The use of a pressure washer entails a lot of care because of the fact that it uses a highly pressurized mechanism to be able to propel water forcefully for stain removal and surface renewal. There are different types of surface area present and there are different ways in cleaning each of them. It is helpful to know the techniques and general considerations when pressure washing different types of area.

First of all, a pressure washer uses a wide range of accessories to be able to produce the right type of pressure depending on the surface area to be cleaned. For example, when you are cleaning a wooden floor, it is pertinent to use a flat fan tip to provide the right pressure for such a delicate surface.

Wooden surface areas are much easily damaged when you apply a high pressure within close proximity. If your power washer is has a 2,000 psi value or more, then be careful not to point the nozzle too close to the surface because too much pressure may ruin the wooden floor and make it fuzzy looking after pressure washing. Another thing to remember is to clean the whole length of the wooden board evenly so that “stop” and “start” marks are prevented.

All you have to do is to point the power washing tip from a safe distance working your way near the surface area you wish to be cleaned. The trick with wooden floors is patience and a little coordination. Instead of doing the usual “back and forth” motion of spraying, you have to gradually move the cleaning tip across the whole length of the board before moving on to the next area. For masonry surfaces, it is better if you spray the surface using a circular motion so you can prevent patches of un-cleaned surface from showing after power washing.

Power washing accessories are also helpful if you want complete coverage and absolutely wonderful results after power washing. Accessories such as nozzles or tips have different uses based on the degrees and spray angles they are able to convey on your pressure washer. Basically, a 0 degree angle is the smallest and will deliver the greatest power when it comes to removing dirt.  For easily removable substances or debris, a wider angle is used for more ease and safety when cleaning.

For safety purposes when using nozzles or tips, check that the accessory is tightly attached to the power washer so that it will not get damaged or damage others when you turn on the pressure washer. A loosely attached tip or nozzle is one of the common causes of injuries and accessory damage.

Using environmentally friendly cleaning detergents are also highly recommended as you can help save your environment while maintaining the beauty of your home. Make sure that the chemicals you choose are appropriate for the surface you are going to clean. Remember that wooden floors have different requirements, so read the label of the detergent first before application.

Lastly, when planning to clean structures such as roof tops with shingles, postage boxes, windows, vents, or flower boxes, it is important to secure them first prior to power washing . Aside from that, carefully apply pressure to the object as they are easily broken by the high pressure applied by the washer.

A building or home located in crowded city areas are heavily exposed to environmental dust, dirt, or chemicals. The daily activities of people going from one place to another with their vehicles also contribute to the circulation of dirty air that contains dust materials capable of sticking into most of building walls, roofs, and other exposed areas.

A dusty, dirty, or grimy area in any part of a building or home is never a good site to behold. Business may not progress when the outer physical appearance of the business area is not maintained well. A very grimy or dusty home could also be deleterious to the health of its owners which makes it necessary for all of us to regularly clean our home environment.

Home cleaning or business building maintenance may prove to be very time consuming, tedious, and demanding. This is especially true when you own a large house or business property. The entire surface area of your walls, walkways, or roofs may be very hard to clean at one single time, especially if you opt to do manual cleaning.

It is good to note that nowadays, new innovative gadgets are being developed to help people facilitate easy home or business building maintenance. This is where pressure washing comes into full grandeur. Pressure washing or cleaning makes use of equipment that allows water to be placed in a high pressure and used to remove stains or dirt present in any surface area.

Pressure washing advantages are numerous as compared to manual cleaning of patio, walkways, or doorways. With pressure washing, heavy dirt accumulation can be dislodged more efficiently from the surface area because of the high pressure applied to it. The cleaning and maintenance process is then done quickly and efficiently. The extra time you gain with pressure washing (as compared to manual cleaning) can be used for other important activities; hence it is more beneficial to do pressure cleaning at all times.

If you do not have a pressure washer yet, the decision to purchase or to rent may be weighed depending on your circumstances. If your home property does not require frequent cleaning because you are living in an urban area or away from busy places, then it may be practical to rent pressure washers only when needed.  On the other hand, purchasing a good pressure washer for your city home is considered a good investment.

When purchasing a pressure washer, you should consider the type of surfaces you are going to clean. Remember that there are different accessories and pressures required by different types of surface area. Cleaning wooden surfaces requires a lower pressure than cement surfaces. When cleaning the roof, it is helpful to remember that clay roofs can withstand a higher pressure as compared to those with shingles.

There are 3 major types of pressure washer. For those who want a pressure washer that can easily be moved from one place to another, the small cold water type is perfect for you. The hot water pressure washer on the other hand is a heavier type because has a heating element attached. The steam type is also a heavy pressure washer with a capacity to reach a temperature of 300 degrees Fahrenheit. The steam type is the best type of pressure washer as it is highly effective for surface areas with heavy dirt or grease accumulation.

