Hoses for your power / pressure washer

Hoses for your power / pressure washer 

Here is a subject that is rarely written about but is one important item when you think about it. This hose is delivers and stores the pressurized water until it is delivered to the trigger assembly then on to the nozzle.

Different sizes, types, styles, and ratings are on power washing hoses as well as different sizes, types or styles of connectors that attach them to the washer and to the gun or trigger. I'll try to inform you on these where to use them and what to look for. While some hose will work all power washes some will not the psi rating is what we will talk about first. From past entries you know that psi stands for the pounds of pressure per square inch that your power washer is producing. This will range form @1200 psi to around 18 psi for you over the counter electric models. They will come with a hose that usually have ends that will tread on to the gun and the unit it self. This is a different tread (the screw cut groves that attach the hose) than that of the garden hose you will be getting your supply water from.

Electric pressure washing hose with standard 22 mm fittings.

Standard 22 mm screw on fittings found on most smaller pressure washers.

This hose has brass screw on fittings sometimes referred to as standard 22mm connections. A 1/4" Teflon core covered by a black plastic sheath. The 1/4" sizing refers to the diameter of the inside hole in the hose. It is very easy to kink and crease these areas will be more likely to develop a leak or crack after a while. It is always recommend to disconnect the hose from the unit and the gun then coil it up for storage it will help to keep out the kinks making your hose last longer. These hoses are just a single core with no reinforcement and will be rated up to 2700 psi but you will need to check a good hose should be labled. Your next step up will have the same look but the materials used for construction will be different it will still have the screw on ends a Teflon core but will have a rubber sheath incasing it.  The rubber sheath will let it have a higher pressure rating usually up to 3000 psi. This hose is less likely to kink or crease do to  the heaver construction. This hose will be able to be used on the smaller units and will have a lot more flexibility. You will find these hoses in different lengths usually found in 10 feet, 25 feet and even in 50 feet I would not recommend any thing longer than 25 do to the kinking aspect of these hoses. These hose are not recommended for larger machines they can not handle the higher pressure developed by the larger units they will rupture.

The next step up in the average hoses that we see and use will be moving into the 3/8 inch diameter hose. The inside Teflon tubing is 3/8 of an inch. This hose will hold more reserve water but will take more of the pumps power to push it in a long run. This category will start with 3000 psi rating which has a rubber or plastic type outer shell holding a braided wire rap over the inner tube. If your hose is refereed to as a single wire this means it has one layer of steel braided reinforcement over the inner tube following this logic a 2 braid hose has two layers of steel reinforcing the inner tube and the hose in general against rupturing.

Cut-a-way shows the steel braid over the core with the outer shell which comes in many different materials.

Outer shell followed by two layers of steel braided reinforcement layer around the inner core.

The more psi your pump is putting out the higher rating you will need to safely use a high-pressure washer. Ratings follow as a general rule 3000 psi, 4000 psi, and 6000 psi in this type of hose construction. These are the hose you will see Cleaned by Pete using on jobs. They come with different shells as non-marring, oil resistant, layered wrapped, smooth or pebbled, black, gray, blue and so one the outer shell just help the power washer to be able to clean and keep clean area of your home or business and the hose itself. You can have a hose made to any length you would like, from 2 feet on up you will find the standard lengths to run 25 ft, 50 ft, and 100 ft, these hose have steel braids and do start to weigh up fast hauling a 100 ft of 2 wire hose starts to get heavy, 200 ft take quite a bit to move around I keep most of our hoses at or around the 50 ft length for easier adding and easier to haul and put up at the end of the job you can always add another hose to make things longer, and 100 ft hoses on the hose reels.

You can always use a larger rated hose on a smaller unit but never use under rated hose on higher pressures.

The next step up in the hose will be 1/2 inch diameter hoses all the same but some will have more steel wraps increasing there rating even more.

The next major rating in pressure washing hoses is "Hot or for use with Hot Water" this is another rating you will have to look for when using heated water. You can use a "hot-water" hose on cold water units but you always take the chance of things going wrong if you use cold water rated hoses with your hot water unit, The materials will be somewhat different to be able to use hot water with out getting to hot and causing a rupture in the line. One other hose you will see Cleaned by Pete use is steam hose while it is the same construction as the 3/8 in pressure hose the materials will be different, allowing us to use higher internal temperatures "live steam" in this hose.

Since time, making things secured and easy to use is important to the power washing contractor we use what is call a quick couple system. We set up our pumps and washers the way we like and what works for us. In most cases we use 3/8 hoses and quick couples so we can add more lengths or different ends to the hose. Pulling back on a ring releases several steel balls and the other end will slip out. No sealer, no leaking, no tools or wrenches just quick and easy.

