The Best Hot Water Pressure Washer

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Here you’ll be introduced to the 2 best hot water pressure washers for most people. One is a light-duty electric. The other is heavy-duty with a gasoline powered engine / pump and diesel burner.

Unless you’re a pro that gets paid to power wash don’t buy a hot water power washer.

Why? They’re just too expensive for residential-use. The most affordable one is $1,799 (on-sale). And that’s the 1,200 PSI machine down below.

But if money is no matter and you’re dead-set on a hot water unit then let’s take a look why hot water cleans more, better and quicker.

How Hot Water Pressure Washers Clean Better, Faster

Here’s the deal:

Answering why hot water cleans better than cold water is right up my alley… It’s a simple study in thermodynamics (heat and energy, including internal energy of a system) and kinetics (forces and motion) – both branches of physics. I studied mechanical engineering, which included a few thermo and kinetics courses… But who cares about the equations and fancy terms, let’s just talk about the gist of it:

Cold versus Hot Water

There’s 2 reasons why hot water cleans better than cold water: It has more energy to dislodge the dirt from the surface and it also attracts the dirt away from the surface better when hot. Hot water is a better boxer than cold water – it can easily surround and punch-out then carry away the dirt. Cold water is slower, and not very good at getting in close to Mr. Dirt Stain to land a finishing blow. And in physics terminology:

1. The higher temperature means the water molecules are on average bouncing around faster – they have more kinetic energy. When introduced to a surface they will quickly bounce around dislodging any weaker molecules such as oil stains or dirt that is on the surface.
2. The heat increases the internal attractive energy of the water, allowing it to have more attractive force on a microscopic level. Although this energy increase is much less prominent than the increased kinetic energy it still allows improved ability to “suck” away the stain/dirt molecules from the surface.

Soap versus No Soap

Going back to the hot water is a better boxer analogy… Soap would be like allowing the boxer to have a lasso (and he’s a hobbyist cowboy well trained at using it). With it, he quickly loops the rope around Mr. Dirt Stain pulling him in towards his lethal right hook. It’s game over. Dirt Stain has no chance.

Now that you’re starting to realize the benefits of hot water for cleaning, let’s take a look at what a hot water pressure washer is made up of:

Do you know How To Choose Which Pressure Washer To Buy From The 902 Available?

Features That Matter

Burner

The burner supplies the heat. In the common hot water pressure washers it uses diesel fuel. Kerosene is also common. It has the ability to raise the temperature of the incoming water by 130F (55C). Some machines can even get you a 250F (120C) wet steam.

Burner Fuel Tank Size

Take note of the fuel tank size for the burner. It’s usually between 4 and 10 gallons. The bigger the tank the heavier the unit, but also the less often you’ll need to fill it up.

Heating Coil

The heating coil is where the weight of a hot water pressure cleaner comes from. It’s made of schedule 80 pipe or tubing. You can see its mass in this picture. That’s all steel.

Gas or Electric

As with cold water units you either have gas or electric powering the pump. Gas is more affordable if you need more power.

Trailer or Push Cart 

The bigger the heating coil, burner, fuel tank and engine the bigger the cart frame needs to be… The biggest are often trailer mounted and are to be pulled from site-to-site by truck. Other come with frames and 4-wheels to push around. And some, like the electric Mini-brute below, just have 2 wheels.

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Best hot water – Add on unit

NorthStar Portable Electric Wet Steam & Hot Water Pressure Washer Add-on Unit, 4000 PSI, 4 GPM, 115 Volts

This unit allows you to upgrade a cold water pressure washer to hot water. It does not include the actual pressure washer… just the hot water. But if you already have a good 4 GPM unit, this will give you the flexibility to add hot water when you need it. 

Northstar makes quality products, so this is great for many who need an added hot water edge to their cleaning.

Check Price on Northern Tool

Our Pick – full unit

NorthStar Gas Wet Steam & Hot Water Pressure Washer, 3000 PSI, 4.0 GPM, Honda Engine, Electric Start

An upgrade on the electric model is this gas hot water pressure washer from Northstar. Easily adjustable, and because it’s gas-powered you’re not limited to where you can clean.

This is a great option for businesses who need the cleaning power of hot water but also can’t keep the machine semi-stationary. 

This pressure washer can blast through the dirtiest projects with ease, so it’s great for any industrial or heavy equipment cleaning.

Check Price on Northern Tool

Sources

1. Physics.StackExchange answer in physics terms why hot water is better than cold at removing grease and stains from surfaces.
2. Heating coil details from epowerwash.com.
3. Ultimatewasher.com pressure washer burner page was used to find out pricing on heating coil and burner units.