How to Maintain your Pressure Washer Properly

How to maintain your pressure washer

Pressure washers are some of the most fantastic cleaning tools on the market. It’s just one of those things that once you own it, you cannot imagine life without it.

From the moment that you remove the parts from the box and assemble it, you have probably used your pressure washer relentlessly from small tasks like cleaning garden furniture to the huge tasks of cleaning that driveway.

However, have you ever taken a moment to learn how to properly look after and maintain your pressure washer?

If you haven’t, you need to change this ASAP. It’s absolutely essential to take care of your pressure washer as it will prolong its life and ensure that everything runs smoothly.

How exactly are you supposed to do this? Don’t panic, we’re here to tell you exactly that, so read on to find out more!

Before You Get Started…

Before we get started with this guide, here’s an important tip – RTFM (Read The Flippin’ Manual)!

Every pressure washer is different, and it would be impossible for us to cover everything you need to know regarding safely maintaining your specific pressure washer.

Always read the manual of your device to get the best cleaning and maintenance tips – this will ensure that you are always taking care of business safely. 

Store Your Pressure Washer Safely

There are a wide range of things that you should do to properly maintain your pressure washer, but many of them are not necessary if you simply store your pressure washer safely.

Many people leave their pressure washer outside overnight by accident or leave it in a damp area, and this is just asking for trouble. 

You should store your pressure washer in a dry area whenever you are not using it, no excuses.

It literally takes a minute to do this and it can prolong the life of your pressure washer by months or even years, so don’t get lazy – store your pressure washer in a safe and dry place.

Clearing Out Clogs

Pressure washing involves the use of water and detergent to clear out nasty grime and dirt, so it’s only natural that parts of your pressure washer will get clogged up.

Whether it’s the main spray tip of your device or that adjustable nozzle attachment that you got for Christmas, dirt and chemical residue can build up and clog your pressure washer, and this is going to cause serious problems. 

Whilst this is totally natural and unavoidable, it’s only an issue if you don’t stay on top of it.

You can easily avoid clogs from becoming a serious problem by simply checking your pressure washer before and after every use, taking care of any signs of early residue build-up.

You’ll thank yourself later when your pressure washer works seamlessly, every time. 

Lubricating the Connections

Pressure washers are made up of various parts – you have the main device, the nozzles, the attachments, and the o-rings and pipes that connect them all.

When you first purchase a pressure washer, all of these parts will connect with almost no friction, and it will be easy to fall into a false sense of security.

However, these connections do become harder to attach over time, and this can lead to damage if you try to force them together. 

Don’t worry though, there’s a solution to this – lubrication. If you ensure that the o-rings and pipes that connect the parts of your pressure washers remain lubricated, you will be able to prevent the dryness that leads to friction and ultimately, connection damage.

Simply purchase some pressure washer lubricant and apply it to all connection spots, or get in touch with a local serviceman if you are not sure what you are doing. 

This is especially important for maintaining petrol pressure washers.

Clearing the Cooling Vents

This next point is perhaps the most important – you should always ensure that you are checking the vents of your pressure washers.

You should do this after any use as it is possible that some pieces of grime may have entered during a cleaning session, but don’t forget to also check before use in case something has entered whilst the device has been vacant! 

Most debris can be cleared with a cloth and some cleaning product, but if you find something particularly stubborn, feel free to use some compressed air. Just don’t forget to ensure that your pressure washer is turned off when cleaning and ventilation system. 

Replace Any Damaged Parts

This final point may seem obvious, but you would be amazed at how often people do not do this.

Many people have a tendency to use something until it is completely broken, operating on the basis of “if it’s not broke then don’t fix it”.

This is an attitude that should not be used when it comes to pressure washer maintenance. 

The reason for this is that neglecting a damaged o-ring, pipe, attachment or other pressure washer part could cause damage to the core of the equipment.

For example, your pressure washer may work despite having a broken o-ring or two, but this will lead to leaks that could damage other parts of the device! Always replace any damaged parts before they become a bigger problem.

It may be a nuisance having to shell out cash when the pressure washer still works, but trust us – it’s going to be better than having to purchase a brand new pressure washer!

Conclusion

We hope that this guide to looking after and maintaining your pressure washer has helped!

Always make sure that you read the manual of your pressure washer to fully understand how to take care of it, store it in a dry place to minimize the amount of maintenance you will need to do, and follow these tips as a general guideline. 

It’s easy to forget to do all of this stuff, but just take our advice and keep on top of it. It should only take you five minutes to check all of this stuff out, and it could potentially save you hours of time and hundreds of pounds when you prevent a serious problem from occurring. We wish you the best of luck!