Quick couplers come in "male and female" configurations depending on how you are setting up your system you will be using some form of these.

One problem is sometimes you just can add this to that hose or you have the 22 mm fitting and need a 3/8" quick couple, some times things work out and you have two "male connectors" ends that will not go together. We have tried to make ever thing uniform but with all the different washer, tools and attachments we have at Cleaned by Pete not all things still fit together, We solved this by making several different short hoses and adaptors.

Short hoses or whips and Cleaned by Pete's hose and quick connectors for different hoses that we use on our different pressure washers.

 Pressure washing hoses are fairly straight forward use is called for by your pressure washer a over rated hose is OK to use. Never use an under rated hose, severally kinked hose, worn or ruptured hose, cracked or dry-rotted hose or any hose that may look unsafe or that you are not sure of. Safety is a must when working with pressure of any type.

Extension or Telescoping poles: the locking system

Extension or Telescoping poles: the locking system

If your read the entry about poles the other day you know the entry took a different path but I did leave it as it was. I had not thought about going in to the aspects of telescoping poles. One of the readers wanted a bit of clarification on the locking mechanism that are used to keep the length of the pole in place and then allow it to be collapsed back down. I said I would put in a quick entry and here it is.

Sunday morning found me reading my e-mail and a question form a reader popped up, could I explain the locking mechanism on the pole just a bit more. I have a few examples of the locking styles that I have seen, used or been around. I know you can find more styles out there or systems using a combination of these locks. 

I mentioned in the last blog a few styles, but a picture is worth a thousand words and may help in starting to understand the locking types.

The first pole shows a cam lock this lock, it is inside and by twisting the poles the cam is pressed or locked inside against the other pole, The can be a tappered cam or an off centred cam. Second pole has one style of the lever lock it pinches one pole's outside tightly against the other poles inside locking them in place. The last is the pin lock where a pin falls into a predrilled hole to keep the pole in place.

The cam lock 

The cam lock has been around for a long time and is use on several styles of poles. Though with water fed poles it has a draw back, you can not run your water line inside of the pole. There are some companies that use cam locks still and just run the water line on the outside of the pole. I see a lot of window washing poles are still external feed poles. Cam lock's also can be the knurled end is fitted into the end of one pole then the off set plug locks against the side of the other pole holding them in place. To lock this in place you twist the poles in opposite directions. An other draw-back is smaller poles are harder to grip when wet.

cam lock device

The twist lock or locking cone lock

This is the oldest style use on most water fed poles or pressure washing heavy duty ones you may encounter. It work by tighten the large cone shaped ring on fingers under it to pinch or tighten against the smaller pole inside. You tighten the cone shape barrel by twisting it the tighter you do now the harder it is to undo later. I have had trouble getting grime in the fingers and over-tightening is a problem. Keeping it clean and a genteel snug to tighten it is all that is needed to keep this problem from happening.

The tappered cone is tightened down against the fingers locking the poles in place.

Twist locks come in several sizes to work with the different diameters of the poles or tubing.

Pin locks

This is a sure way to lock into one length it will not move or come loose with work it is a very positive way to keep the poles at the working length. I have never used one of these style of poles so I can not give you much feed back. One draw back is there are preset hole drilled into the pole giving you only the preset length, this is not a big deal though you are only less than six inches off. 

Push the button it lifts or depresses the pin and you can slide out the pole to the desired length.

Pin lock style lets you lock the pole into the desired length it is a very positive locking system.

Lever lock or clamp lock

The last system I will look at is the lever lock it is a clamping system it has a clamp the is activated by a lever or a screw-nut. You use the leverage to tighten the internal pole against the out side of the sliding pole it is fixed onto the other pole keep it from moving. One disadvantage is the larger screw-nuts may get in the way but the smaller streamlined lever is less likely too. Over tighten may be a problem here too and breakage of the plastic lever.

 the screw-nut type of locking clamp

lever locking style of clamp lock

Typical arrangement of the telescoping pole what ever the locks they use the have a smaller pole inside of a larger pole and some type of locking system to keep it in place.

Other styles of locks

You may see other style of locks too I found a few pictures.

I hope this will help to clear up some of your questions on the locking systems and how they work. All these locking systems work by pinching against the wall of the pole except the pin system. Keeping your pole at the desired length while working is all that is needed but being able to quickly change and adjust the length is where each may differ. This will all be up to each user of which system he or she will use. I have carpal tunnel in my hands and find the large twist locks the easiest to work with and have been using this system for a lot of years as I stated in the last blog entry. Thank you for reading our blog and please visit our web sites, links are on the right. As always call:

Cleaned by Pete at 417-459-7869 for all your power washing needs in Springfield and the Southwest MO area