This is the manual for the Model RY80030A. Click the photo to download.

Ryobi Gasoline Pressure Washer 3000psi RY80030A – Operators Manual

I also put a link to the PDF file for you to download if you that makes things easier.

Click here to download the Ryobi Pressure Washer Manual – Replacement Parts.

Most pressure washer nozzles are colour coded to indicate what pattern (degree) of fan spray they produce. Although colors may vary depending on the manufacturers, described below are what is commonly used as the industry standard.

The red tip is the zero degree nozzles – these pressure washer nozzles produce a pencil point pattern, there is no fan created so this is not the tip to use when cleaning coverage is desired. The red tip does deliver the highest impact as it concentrates the pressure into the smallest area. Avoid damaging wood or other fragile surfaces. This is an ideal tool for cleaning under the deck of a lawnmower, removing caked on mud from equipment, cleaning stains from concrete, masonry, steel and aluminium even removing the grass from cracks in the side walk.

The yellow tip creates a 15 degree fan pattern. These pressure washer nozzles are referred to as chiselling tips. Held at a 45 degree angle you can use it like a scraper to remove peeling paint or mildew. It is also used for other tasks where breaking the bond is harder than average. Of your different pressure washer nozzles, you will find yourself using this one the most often when the task is tough. This is the only situation I know where you’ll find that when the going gets tough the tough gets yellow.

The green tip produces a 25 degree fan pattern. This is a wash tip. These pressure washer nozzles are the ones to use when breaking the bond between the grime and substrate is reasonably easy. These can also be used for sweeping leaves or debris from flat surfaces or curbing. These pressure washer nozzles have the widest variety of applications as the fan degree allows for good impact pressure and cleaning coverage.

The white tip is the 40 degree fan tip. The wider dispersion of the impact pressure limits these pressure washer nozzles to rinsing and delicate washing. These are the tips to use for washing/rinsing glass or washing vehicles. These are great tips for wooden decks and all delicate substrates.

There are three types of pressure washer unloader valves.

• The Trapped Pressure Type
• The Flow Type
• The Compensating Type

The Trapped Pressure Type

Commonly referred to as just “Pressure” type. This type of valve opens to bypass when it senses the pressure build up of the pump output having nowhere to go. The main characteristic of this the most commonly used valve is how it traps the pressure in the hose when the trigger of the pressure gun is released. The disadvantage of this type of valve is the spike of pressure felt by the operator and pressure washer components when the trigger is again squeezed. This creates a “kickback” effect on the gun/wand so be careful when using ladders or other types of access equipment.

The Flow Type

This kind of unloader valve activate the bypass loop when they sense the lessening of flow between the valve and trigger gun. The major characteristic of this valve is that no pressure is trapped in the hose thereby eliminating the pressure spike created by the “trapped pressure” valves. The main disadvantage of the flow type unloader is that you can’t change the pressure by downsizing the orifice size of your nozzles. The valve senses the loss in flow and begins to cycle repeatedly.

The Compensating Type

This kind of unloader valve is the most recent addition to the world of unloaders. The concept is a hybrid between the flow and trapped pressure unloader types. Basically this is a trapped pressure unloader with a compensating feature which radically lessens the pressure spike typically felt with the standard trapped pressure unloader. The main idea behind this unloader is to have the smoothness typical of a flow type unloader without the inherent disadvantages.

I’ve heard many people give recommendations on what apparatus to use when washing a fleet of cars, but I would like some guidance on HOW to wash a fleet of cars?
What have you found to be the most effective method of rinsing down and the wiping off the cars?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

My answer to you is this….Use lots of pressure but keep a safe distance – remember the main reason behind using high pressure when rinsing cars is to remove the soap quickly!

When entering the car washing business it is all about speed and volume. You won’t have time to spend 5 minutes rinsing each car. One small outfit I know will wash a car roughly every 2 to 2.5 minutes.

One man puts on the soap, he also takes a mitt on a stick and washes bonnet, windshields, roof, and truck, whilst another man uses wool mitts and wipes the car down, then they use a high pressure soft water rinse to take off soap from the car, then they follow up with another rinse.

They still have to towel dry them in the end as there are still a lot of blemishes to remove. Although they towel dry the cars, they are mostly dry already, so they just have a damp towel with clean water to remove the last marks from the windows, which are mainly due to the soap having dried on the tinted windows.

To get the economies of scale they will wash multiple cars at a time, soaping several before moving onto the rinsing and so on.

