Put those hard to clean spots under pressure - water pressure
By Burl Burlingame
Star-BulletinDepending on how close to sea level you are, water either trickles or dribbles out of your hose. The time-honored method of increasing pressure on a garden hose is to stick your thumb over the end, allowing just enough of an opening so that water will shoot out farther. It's still not very powerful. It just squirts father away. About all it's good for is scaring the dog.
And it's messy. It makes puddles.
An alternative is a home-sized pressure washer. Essentially, they're little pumps that attach to the garden hose and run off gasoline or electricity. They compress water like your thumb never could, and squirt it out at pressures high enough to do focused cleaning. The ironic thing is that even though the water is under higher pressure, less water is used, because a little does more, and it doesn't run unless the trigger is released.
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
The writing on the sidewalk, above, shows the cleaning power of home-sized pressure washers, as Wayne Matsuo demonstrates.. The washers also come in handy for tough to clean assignments, such as those spots under eaves or barbecue grill grime.
Pressure washers come in a variety of sizes and prices, and they're generally rated by the highest pressure capability, written as PSI (pounds per square inch). Another rating is GPM, or gallons per minute.
Light pressure - 1,000 to 1,300 PSI. Good for general cleaning, such as furniture, sidewalks, cars and vans, eaves.
Generally, light-pressure washers are electrically powered, and come with all-weather electrical cords attached. These units are easily moved and can be picked up with one hand. As pressure gets heavier, pressure washers tend to get bulkier and gas-powered. They resemble packed carts, and need to be wheeled into position. They're also more expensive.
For one-time uses, pressure washers can be rented at equipment-supply shops. They are also sold at stores such as Sears, but, surprisingly, they're not available at all home and garden stores. Call first.
We checked the prices at Sears, which had the largest general-use selection. Light-pressure washers were $179.99 and $189.99; medium-pressure washers were $359.99 and $529.99; and heavy-pressure washers were $779.99 and $929.77.
We tested a light-pressure washer for a while, and found it can do most of what's necessary around a house. Larger models probably aren't necessary unless you're going to strip paint or blow grease off a car engine. If you don't have much call for that, it's probably better to rent a big-boy when the time comes.
Most pressure washers come with a vent for adding chemicals to the mix, such as deck washes, degreasers, or spray waxes. Others can heat the water until it's steaming; hot water cleans better than cold.
The rule of thumb is a hot-water machine is twice as effective as a cold-water machine-a 1,000 PSI hot-water machine is just as effective as a 2,000 PSI cold water machine-but hot-water machines are far more complicated to maintain.
The hose connection on the washer we tested had a male fitting, which meant it needed to be adapted to connect to the typical male fitting on the end of a garden hose. We constructed a short connector out of scrap hose and spare fitting from a hardware store. You can also create quick-connect/disconnect ports using stock items from the hose section at the store. Because the water is under pressure all down the line, it's best to create watertight connections with Teflon tape.
Don't turn the pump on unless water is already flowing through the hose. Otherwise the negative pressure will collapse the hose like a damp straw. Once water is flowing, it can be squirted out the nozzle like a standard garden hose fitting. The nozzle is a long rod with a pistol-type trigger on one end, and you can manipulate the nozzle to vary the shape of the blast. The tighter the pattern, the more pressure is brought to bear.
The electric unit, once turned on, is fairly noisy, but not as noisy as a gas-powered machine.
We found that even this small unit can clean mold and dirt off a sidewalk, take paint chips off eaves, blast barbeque drippings off a grill slats, scour highway debris off a car, and could dig holes under a sidewalk. It could even dig up asphalt in the driveway.
It used far less water than a regular hose, and could be used with greater precision.
Of course, once you clean a small portion of a sidewalk, it's hard to stop until the whole sidewalk is gleaming.
Because of the high pressure, you have to be more careful. The spray catapults debris and it digs it up, and the high settings used against bare skin can actually peel the skin off your flesh. Wear eye protection and old shoes.
