Went to a friend’s house for a party, then you saw a pressure washer machine at your friend’s house, and you decided to buy one too. You also want to clean your car by spraying high-pressure water like your friend. No, that mistake should never be made unless you know the PSI of this machine. The unit cleaning capacity of a pressure washer is PSI (pounds per square inch). If the PSI is not right, then what you want to clean will not be safe but damaged.
Now you may ask how much PSI would be suitable for a pressure washer? It will depend on what you want to clean. Pressure washers for your car and concrete floors will have a different PSI; otherwise, the results will not be good. Many pressure washing experts say that a car with a PSI of 1500 is perfect. Having this setting keeps the vehicle safe. Again, a pressure washer with a 3000 psi setting is very safe for concrete floors. However, not only PSI but also flow rate is considered with that. I am going to present this easily through a detailed discussion on this topic.
How Do You Choose the Good PSI for a Pressure Washer?
Pressure washers are one of the most useful tools for easy cleaning. Most of the time, we become confused about which PSI is to be chosen, which PSI is the right one. Sometimes it is tough to choose because there are different types of PSI in the market. It would be great if you also considered so many things. So it is a bit confusing. But, I am showing you some options that may help you choose easily next time you buy any PSI.
For car or truck cleaning, use extra heavy-duty 3300 or more PSI. Besides, heavy-duty 2900 to 3200 PSI, medium-duty 2000 to 2800 PSI, and light-duty 1500 to 1900 PSI can also clean it with a pressure washer.
Patio furniture needs to be clean with heavy-duty 3300 PSI or more than 3300. You can use the medium-duty 2000 to 2800 pressure PSI as well.
When it comes to cleaning up sidewalks or stairs, you can clean with any pressure, and it won’t create any problem.
Fencing should be cleaned with light-duty 1500 to1900 pressure. Because overpressure can break or damage the fences. Deck or patio, garage floor, and driveways also need to be cleaned up with light pressure. Light duty 1500 to 1900 PSI will be best for it.
For cleaning up sliding and remove normal Stein’s, with either medium-duty, needs 2000 to 2800 PSI and light-duty needs 1500 to 1900 PSI pressure.
You can use the multi duty 2000 to 2800 PSI, medium-duty 2000 to 2800, and the light-duty 1500 to 1900 PSI pressure with your pressure washer for paint prep.
You can use any PSI for power shaping, but it’s better not to use the multi duty 500 to 3000 pressure, neither gas nor electric PSI. The water flow is assessed by GMP, which means gallons per minute.
What Is a Great PSI for a Pressure Washer?
To choose which one is the right or good PSI for your pressure washer is a bit difficult. The right PSI should be selected according to the strength between the chemical bond and surface stein. If the bond is more robust, it will require more pressure to clean the dirt and stains’ specks. Similarly, when it is less concentrated, you can use a less powerful or less pressure PSI to clean the steins.
Here, PSI means pounds per square inch. It is the unit for measuring water pressure. The gas-powered pressure washers use 2000 to 2800 PSI generally, and the one electric-powered uses1300 to 1700 PSI.
And you can follow the above points to choose the right one for your pressure washer.
What is PSI Needed to Work on Certain Projects?
I hope you already know that you can use different PSI with your pressure washer according to your need, different PSI ranges for various projects. I will discuss some common ways with you now.
WASHING VEHICLES: –
The car, truck, bus, or scooter become dirty after you run it. So, almost every day, it needs to be cleaned up. And we generally use pressure washers for this job because it is elementary to use and cleans perfectly and quickly, especially for cleaning the wheels or undercarriage. Especially these parts come in contact with dirt and miss more than the other areas.
Using the 1200 to 1900 PSI or 1500 to 2600 PSI will be best for cleaning up the car.1500 PSI is perfect for cleaning your bike or scooter. But, be careful. Do not use higher pressure PSI for cleaning vehicles. Otherwise, you will find the tires turned out, or the beautiful color can also be peeled off.
