3 Pressure Washer Attachments To Buy For An Even Better Clean
Pressure washers are excellent tools that can turn daunting, back-breaking cleaning jobs into meditative exercises in precision dirt obliteration. They usually come with a few different spray nozzles or allow you to alter the angle of the spray with an adjustable tip. The smaller the angle, the more focused the jet of water. Zero degrees is the most powerful setting for any pressure washer, focusing all the power into an area the size of a quarter. Standard nozzles go from 15 to 65 degrees, according to Oh So Spotless. This variation in power allows you to use your pressure washer in many more situations than you would otherwise be able to.
Pressure washer attachments add an extra layer of versatility to your pressure washer, and ultimately make it a more useful tool to own, as there are more and more scenarios in which you can make use of your pressure washer to clean. Just as nozzles allow you to change the angle of the spray, different pressure washer attachments allow you to tweak different variables for a better, easier cleaning experience, per Pro-Kleen.
Change the chemistry
As anyone who's ever cleaned a dish knows, what cold water won't shift, hot water and soap will. Most people don't have a hot-water pressure washer, but with a soap attachment, you can effectively turbo-charge your pressure washer. Not all cases call for soap, but stains that are oily or greasy will benefit from using something stronger than water. Going with soap is also a good option for delicate surfaces that can't stand up to a high-pressure jet.
A soap attachment will be a very wide 65-degree tip, this allows the suds to form and sit properly on the surface to be cleaned, which means the soap can get to work, according to Hotsy. After 10 to 15 minutes, the suds can be quickly rinsed off with a 25-degree tip and the grease should be gone. Although you can use regular dish soap in a pressure washer (if diluted correctly,) it isn't formulated to work under the unique conditions that pressure washing creates, and therefore probably won't be quite as effective as if you use a specialized pressure washer soap, according to Garden Tool Expert.
Change the angle
Another way that pressure washer attachments can improve your pressure washer, give you a better clean and more use from your pressure washer, is by opening up new angles for you to pressure wash from. There are two problem cleaning areas that demonstrate this perfectly — the gutters, and the undercarriage of your car.
The bottom of your car is the area that gets the dirtiest and gets cleaned the least. While it is true that other people rarely see beneath your car, a lot of water, salt, dirt, and grime end up splattered all over crucial components there. Without proper cleaning, this build-up can easily lead to rust or other damage, according to Car Detailing Planet. An undercarriage cleaner makes this task a simple and easy part of cleaning your car. Just hook your pressure washer up to the undercarriage cleaner, which wheels smoothly underneath the car and sprays upwards, loosening all the dirt without you having to get down and get wet.
A gutter cleaner attachment works on a similar principle, notes Pressure Washers Direct — instead of making you climb a ladder to clean your gutters, these attachments allow you to reach your pressure washer up and inside the gutter from the ground level. This makes it easy to spray debris clean out of the gutter without putting yourself in danger.
Up the Power
Sometimes, a tough stain does just require a tough scrubbing. Thankfully, the right pressure washer attachments can both increase the power of your washer and help clean larger areas more evenly by using the power of rotation. Turbo nozzle attachments are essentially a 0-degree tip that also spins rapidly. This forces out a high-pressure cone at around 25 degrees, giving you both super cleaning pressure and better area coverage, explains Pro Tool Reviews. This type of pressure can damage even concrete though, so use it carefully and always test first.
Surface cleaner attachments, on the other hand, look more like a vacuum cleaner or a floor buffer. A spinning arm is enclosed in a round housing on wheels 16 to 30 inches wide (in commercial models), surrounded by a brush skirt. The arm rotates at up to 1800rpm, spraying out pressurized water throughout the area beneath the cleaner. This is much quicker than using a pressure washer alone, according to Pressure Washers Direct, plus the even distance and pressure leave a lot fewer traces of pressure washing than directly spraying the surface. If you want to use your pressure washer to clean decks, concrete, or floors, a surface cleaner attachment could make your life a lot simpler and easier.