Power Pressure Washers

First let me ask you a simple question. Why do you really need power pressure washers when you have your garden hose? The simple and short answer is that it cleans surfaces in less amount of time, is more thorough and it leaves you with time to enjoy other more important and fun things in life. And Briggs & Stratton Pressure Washers allows you to do just that.

And pressure washing makes cleaning a whole load of fun too. Power pressure washers are capable of cleaning everything from decks, driveways, siding, garage floors and even cars. The difference between Briggs & Stratton Pressure washers and other competing brands is that they are capable of delivering up to 75 times more power than your average garden hose. This, when compared to their counterparts which gives about 30 times more power than garden hoses is a massive advantage when you need superb power to blast away built-up mold, stubborn age old grease stains, dirt and grime to restore surfaces to like-new condition. The beauty of it all is that it only takes about a fraction of the time it would normally takes for your garden hose.

The Briggs & Stratton brand is the market leader for Gas Powered Pressure Washers which deliver superior cleaning performance, flexibility and durability.

Briggs & Stratton Pressure Washers Features That Make A Difference

Briggs & Stratton pressure washers are powered by Briggs & Stratton Engines, designed for easy starting and reduced noise and longer life. And if you need to do heavy duty cleaning, get engines with OHV design as they deliver cooler, cleaner and more efficient engine.

Using the Easy Start proprietary technology, the maintenance-free axial cam pumps enables machine starting smoother, with high performance pumps designed for frequent and long periods of use. And for the most challenging cleaning tasks, the professional grade triplex plunger pump with adjustable pressure guage which is intended for daily usage, delivers optimal performance.

The proprietary ProjectPro Nozzle System provides a wide range of nozzles with preset pressure and flow settings for different cleaning tasks. The lower pressure and higher flow nozzles are designed for gentle cleaning like cars/trucks, patio furniture, lawn equipment. The medium pressure and flow range are made for multi purposes like home siding, brick patios, wood decks, garage floors. Giving you the maximum power with high pressure and lower flow, this range of nozzles are made for stubborn or hard to reach surfaces such as 2nd story surfaces, paint removal, oil stains, rust removal etc. Its Pro-Style Spray Tips have predefined spray patterns ranging from pinpoint of 0 to wide fan-like 40 degree spray angles for various types of cleaning as well as a soap tip for managing the spray pattern.

Frustrated with forever twisting and kinked hoses? Well, with the Pressurized Hose Reel you are literally liberated. This reel allows you use as well as store your hose easily and neatly without twirls and entanglement. You only need to unwind the amount of hose need for the tasks.

Your pressure washer’s engine and pump can only do so much in terms of maximum power. What adds to the cleaning efficiency is its attachments and accessories. The turbo nozzle, for instance, cleans up to 40% faster than standard spray nozzles and is recommended as accessory for cleaning brick, concrete and vinyl surfaces. The utility brush sweeps dirt and grime away from surfaces and water flows through brush while applying detergent for maximum cleaning power on hard to clean areas. The Rotating Brush is capable of easily remove dirt from a variety of surfaces with water pressure spinning the inner brush while applying detergent for removing stubborn dirt from vehicles, boats, windows and other smooth surfaces. This two prong function is high efficient to say the least.

For information on other brands, also check out Karcher Pressure Washers and McCulloch Pressure Washers.

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.

In Power Pressure Washers Buying Guide Series - Part 2, we share with you the key technicalities of PSI, GPM and CU, which are essential to guiding you towards the right pressure washers suited to your needs.

PSI, GPM and CU holds the key to which types of Power Pressure Washers will help your run your cleaning projects smoothly and your utilities consumption at the most optimal levels, thereby allowing you to keep overheads low. This is especially important when you are running a pressure washing business. That said, you could greatly cut your household power consumption when using the right equipment for the right home cleaning tasks as well.

All You Need To Know About PSI, GPM AND CU
PSI is technically known as pounds per square inch and most often used to refer to the amount of cleaning pressure the particular machine is capable of delivering. In layperson terms, this means pressure power and the higher the PSI, the greater the consumption of power, translating into relative utilities consumption. Most manufacturers mark their machine models with a tag of a certain amount of PSI to allow buyers to know the pressure power of the machines. This facilitates your search for the right pressure washer by easily referring to the PSI.

GPM on the other hand refers to the gallons per minute and literally means the actual flow of water or the rate at which the unit sprays water. The layperson would term this as water usage. The higher the GPM the greater and consumption of water required. GPM is sometimes included with the model number description together with the PSI.

CU essentially means cleaning units and is referred to the formula of PSI x GPM. This has become increasingly popular in recent years and gives a better perspective on the total pressure power and energy consumption as reference.

The critical aspect of all these acronyms is balance, as you need to strike a balance between PSI pressure power or GPM water usage. To this end, matching your cleaning tasks with the right machines would give you the optimal consumption. It is not always true that having a powerful pressure washer would clean well. You need to bear in mind that too strong a PSI and GPM would cause water damage to the surfaces being cleaned.

Getting The Right Power Pressure Washer To Fit Your Cleaning Needs
As a reference guide, below are a range of cleaning tasks suitable for the PSI rating of the relevant power pressure washers.

For Home Use
1200 PSI to 1350 PSI

• For light pressure washing, cleaning of grills, garden and lawn furniture, car washing, or the dog house.

1500 PSI to 2200 PSI

• For driveways, sidewalks

2200 PSI to 3,000 PSI

• For cleaning patios, balconies, decks, sidings, stubborn waxy grease, paint preparation

For Commercial Use
If you are starting a pressure washing business, you would go for power pressure washers rated at PSI 2200 to 3500 which are designed for professional use on heavy-duty projects such as cleaning heavy equipment, manufacturing sites, construction sites, for paint preparation etc.

For more details, visit our Power Pressure Washers Buying Guide Series here