What if I told you choosing a pressure washer is quick and easy?

You probably won't believe me since at that place are 902 of them.

But it is. It comes down to these 4 steps:

  1. Home or pro-utilize? You lot either want a dwelling house-use car for occasional apply or a professional-utilise machine for everyday use. That decision apace divides the group into dissimilar price ranges – less than $1,000 and more.
  2. How much cleaning ability? Yous either desire: calorie-free duty for patio furniture, bbq grills and other minor jobs like wheelie garbage bins; medium duty for patios, minor driveways and decks; or, heavy duty for large jobs like washing semi-trucks, large parking lots and restaurant drive-thrus.
  3. Gas or electric? Gas is more affordable power. Electric is more quiet, less maintenance and tin apply indoors.
  4. Make preference? This is the point to call up about what brand yous want to back up.

Before getting into a more than detailed explanation of the above 4 steps permit's wait at what pressure level washer brands produce the about models of force per unit area washer.

After surveying 27 of the top force per unit area washer brands' product pages, 902 dissimilar force per unit area washer buying options were found.

Hither'due south the number of pressure washer models to choose from by brand:

Pressure Washer Models To Choose From Chart
This chart is using log scale then all the data fits nicely in i chart.

The tiptop 2 brands – PressurePro and Mi-T-G – service mostly industrial/commercial customers. The reason they accept so many options is considering you tin can customize your order… You can choose your engine brand and size, your pump type and make etc. Those options have been included as split up models in the chart (because they are divide models).

At present let's become back to how to choose if y'all want home-use or pro-use pressure washer.

Which Pressure Washer Style: Domicile-use, Semi-pro or Professional person?

Moving picture Comparing Gas Styles – PowerStroke, Simpson and Pressure Pro Models:

Choose Between Home and Pro Pressure Washers
Gas Pressure Washers in Each Category

Moving-picture show Comparing Electric Styles – Lord's day-Joe, AR Blue Clean and Mi-T-M Models:

Electric Pressure Washer Comparison Home and Pro Use
All these electrical pressure washers are 2,000 PSI.

If you're just planning to use your pressure level washer on the weekends so home-use will do the trick. If you plan to use information technology daily you should get a professional machine.

Here are the price differences in electric and gas powered home-employ and professional pressure washers.

Electric – Home vs Pro Prices

  • You tin can get home-use electrical pressure washers for $100.
  • To get an electric suitable for professional employ (even at the same cleaning power) y'all will have to spend an extra $800 or more. Better pump, motor and all metal no plastic parts.

Gas – Dwelling house vs Pro Prices

  • You lot can get dwelling-use gas powered pressure level washers for $300.
  • To get a gas suitable for professional use you volition accept to spend an extra $900 or so.

How To Choose Your Pressure Washer Cleaning Power

Professional pressure washing contractors typically only care most the flow rate in gallons per minute (GPM) of their pressure level washer. They know that yous control the pressure at the nozzle. Ordinarily pressure washer manufacturers volition list their machines with the machine maximum PSI and GPM. When pressure washing in real life the GPM and PSI will fluctuate with the GPM lowering as the PSI increases to max (or the other mode round with max GPM being at lower than the rated-max PSI).

In that location isn't any official definition of force per unit area washer cleaning power but here'due south the gist :

Light-duty (5-6x Garden Hose Cleaning Ability)

  • Generally less than 1,700 PSI and 1.5 GPM.
  • These are the modest electrical machines that are light, portable and affordable.
  • Dandy for cleaning the BBQ grill, patio article of furniture and other modest not pressure intensive jobs.

Medium-duty (~2x Light-duty)

  • Generally in the range of 1,700 – two,800 PSI and 1.6 – 2.5 GPM.
  • These are the bigger electrical and small gas power washers. They have two wheels to roll them around and often hose reels and lather dispenser built in.
  • Great for small driveways, patios, and decks effectually the home.

Heavy-duty (~2x Medium-duty)

  • Generally more than 2,800 PSI and effectually 3 GPM.
  • These machines wait like wheel barrows with front wheels and back stumps to lift when moving it around. They are bigger and heavier and somewhat less portable than light and medium-duty pressure washers.
  • Great for treatment whatever chore effectually your dwelling then long every bit you use the correct nozzle and altitude technique. Easily handle your suburban driveway, fence, house siding and oil stained garage floor.

Commercial-duty (ane.5 – 2x Heavy-duty)

  • Generally annihilation from heavy-duty and up (3,000+ PSI and iii+ GPM) and with belt-bulldoze pumps and automative form parts.
  • These machines vary widely from looking no unlike than heavy-duty up to machines as big as a small auto. They often come on trailers with hot water burners or or skid mounted to exist placed on your work truck.
  • These workhorses tin assist yous run your pressure washing business. They are meant to exist used everyday to clean large parking lots, tennis courts, skyscrapers, national monuments and more than.

