I have a lot of stuff that suddenly needs cleaning. A lot of it is covered in a film of used motor oil. It’s an 1800sqft garage that had 3’ of flood water and I had one 5qt jug of used oil that didn’t have cap on it because I left a funnel in it to drain the oil filter.

I got two cars, three motorcycles, the two generators, the old pressure washer, the zero turn mower, wife’s Christmas decorations, jacks, jacks stands, the old pressure washer, the floor, walls, tool boxes, tools, etc. to clean.

Do they only spray soap when using to soap nozzle or will the spray soap while using the pressure nozzles? I’d like to blast everything with soapy water, then rinse.

What soap? Simple Green? Dawn?

What should I get for a pressure washer? The old one has a Honda motor that lasted 20 years, but the pump was replaced once.

Depends on the design.

Some have a soap reservoir that injects soap before the wand. That can be used with any wand nozzle, though often work better with a soap-specific nozzle.

Others have a soap attachment with reservoir that attaches to the end of the wand (such as a foam cannon), and may be limited in nozzle options.


Simple Green is a great all-around cleaner, and is safe for vegetation, people, and pets. It's what I use for most cleaning around the house. But I don't know how well it cuts oil specifically.

I know Dawn is a great degreaser, but I'm unsure how well it would work in a pressure washer specifically.

If you have Dollar General stores around they sell a fantastic inexpensive cleaner/degreaser called LA's Totally Awesome. It's only a few bucks for a gallon jug, and it works better than most other cleaners I've tried. That's what I use to wash my siding and gutters, using my pressure washer. Just be sure to wear gloves, protect vegetation, and don't use it straight/undiluted.

I use Simple Green when I feel inspired to clean my tractor. As any tractor owner knows, they are typically covered with dust embedded in a hellish mixture of hydraulic fluid and grease that seems to get everywhere.

I spray concentrated SG with a garden sprayer, let it sit a few minutes and then pressure wash to rinse. Not perfect, but pretty good. I suspect you'll need to go back and do a hand cleaning of those items after the worst is off.

For what you described, I'd look into renting one that also heats the water. I used one of those a zillion years ago at a golf course and they rocked.

With that much I’d look into a heated steam washer. Simple green, purple power, dawn. Everything will probably need a hand wash after the bulk is removed

As a general principal, cleaning units = pressure * gpm. I bring this up as many erroneously focus on psi while ignoring gpm. Most things the OP is listing a higher gpm will save time.

As far as cars and motorcycles, you only need 900 to 1200 psi and you don't want to risk damage by going above 2000 psi. When my 1.3 gpm Sun Joe burnt out I switched to a 2.0 gpm Active 2.0 and it produces more foam with my foam cannon and rinses the truck off faster. Speaking of Sun Joe, they're one of the many brands on Amazon who:

are dishonest about their stats as they apparently measure gpm with no nozzle inserted (i.e. not how their customers use it) so with nozzle inserted it was 1.3 gpm not the 1.76 gpm they publish.

are selling 100 hour pumps. Mine crapped out in 4 years.

Not a big fan of the built-in soap dispensers as everyone I used I had to put a special nozzle on, go over the surface, switch back to regular nozzle, and not sure what its detergents and surfactants are doing to hose and pump. I'd rather either:

use a foam cannon. I use this for my truck and motorcycle. Mix up a batch of auto shampoo at 8:1 or 10:1, foam the vehicle, let it rest a few minutes, and rinse it off. The foam clings better than a soapy solution so it works better and only water goes thru pump and hose.

use a pump pressure sprayer. I use this for concrete. Mix up a batch of cleaner in tank, go over the surface with the sprayer, and then go over the surface with the pressure washer. Same amount of time and no detergents and surfactants going through my pump and hose.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
For what you described, I'd look into renting one that also heats the water. I used one of those a zillion years ago at a golf course and they rocked.

I'm in oil & gas and our maintenance crews swear by heated units for cleaning oils and greases.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

The price on the heated water ones definitely puts them in the rent category. I’m going to make do with buying a regular pressure washer since none of the local rental places have them available.

Pressure washers with soap injectors pull soap into the line and out your spray gun but not at high pressure. You must have a low pressure soap tip to pull soap, regardless of whether the pressure washer has a soap reservoir or you have the feed line in the chemical container. We call this low pressure washing. We use this to spray everything down with our chemicals and allow it to dwell on our cleaning surface. Typically sodium hypochlorite 10% or higher is mixed with a surfactant, like a laundry detergent.

