8 Essential Facts About Pressure Washer Soap and Cleaning Solutions You Need to Know

Can you guess the two best ways to speed up the pressure cleaning process?

Here’s a hint: copy your dishwasher.

There’s a reason your dishwasher uses hot water and soap detergent to clean your dishes instead of cold water and no soap.

The science tells us that hot water has more energy to push the dirt and grime off the surface… And the soap adds attractive forces to pull and wash away the grime and oils with the water.

1. The difference between soap and detergent.

• Soap is considered a type of detergent that uses natural products such as fats and oil from plants and animals. The raw products are combined with salts after being processed down to fatty acids and glycerine with steam. The result is soap.
• Bar soap uses sodium as the salt and liquid soap uses potassium as the salt.
• At a microscopic level this soap when mixed with water is able to break down and dissolve the dirt, grime or stain you are trying to clean.
• Detergents are man-made from chemicals and not natural fats and oils.
• You use detergents to clean your clothes.

2. How a pressure washer soap nozzle, injector and dispenser work.

Soap detergent can be introduced to the pressure washer water flow before (upstream) or after (downstream) the pump.

Only some chemicals can be allowed through the pump so the downstream injectors allow you more options.

The downstream soap injectors need to be used with a soap nozzle. The soap nozzle allows the siphoning of the detergent solution from the detergent bottle into the pressure hose for application to the surface.

3. The difference between residential and professional pressure washer detergent, soap, chemicals and cleaning solutions.

Do you pressure wash around your home a few times a month or do you earn a living with pressure washing cleaning jobs?

The difference between residential and professional pressure cleaning chemicals is professionals save money buying the concentrated chemical in bulk form and do the mixing process themselves.

If you don’t plan on using it everyday you probably just buy the gallon of pre-mixed solution from Home Depot. That one comes pre-mixed and you end up paying a more money per gallon of solution because you only need a little.

4. The types of chemicals used in the different types of power washer soaps and detergents.

Manufacturers label their chemicals based on their intended purpose and recommended surface. There are cleaners to remove dirt, sanitizers to kill most (99.999%) bacteria fast (less than 30 seconds) and disinfectants that kill all organisms slow (10 minutes).

• Vinegar – Cleaning countertops, windows and produce… and polishing of surfaces from brass door handles to bronze heirlooms.
• Citric Acid – Concrete driveway and wood deck cleaning and stain removal.
• Oxalic Acid – Rust removal and other cleaning.
• Bleach – Made of sodium hypochlorite and sodium hydroxide it is an aggressive sanitizer and disinfectant.
• Sodium Hypochlorite – Stain removal and powerful disinfectant.
• Sodium Hydroxide – Also known as caustic it readily dissolves grease, fats and is a degreaser for glass and steel.
• Ammonia – Common glass cleaner and stainless steel cleaner.
• Potassium Hydroxide – Used to make soft or liquid soap.

5. If pressure washing with soaps and detergents is harmful to your pet or garden.

All store bought pressure washer detergent soaps should be environmentally friendly for your pets and garden. Professionals in certain cases may use unsafe chemicals for humans and pets and will be aware of the risks.

6. If pressure washing with power washer soap and other cleaning solutions is harmful to the environment if let down storm drains.

To ensure the cleaning solutions are not harmful they should be biodegradable. The label will tell you this information.

7. How much easier it will be to pressure clean surfaces with soapy cleaning solutions compared to without.

Have you ever cooked lasagna at home in a Pyrex glass baking dish? The cheese cakes on to the side and bottom.

Now try cleaning it with nothing but cold water. Now try cleaning it with warm water and soap.

Cleaning with detergent and soap and high pressure water is the ideal way to clean any surface fast.

8. What everyone else is saying about using pressure washer detergent and soap.

There’s a car wash/detailing shop on my walk to the train station. They have 4 professionals working there Mon-Sat and are busy round the clock. I stopped in this morning to talk about the cleaning products they use to clean their client’s cars.

They offer a full service from general pressure washing of the car exterior to detailing and grooming of the interior. I snapped a quick image of their cleaning solution bottle rack. You can see they 10+ different products for different purposes.

Lachlan, the guy I was chatting with, laughed when I asked him if they attempted to do their job with just 1 or 2 solutions. He said, “Nope, we need all of them to make the job quick and easy.”

If you want to speed up the pressure cleaning and ultimately do a more thorough clean then you need to use the right additive to your machine.