WASHING WOODEN SURFACES AND PATIOS: –
Wooden surfaces are also cleaned with a pressure washer. Deck and docks, stairs, wooden fences, patios can easily be cleaned if you use a power washer. But, remember one thing always, you must use a low-pressure nozzle for cleaning these because overpressure will break the wooden fence or end up stripping the beautiful wooden deck’s excellent finishing.
Besides, the deck or dock will become waterlogged, and after some days, the furniture will get rotten. Similarly, avoid using detergents with higher pressure PSI so that wood doesn’t get banned and rotten.
So, for cleaning wooden docks or decks, use 2600 to 4000 PSI. It will be a suitable pressure. And use 1300 to 1600 PSI for vinyl cleaning.
CLEANING TRASH CANS OR BINS: –
Trash cans must be cleaned with a pressure washer because trash cans are more vulnerable to get sticky dirt and hangings inside the walls and sometimes outside the wall just after you empty that. This trash and dirt, you cannot clean those with only water; there will always be some stick to the corners of the can. So a pressure washer or a power washer will be the best for cleaning those efficiently, quickly, and adequately. Besides, using a hand to clean a trash bin is very unhealthy.
4000 PSI can clean Trash cans and bins or a paint stripping. This pressure will clean all the residue.
WASHING CONCRETES AND BRICKS: –
The concrete surfaces are mainly the driveways and garage floors. They are much more prone to get dirty. Oil spills of car fuel, food trash, fluid leaks during driving out, and the stain a concrete surface can get. And these all are very troublesome to clean. So it is a must to use a pressure washer to clean those.
As the dirt and Stein’s are powerful, you will need a high-pressure nozzle with the pressure washer with detergent /soap.
So, 3000 PSI will be the best pressure to make your driveways clean and sparkling again. In the case of an asphalt driveway, 3000 to 4000 PSI will be suitable.
WASHING BOATS: –
Cleaning and maintaining a boat is a challenging task. As you run your boat on the water, algae and barnacles can grow. Besides, a ship is made of metal, glass, or wood. So consider some points. But use high pressure to clean your boats. 3000 to 4000 PSI will be best.
CLEANING OF LAWN MOWERS AND YARD Equipment: –
Any equipment becomes very dirty whenever you use those in lawnmowers and yards. Because grass and leaves, and other first get stuck inside the tools. So, they need to is cleaned in short time duration. And for this work, you better use a pressure washer.
WASHING GRILLS: –
1500 PSI to 4000 PSI is the best pressure to clean grills or BBQ grills. A BBQ party is entertaining and exciting to do. After doing the grill, it becomes almost a struggle to clean the oil, grease, crimes, and spices as the grill is burning very profoundly. Thanks to pressure washers. They have made our most rigid cleaning much more straightforward. So, cleaning the strongest Stein is now a matter of just some times.
I will recommend using a degreaser for at least 5 minutes so that the greases and crimes become loose. Then, you will see all the dirt coming out very quickly when using the pressure washer.
Use 1500 to 4000 PSI pressure with the power washer to clean your BBQ grills. But be careful, turn off all the electric switches, gas lines, and propane tanks to avoid any accident.
What Kinds of Pressure Washers Can You Get?
There are different types of pressure washer you will see in the store. As it has already been an essential tool for our everyday life, it is a must to know a little more about the power washer along with PSI.
Among all the different pressure washers, the gas-powered pressure washer and the electric-powered pressure washer are the most commonly used.
Both of the types can give you the best cleaning result for your everyday life. You will get the most uninterrupted and steady GMP water flow with both of them.
Generally, most people like to use these for their household cleaning. 1300 to 2400 PSI is the best pressure for most household projects.
Conclusion: –
In short, you have to use the right pressure washer for the proper object. If you forget to buy a different level of a pressure washer, there is nothing to fear. You use the correct nozzle. I have seen from real experience that 1300-1600 PSI quality pressure washer machines are used more. Choosing the right PSI quality pressure washer can be quite tricky for a new buyer.
So you should know the unit, type of work, and another usage of a pressure washing machine and then select it. However, I can assure you that if you read all the above information carefully, you will not make a wrong decision. The information I have given will make you realize the importance of pressure washing and purchase the right machine.