It is highly diluted depending on your pressure washer you might only get 1% cleaning chemical in your stream. This is good for cleaning houses and not destroying wood and green life, but not great in an oily garage.

For that reason, I would recommend getting a backpack sprayer, fill it with the degreaser you want and some water then applying it that way. You can put much more degreaser down in heavy areas while still being able to control less chemical in areas that are not as filthy.

You can come back after and use a mop if its grimy and heavy, or a firm brush/broom. After that is gone you can go over it with the pressure washer to blast away anything else, though often times oil/grease is in the pores of concrete so you might not get it all a uniform color. (you'll have some spots)

Chemical/soap injectors are great when you're trying to bleach down the side of a house, but for small areas or cars, they aren't that great.

I use a 2 gal pump sprayer and a good well regarded degreaser concentrate - forget the brand but it's popular and comes in a purple jug.spray it on good, agitate with a broom or brush helps and then pressure wash. A 50/50 bleach mix is kinda harsh but that's what I used to clean metals roofs in everglades sugar cane country.

If you buy a gas powered make sure to get an unloader that has a bypass not a recirculator.

The majority of first time owners dont know that putting down your gun while the motor is running for even 2 minutes can cause so much heat that your pump can die or lose pressure.

Everyone else is providing good information on the washers, so I'll address something different.

For oil stains that can't be removed use this.

I have a backpack sprayer and will look for a bypass unloader. The garage floor is sealed except for the part I spill some gas on which stripped the sealer in that spot. That stain remover will come in handy there. The block walls are painted with good paint. I was hoping pressure washing would avoid scrubbing, but I guess I could use the exercise. There’s no vegetation I’m worried about.

I told my wife about the Christmas decorations last night. You would have thought someone had run over our dog. They’re in totes and stacked. The ones at the top of the stack will be fine and it’s possible the biggest ones at the bottom were tall enough not to been flooded.

Thanks for the advice. I found what I’m going to buy. It’s got Honda GX390 and a belt driven CAT pump. It’s clearance priced at what the engine and pump would cost by themselves. It’s more than I want to spend, but I think the significant step up quality, reliability, and performance are worth it. Link The black hose between the pump inlet and the bypass valve looks like I could easily convert it to a tank bypass setup rather than recirculating.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trapper189,

Use a pump up sprayer of your favorite cleaner . Better control , less mess .

quote:

It’s more than I want to spend, but I think the significant step up quality, reliability, and performance are worth it. Link

Lotta green, and probably overkill, which is of course, underrated

Check Costco in your area, some are only online but significantly less money. They have up to 3400 PSI which is more than enough for a home gas pressure washer.

Link

Key things, besides PSI is GPM, also things to get are a longer hose, 50 ft minimum, most come with 30 ft, and get the quick detachable ends for both ends of that hose, makes the hose rotate easier when being used or rolled up.

Also be sure you get a rotating pressure head, makes a big different when cleaning the drive, gutters etc. and you want to be sure you have multiple spray heads because a 0 degree spray head on a 4000 psi washer will carve into concrete like butter.

JMO I'd buy the $400 to $500 unit on Costco, one has the Honda engine, add a longer hose, quick disconnects for that hose, the rotating pressure head, and pick up a nice surface cleaner for doing the driveway.

Well it does come with a 50’ hose and quick disconnects. But yeah, a $500 one would probably be fine; that’s about what the old one was 20 something years ago. Looking at them, it looks like $800-$900 might be a sweet spot for getting jobs done faster. Then I saw this one for $500 more and figure spending an extra $500 to blast the snot out of stuff might move me right along from anger and depression to acceptance.

Plus, not only does it have a Prop 65 warning, it isn’t even legal to sell in California to begin with.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trapper189,

Alright, looking at foam cannons, I think using the soap nozzle will be fine for the mess I have to clean, but a foam cannon is the list for later.

The surface cleaner; however, is on today’s list. Quick question about those: do you use them on vertical surfaces? Obviously, the big ones with two handles and wheels on the round part are meant for horizontal surfaces, but I’m looking at the smaller, lightweight ones and wondering if they might be the ticket for the sides of a house?

You could get one of the small surface cleaners and hold it up to walls, not sure if it will clean better or take off more old dry paint

You could probably spray the walls with a cleaning solution, and brush it with a push broom if it's that bad, then hit with the PW with a wider tip to keep from tearing up things like screens, paint, etc.