# Which Pressure Washer Tip?



## steve-in-kville

What tips are your guys using when stripping old paint off of wooden siding and shakes? Most units come with 15, 25 and 40 degree tips. I've heard a lot about the various turbo nozzles, too. 

What tip works best, in your opinion??

steve


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## Brushslingers

Whirlybird for general cleaning, 0 tip for concrete.......


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## steve-in-kville

Brushslingers said:


> Whirlybird for general cleaning....


Is that the same idea as a turbo nozzle?? Sorry, I'm ignorant when it comes to pressure washers... I'm ordering my first one this week. I know what I want, just trying to find the best price.

steve


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## Brushslingers

Hmm, not sure what a "turbo" nozzle is... basically we call em whirlybirds cause they spin... it's not a simple shootthewateratthewall tip... they are normally about 60 bucks. Just make SURE your pressure washer that you buy is industry standard, or you'll be stuck with a proprietary hose/gun/tip thing.


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## steve-in-kville

I'm looking at the quick-connect washers. Going with an industrial/contractor grade machine. I want something that'll take paint off when needed, but gentle enough to wash the cars and trucks with.

steve


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## Brushslingers

Then your looking at something around 2200 psi or more and as high a gpm as you can afford... the tips and pressure regulator will allow for alot of room as long as the gpm is there. With a 4.0 gpm and a 0 tip you can use it to cut down small trees, swap it out for a wash tip and turn the pressure down, truck looks great.


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## Rich

Brushslingers said:


> With a 4.0 gpm and a 0 tip you can use it to cut down small trees


Dewalt makes a sick 4 gpm unit 

(sick=good)


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## steve-in-kville

I was cruising through Lowes today and noticed a Troy-bilt model, within the specs I was after. Hose was only 30', but the price wasn't too bad. Still leaning towards the Honda engines and Cat or Comet pumps, though.

steve


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## steve-in-kville

Rich said:


> Dewalt makes a sick 4 gpm unit
> 
> (sick=good)


 
Sorta like "wicked cool?"

BTW- what pumps are they putting on those Dewalts?? Its and Honda engine, but never looked close enough to figure what pump.

steve


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## Rich

not sure steve...I only passed by the unit briefly while someone was using it

I would hope if you spend that much $$, that you'd get a good pump too, but then again look at american cars....:whistling2:


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## steve-in-kville

Rich said:


> I would hope if you spend that much $$, that you'd get a good pump too, but then again look at american cars....:whistling2:


Good advice... whatever I buy, I resolved to buy a brand-name pump with a good name engine. I want something that is rebuildable. Same concept I used when I bought my airless sprayer. Throw-away models are a waste of hard-earned cash.

steve


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## Mandrake

One company I work with has been using a MiTM (mighty M) machine for stripping white and red cedars following a chemical stripper. Its a 4000psi unit at around 3GPM. Its a belt drive which causes less wear on the unit than a direct drive. Its a well-built unit. As the previous post mentioned better to buy a good name that one of those off-the-shelf units at the depot stores. They have had success with a 40 degree tip but I would recommend experimenting with tip and distance. The rotary tips are great but can eat up siding if you are not careful. 

One of the best decisions they made was to work with a guy who supplies PW equipment to the cleaning industry. His expertise has been invaluble in dealing with a host of equipment and production issues. Cost a little more that way but pays off when you need some help. 

Try the powerwashingnetwork for some more advice.

Mndk


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## Brushslingers

Check out american... was a sweet machine while I had her.


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## raypenn

I looked at the Dewalt and the John Deere units out there before buying my MiTi M unit from SW. 

The thing that turn me off from them two was the warranty. Great for residential use but as soon as you use them for commercial the warranty dropped to junk status. So I figured they must not be too proud of their units if they cant back them up with a good commercial warranty.

Paid $150.00 more for my Miti M unit. Its a 4k 3.5gpm unit. But it has a 3 year engine and 1 year pump warranty. Was worth the extra money too me.

Good luck


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## Tmrrptr

Stripping paint is best done with suitable chemicals, then blasted with low pressure/high flow rate.

Visit thegrimescene.com bb and run a search for paint removal first...

r


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## welovepainting

Stripping a house with a power washer? Never heard of such a thing. We use a tornado tip (whirley thing) to remove chalk from aluminum and to minimize scraping and sanding on wood surfaces. Other than that never really used the red 0 tip. We use chemicall stripper then power wash. It is alot of hard work and its not fun. The suits we where make it feel 120 degrees on a 70 degree day. Tipically for chemical removal we try to book those jobs April, May, September, or October only those four months otherwise it is to darn hot. 
I will post some pictures of our paint removal process in the pictures section.


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## Paul Kassander

A good 15 degree tip is the best bet. Turbo nozzles are fast but a little aggressive you can do a lot of damage to wood with those. Also due to the spinning action you will have a tendency to go against the grain and get a lot of splintering. It can be done but the smallest mistake can become expensive and time consuming to repair. 

Yes I did do it, had a side of toothpicks, many years ago when I first started out. Got the paint off though...


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## johnisimpson

Best sized tip is going to involve both the size of fan (0, 15, 25, 40) and the size of the orifice. Like airless tips, pw tips have dual number sizes to measure fan size and size of the tips hole. To be in the same league with pw contractors, you'll need to be at 4 gpm or more. I wouldn't worry as much about psi. gpm is where you get your speed and very, very few surfaces should be washed with 3000 psi or more. Earlier advice to use other stripping methods (such as chemical strippers) is solid (imho) and then use the pressure washer to gently rinse the stripper and paint off. I typically do more deck work than siding, but we strip decks at around 800 psi and 5 gpm after using a sodium hydroxside stripper and then follow with a citric acid rinse. If you use chemical strippers, be sure to remember the acid rinse. the acid neutralizes the alkaline stripper that will otherwise still be present in the wood. And, in my opinion, rotary nozzles (aka whirlybirds, turbos and spinners) are too intense for wood. In fact, we rarely use them for concrete even and never use them on brick and mortar. 1500 psi is our rule of thumb for concrete and 1000 for brick and mortar. As for pumps and engines on pressure washers, thats a good debate but keep in mind that a honda engine is a honda engine no matter which brand uses it and the same goes for the pumps. I like general pumps the best for their durability and low cost in parts and replacement. I think Cat makes an excellent pump but i don't want to pay to repair or replace it (very expensive). I believe that the dewalt pw has a cat pump and is a good deal at around $1000. Use it until the pump fails and then replace the pump with a general (about 1/2 the cost of replacing with a cat). 
btw, i'm new to the board and hoping to learn a lot from everyone here. I'm going to be new to the painting game soon as i expand my pressure washing business. I've got about 6 years experience with pressure washing and hope i can help with any questions you may have with that.

thanks,
john simpson
arcadia pressure cleaning
423-822-6700
[email protected]


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## Tmrrptr

Wow John! That just about says it all!
r


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## bikerboy

If you want to regulate your pressure by orfice size (the hole in the tip) go here.
http://www.sunbritesupplymd.com/Pressure_washing_guns_nozzles_a.html


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## Barry M

Excellent post John!


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## gto

We bought 5 Dewalt pressure washers from home depot 2 years ago and all of them have needed repairs. Now I am back to buying From Sherwin Williams MTM brand and using their 0% financing.


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