Attachments: surface cleaner, water broom

Discussed earlier in the blog is the basic idea on "how a pressure works" and  the major components. We talked about nozzles their patterns and sizes, now we are going to discuss what else can be added to a power washer to make cleaning easier and quicker for us contractors. These attachments or tools can speed up the jobs but at the same time they offer better quality and cleaning abilities. Saving time means saving; gas, oil, water and other natural resources, stewardship. Today the two attachment are the surface cleaner and the water broom. Cleaned by Pete uses these for concrete and deck cleaning as well as many other flat surfaces.  If you see your contractor show up with something similar to what is pictured below, you'll know what it is for and what it does.

Some of the surface cleaners that Cleaned by Pete uses in the Springfield MO area.

 Surface cleaners cover more area, clean in an even pattern and cuts the time of cleaning.  Most surface have two nozzles and spin at 2000 rounds per minute. (rpm's). Water pressure rotates an arm making it spin. You can see there is some kind of shiny thingamajig in the middle of those cleaners pictured this is a high-pressure swivel. The swivel is what make the surface cleaner do what it does. Rotary swivels contain a set of bearings and a water seal of some sort they are capable of rotating the spray arm at incredible speeds. We need not go in to any more in-dept about construction. Rotary swivels are engineered to with stand incredible pressure and heat while directing the water flow from a single input to that of two to four nozzle depending on the configuration of the spray bar.

Under the business end of the surface cleaner the spray bar connected to the high-speed rotary swivel has transferred the water flow to two nozzles, rotation provides even cleaning power.

Since the the water pressure now has to do two more jobs: cleaning and rotating not all power washers will be able to work with this tool. The right tools for the right job. If you notice the ones pictured above; they are in different sizes from 12" to 30" inch and shapes. The square one is also adjustable in the distant it can be raised from the surface to reduce damage on wooden decks.

Our big surface cleaner in action.

Cleaned by Pete has invested in different surface cleaner for different needs while some contractors may not have surface cleaner they can still preform the same service but results may not be as good and it will take longer. Some of the cleaners pictured have no wheels we call these are floaters the brush keeps the water contained and they hover above the surface due to the water pressure form the nozzles. These floaters are good for rock and uneven surfaces as well as pavers that may be spaced further apart. Remember the right tool for the right job.

Making a run with our deck cleaner it has larger wheels that adjust up and down for cleaning height, further away means less direct pressure and larger fan degree.

This tool has to be matched to the gpm, gallon per minute and the psi, pressure per square inch of the power washer as we discussed in earlier entries for you to achieve your best CUs cleaning units. You can still see we have a lot of science and math going on here and this is just an attachment. Pressure or power washing is becoming more and more of a science as we talked about before. It is not just squirting water out of a wand and in the wrong hands it can cause damage to your propriety. You may ask us any time to explain how or why we would use certain tools attachment or equipment on your job.

Surface cleaning under way this show what results you can expect.

Cleaning a large surface area we can use our largest surface cleaner depending on how dirty things are. We may have to use a smaller one of more concentrated cleaning in-turn saving time which also saves gas, oil, water and other natural resources.

Using one of the cleaner inside for quicker floor cleaning.

 After we use this tool the dirt is loose and ready to be rinsed away we now go and attach the water broom. Our water broom has four nozzles that have been matched to which ever unit we use it can be used as a cleaning tool too. This broom the nozzles can be  removed and arranged in different ways, we can even place nozzles on the ends of the broom to wash the sides of a project. In the picture below you can see there are 3 nozzles spraying the high pressure water out. We were cleaning a deck attached to a log home and did not want the fan cutting or damaging the side of the log home as we cleaned. Again the right tool for the right job.

The matched size of the nozzles provide a larger cleaning path if we just use this attachment we can save time and water moving slower for deeper cleaning. In this case we use the broom to rinse all that loosened dirt and grime off the patio, drive-way, side-walks, decks or any other flat surface moving faster because we are just rinsing.  Leaving results as pictured below.

Deck cleaning finished by Cleaned by Pete in Springfield MO.

Cleaned by Pete finished cleaning a side-walk in Springfield MO

Drive way cleaning finished by Cleaned by Pete in Ozark MO.

 Cleaned by Pete would like to be your pressure / power washing contractor in the South-west and greater Springfield area. We have invested in tools and attachments to achieve the best, safest and time saving results for your needs and job. We have the knowledge of how and why these attachments work as well as the knowledge to effectively and properly use them. Remember, time saving and being more efficient we save water, gas and other resources being good stewards for the environment plus getting your job cleaner. Stewardship is part of our job and we take pride in doing what we do. Now if you see us with either of these tools you now what they are for and why we use them. I will have more entries on attachments for the power washer in the future please stay tuned in to the blog. Knowledge is key.