Pressure Washers: Lets Keep It Clean!

Well, you've got quite a chore ahead of you - that dirty car with road grime underneath, the concrete patio with a winter full of leaves, stones and gunk. Then there's those windows - very, very dirty and about 20 feet above ground level. What can help you? Pressure washers to the rescue!

Perhaps you've seen a pressure washer at a neighbor's house. They literally 'blast' dirt and grime away by shooting out water at very high pressure. Any surface that is dirty can be cleaned by a pressure washer - windows, furniture, any type of shop equipment. In the past, pressure washers were used solely in heavy industry and factories - but you can get great models today that are sized and priced just right for the average homeowner.

When you get your new pressure washer home, you will find that there are several basic parts to it: a pumping unit, one or more hoses, and one or more spray nozzles that fit into a trigger gun. The homeowner units are not nearly as heavy and difficult to move as their industrial counterparts.

Pressure washers for the non-professional (consumers like you and me) pump water at a high pressure, but do not change the temperature of the water that is pumped. The consumer models usually run off of household electricity. The professional models, designed for heavy-duty cleaning, will sometimes heat the water to high temperatures, to remove industrial-strength grime and greasy, oily dirt and stains.

One thing that you must never do is to treat your pressure washer as a toy - like a 'squirt gun'. You must never point it at any person. It is very easy to injure yourself or others with a pressure washer. If the water stream hits your skin, you can get bruised - or the flesh can actually be detached from the bone! Of course, if the water is squirted into the eyes, serious damage, including blindness, can be the result.

Simple safety precautions include wearing protective goggles when using any pressure washers, as well as exercising care when cleaning surfaces with loose debris - as the water can propel stones and other small items into the air at a very great speed. If you are using a professional model that heats the water, you must be very careful not to burn yourself or other people.

Perhaps you've been thinking about buying a pressure washer but are wondering just where you could use it? Well, you can use a consumer model pressure washer for such tasks as cleaning driveways, automobiles, trucks, SUV's and vans (especially underneath), car engines, walkways, basement floors, pools, windows, air conditioners and heat pump units. Once you begin using it, you will think of many more uses.

As a consumer, most of the pressure washer models you are likely to use will be powered by electricity - you just plug it into your household outlet and go! The electricity powers a pump that is responsible for powering the high-pressure stream of water. Industrial models can often heat the water to such a high temperature that steam is produced, and this really helps in cleaning industrial-sized messes. Short on funds? Well, try looking into a refurbished unit - they are all fixed-up and work just as great as their shiny, brand-new cousins.