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What Can I Clean with a Pressure Washer - Some Ideas

by TerriRexson

Pressure washer ideas for getting your home and garden ready for the summer. Every year we get our power washer out to clean the patio, garden furniture and more.

Are you ready to get cleaning outdoors ready for the Spring and Summer?

Each year once the weather starts to improve, we get out our pressure washer and clean up the mess made by fall and winter.

Unlike some other house and garden tasks, this one doesn't feel like a chore. I actually enjoy using the pressure washer. There's something satisfying about spraying dirt out of the patio and our kids' playhouse!

In this article we'll look at things you can clean with a pressure washer (also known as a power washer) and some tips for using your machine effectively. We'll concentrate on the electric pressure washers that are designed for home use for light to moderate tasks. (You can also get gas-powered pressure washers for much heavier tasks, but these may cause damage in general cleaning tasks where such power is not required.)

Tip: Even domestic electric pressure washers are quite powerful. Always try a small area first and make sure you aren't going to casue any damage. For delicate items, increase the distance so the jet is less powerful.

How do Pressure Washers Work?

Pressure washers are pretty simple. You attach a pressure washer to a water supply via a hosepipe fitting. An electric motor increases the pressure at which the water comes out of the nozzle to create a very powerful jet which dislodges dirt and grime from surfaces. 

You need both a water supply and a power supply to operate an electric power washer so make sure you have them available where you want to clean. 

What Can you Clean with a Pressure Washer

An electric pressure washer is great for outdoor cleaning of your home and garden. 

Here are some ideas of what you can clean, note that for some of these applications there are special accessories available:

  • Patios, pathways and other concrete or paved areas
  • Guttering and eaves
  • Car exterior
  • Lawn chairs, garden furniture, outdoor beanbags
  • Outdoor toys, playhouses, climbers and slides
  • Windows and patio doors
  • Wooden decks and decking
  • Driveways
  • Garage, shed or workshop floors
  • Walls and fences
  • Grills 
  • Garbage cans
  • Garden ornaments, accessories and fountains
  • Pipes, drains and downspouts

Which Pressure Washer?

Karcher are one of the best known brands for pressure washers and have lots of accessories available. Our pressure washer is a Karcher and we've been very happy with it. However, AR Pressure Washers are also very popular and well worth considering. 

Clean your Patio Faster with a Pressure Washer Attachment

It's much quicker and more effective to clean a large flat area like a patio with a specically designed pressure washer patio attachment. You'll cover the area much more quickly.

We did clean our patio before we bought a patio attachment and it did work - it just took a long time! We didn't mind too much as it's actually quite fun to use and we just took turns. But if you want to get the job done quickly then the wide area surface cleaner is a good idea. 

You can also Clear Pipes, Drains and Downspouts with your Pressure Washer

We have an annoying drain that's not at enough of an angle. We have had to call out a drain cleaning service a couple of times which gets very expensive. Then we found out that you can get a drain cleaning accessory for a pressure washer. Excellent! Now we can clean the drains ourselves regularly and avoid expensive call out charges. 

You can also clean pipes and downspouts that are clogged, blocked or just need a clean. 

Karcher Pipe Cleaning Attachment

Compatible with all Karcher consumer electric pressure washers
Karcher 2.642-183.0 Pressure Washer 25-Foot Pipe Cleaning Kit
Karcher
Only $60.00

Cleaning Large Patios and Outdoor Areas

The Wide Expanse Water Broom

The Wide Expanse Water Broom.

Do you have a large patio or outdoor area to clean? This can take some time with a regular pressure washer. 

The The Wide Expanse Water Broom is designed to pressure-sweep large areas in less time. 

This pressure-washer broom connects to a standard garden hose and cleans a three-feet wide strip in one go using a lot less water that using a hose directly. 

Sold with a lifetime guarantee. 

 

Pressure Washers on eBay

Updated: 03/21/2012, TerriRexson
 
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Have you used a Pressure Washer?

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Kingfisher on 07/07/2011

Great article, not to be too picky but in your description on how pressure washers work, an electric motor does increase the pressure but it does via operating a positive displacement pump.

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