12

How to

Use It

// BY ROY BERENDSOHN //

Toeing the Line

With Pressure

Washers

A

PRESSURE WASHER TAKES WATER AND

makes it radical. Water enters one end of

the machine at a pressure in the range of

30 to 80 psi and moves along at 4 mph. A

pump driven by a motor or engine boosts

the speed of the water, which exits the

machine at roughly 200 mph. And if you

measure the pressure right at the nozzle, it can range

anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 psi.

That’s key to understanding why pressure wash-

ers are so effective. Double the speed of the water,

and you increase its kinetic energy by a factor of

four. That’s a lot of hitting power.

But it’s also important to understand that it’s

not so much that the machine puts all that power

at your disposal. It’s in knowing how to use it.

76 May/June 2022 PHOTOGRAPHY BY TREVOR RAAB