While you may already know that pressure washing your home’s exterior, deck, driveway, and sidewalks is super fast and eliminates the physical exhaustion that is common when these projects are done with elbow grease, a garden hose, and soap. And while the pressure washing equipment supplied by Big Box stores may be less powerful than those used by a professional power washing service provider, consider these statements made by Consumer Reports:
- Though a garden hose alone delivers water pressure at about 50 pounds per square inch, pressure washers can generate 1,500 to 4,000 psi.
- An estimated 6,057 people in 2014 alone went to an emergency room with injuries related to pressure washer use.
- To ensure pressure washer safety, Consumer Reports has notified the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Committee) and requested that manufacturers stop selling nozzles and settings that produce streams finer than 15 degrees.
It is the nozzle that produces most of the pressure during power washing by restricting the flow of water released to a certain diameter and angle of the nozzle tip. The smaller the orifice or opening at the nozzle tip, the more powerful the flow of water will be.
The Pressure Washing Nozzle
There are many nozzles that can be attached to pressure washing equipment. Most equipment available for the consumer market will include 3 to 4 different nozzle tips to fit the job at hand. But, if you use the wrong nozzle or tip on your home, you can do some major damage and you even the risk a greater chance of injury.
The pressure from using the wrong nozzle can cause the following types of damage:
- Strip or lift the paint from your home or car’s surface
- Damage to wood decks, fencing, and home trimming
- Destroy the mortar between bricks in driveways or homes
- Forces water into your home’s attic or behind walls
- Can damage windows and/or siding on homes
For these reasons, it is recommended that non-professionals use larger-angle nozzles or wider-degree nozzles to reduce the chances of causing damage while attempting to clean your property. Just like a carpenter will use different grits of sandpaper to remove the surface of wood – you also need to use the right nozzle for different power washing jobs.
Pressure Nozzle Color Coding
Here are some pressure washer nozzle angles and color coding along with the corresponding degree of water release. Always consult the information provided with your brand and style of power washing equipment for the manufacturer’s specs on pressures, angles, and water flow in gallons per minute (gpm),
Red Nozzle – A zero-degree nozzle shoots a direct jet of water about the size or area of a quarter coin. This nozzle will not fan out the water spray at all.
Yellow Nozzle – This 15-degree spray will spray a greater surface area with less pressure because the water is forced over a larger area.
Green Nozzle – This 25-degree nozzle is much safer than red or yellow nozzles as it releases a wider sheet or fan of water with less force.
White Nozzle – The most gentle of power washer nozzles at 40-degree spray pattern and is perfect for cleaning windows when held at the right distance.
For safe and effective power washing services, contact Griffs Power Washing Services for professional results.
