longer pump life. Although the upfront cost is more hefty, depreciation of the belt driven pressure washer pumps are lower over the years and its eventual longer life span will pay off.

Check out Power Pressure Washer Buying Guide for more Tips and information.