One last thing to remember is that despite all the pressure washing in world, the cars will NEVER be properly cleaned if you don’t physically wipe them down to remove the dust and dirt.

Pressure washer unloader valves are the main “safety” in your power washer system. The most commonly used is the “pressure actuated” type valve. When the pressure gun trigger is released the valve senses the pressure build up and like a “traffic cop” it diverts the water flow from the pump outlet back into the inlet side of the pump this is called “bypass mode.” Without this critical component this closed-gun situation would build pressure to the point where it would stall the power source, rupture the gun, hose or even the pump itself.

The most basic function of the unloader is to act as a “traffic cop” to the water flow in your system. Depending on the type of valve it will either sense “pressure build” or “reduction in flow”. Depending on the type, when one of these conditions is met the unloader will then actuate to divert the water flow back to the inlet side of the pressure pump, where it will circulate through the pump back to the inlet side of the valve to the inlet side of the pump again in what is called a bypass loop when this is occurring the pump is said to be in “bypass mode” and the unloader valve is said to be “cycling”. This scenario ends when the trigger is squeezed alerting the unloader valve to redirect the flow to the high pressure nozzle once again. While this may seem to be problem solved it is not without risks. When the water flow is in bypass new cool water is not entering the system. The moving parts in the pump are creating friction which produces heat that is transferred to the water flow in bypass. Since a limited amount of water is in bypass this transfer of heat can occur quickly.

Most pumps are designed to handle water temperatures of 140 F. When the water in bypass reaches 155 deg Fahrenheit damage to the pump will begin. Damage can occur to the pump packings, plungers and seals and even to the short bypass hose in external bypass setups. It is a good idea to have a pump with a thermal relief valve to offer some protection against excessive heat buildup. It is a better idea not to leave a pump in bypass mode for more than 2-3 minutes, by simply squeezing the trigger gun you will introduce new cool water into the system.

Please see the next article for details of types of pressure washer unloader valves.

Our deck is in good shape except in a few spots, it has mildew. I was going to pressure wash it
then seal it. Is this a good idea?

Thanks,

David

Well David, if you have pressure treated pine as the surface of you deck , do not pressure wash it unless it is completely dirty and you have one of the smaller less powerful electric type washers. As they are less powerful, they generally wont have the power to do much harm.

If you have a larger (and higher powered) washer, you may easily damage the surface of your deck. It is possible to remove the soft wood in between the hard grain, and I have discovered that with pine you will coursen the surface, which leaves a very ragged appearance, and you’ll probably need to sand it afterwards. If you have soft spots or knots the high pressure might tear them up.

I use TSP (tri sodium phosphate – which you can get at any store with cleaning supply goods) and water with long handled scrub brushes. If your deck has heavy mildew, pretreat with straight commercial strenght bleach, wetting the wood prior to application.

You may also rinse with a high pressure nozzle attached to the end of a hose because you have hand scrubbed the surfaces.

Wait a few days, for the sun to dry out the wood a little then seal.

Generally the gun will have a 3/8? inlet port where the hose is attached and a 1/4? outlet port to the wand/lance (this is when 3/8? pressure hose is used). When the trigger is released the gun is said to be in “closed” position stopping the flow of water. When the trigger is squeezed it is in “open” position directing water to the nozzle once again.

These trigger guns control water flow by means of a spring, ball and seat. The trigger controls the on/off of the water flow. When the trigger is released the ball inside the gun is forced to seal in the seat by the spring and the water flow. This effectively stops the flow of water and sends the unloader valve into bypass mode. When the trigger is again squeezed the flow of water and spring force the ball from the seat and water is once again directed to the high pressure nozzle.

Pressure washer trigger guns are designed for safety. The design of a trigger gun allows it to go to closed position if the operator loses control or drops it. This is the safety mechanism of the trigger gun. Pressure washers, especially that of industrial type can discharge fluid at a whopping 31,000 psi, and if you happen to drop and lose control of a trigger gun, this may have damaging consequences.

There was once a report that a Pressure Washer rental was sued by a renter who claimed he lost control of the gun and was “cut open” from mid-thigh to his chest causing him to be unable to work for an extended period of time. As a result we had 25+ trigger guns impounded as evidence. Investigators later learned that this “roof cleaner” regularly used tennis balls to keep the trigger gun open to avoid the “hand fatigue” that can be caused by squeezing a trigger for an extended period of time. Although today’s pressure washer trigger guns are well designed for safety, don’t negate these safety features by using tennis balls, duct tape or some other method to artificially hold the trigger. Instead look into purchasing an “easy pull” pistol style trigger gun. These are designed to require a much lesser force to pull the trigger than a standard style gun.