How To Choose Between a Gas and Electric Force per unit area Washer

Most people choose gas or electric based on toll. In the home-apply category the virtually expensive electric is the aforementioned toll as the least expensive gas… And that aforementioned gas unit is 1.5x the cleaning power. Here are some other pros and cons of electric and gas powered pressure cleaners:

Electrical

  • Pros: Can safely apply and shop indoors, it is quieter so your neighbours or family won't fifty-fifty know you're washing, it tends to require less maintenance, upkeep and it's easier to winterize, you don't have to deal with refuelling it every few uses – just plug information technology in.
  • Cons: They are express in cleaning power unless you pay into the $1,000s for ane, they are less portable and where you tin use them is limited because they're tethered to an electric outlet.

Gas

  • Pros: Yous can get a very powerful pressure washer for an affordable cost (~$350+), they are very portable considering not reliant on electricity and that means you can take it to the cabin to pressure wash or to your task-site and non have to rely on electrical outlets.
  • Cons: They are louder than electric machines so when you're using information technology your neighbours and family will know, it has exhaust fumes that might bother you, because of these fumes you can't apply information technology indoors safely and they mostly require more upkeep and care.

Which Pressure Washer Brand Should You Choose?

It'southward difficult to directly tell yous which brand to get because it is mostly opinion and based on past experience. You tin can come across trends in reviews just even Honda engines, which are well-known to be reliable and durable, have negative reviews. So instead of rating the brands I'm merely going to list where each brand generally fits into these categories: Home-use electric/gas, Semi Pro-use electric/gas and Pro-use electric/gas.

Home-Use

At that place's more than people buying home-use force per unit area washers in the $eighty – $500 range than whatever other. Supply and demand kicks in and this space becomes the nigh crowded. This list isn't exhaustive it only lists the most popular few.

Electric

  • Karcher – World'south largest force per unit area washer seller. They also own Shark, Hotsy and Landa brands.
  • AR Blue Clean – AR stands for Annovi Reverberi and they started as an Italian pump manufacturer. Now they make force per unit area washers under the AR Blue Clean brand.
  • Campbell Hausfeld – Ane of the oldest companies in Ohio, founded in 1836. More known for their air compressors.
  • Dominicus Joe – Started selling snow blowers under Snow Joe make now Sun Joe sells garden equipment.
  • GreenWorks – A Chinese manufacturer that sells only electric power tools under the GreenWorks brand.
  • Ryobi – Well-known power tool brand owned by Techtronic Industries (TTI), which is a Hong Kong company that also owns Dirt Devil and Hoover brands.
  • Simoniz – A Canadian company sells this brand in Canada. They license the brandname from the well-known Simoniz USA cleaning products company.

Gas

  • Generac  – An American company that dominates the residential generator market. They manufacture all their own pumps and engines.
  • Simpson Cleaning  – The only brand pressure washers and brand them well. Usually with Honda engines and CAT pumps.
  • Craftsman  – Brand owned by Sears that sells a wide range of tools and equipment.
  • Troy-Bilt  – Owned by MTD Products which besides owns a few other garden equipment brands like Bolens and Cub Cadet.
  • PowerStroke – Another brand owned by TTI under the One World Technologies name.
  • Briggs & Stratton  – World's largest manufacturer of small engines for ability equipment.

Semi-Pro

Semi-pro is for you lot if you like owning the all-time-of-the-best merely know you won't use it more than than a few times a calendar week (at most). Semi-pro or as some call it, prosumer, range in price from $700 – $ane,400.

Electric

  • Karcher
  • AR Blueish Clean
  • NorthStar – A brand owned by Northern Tool and Equipment, which is a power equipment retailer with over 65 retail locations.

Gas

  • Briggs & Stratton
  • Simpson Cleaning
  • DeWalt  – I'yard sure you've heard of DeWalt. They're owned past Stanley Black & Decker.
  • Vortexx – A company out of Detroit they manufacture electric and gas pressure washers that are reliable and durable.
  • NorthStar

Professional Use

Electrical

  • PressurePro – Commercial pressure washer manufacturer.
  • Mi-T-K – Industrial and commercial power equipment manufacturer.
  • NorthStar

Gas

  • Shark – Bought by Karcher in 2005, Shark is known for their industrial force per unit area washers with lifetime warranty.
  • Hotsy – Hotsy'due south proper noun originated from the blending of the words hot and systems. They are well know for their hot water and steam pressure cleaners. They were besides bought past Karcher in 2005.
  • Delux – Although I can't find much information on the Delux brand, y'all tin detect them on PowerWash.com. They look quite similiar to Pressure Pro machines so I am thinking PowerWash.com buys them from Force per unit area Pro and labels them equally Delux (but that's a judge).

Some Sources

  1. Here is the source that talks well-nigh companies/brands that TTI owns.
  2. Hither is the source how I know Karcher owns the Shark, Hotsy and Landa brands of pressure washer.

Jamey is the founder of pressurewashr.com and has led testing and reviewing since 2013. He has too worked as a commercial pressure washer at a rendering constitute for 3 years and has been using commercial and residential pressure washers for 15+ years. He is also a mechanical engineer and while working in the mining manufacture designed several turn-key low-cal industrial vehicle launder pads.