Services

Pressure Power almost exclusively uses cold water agitation. It took me three years to decide this was the direction for this business to take. Hot water machines and accessories are expensive (thousands more) and many models require an electrical outlet. Heat cuts the grease and oil but surprisingly I’ve encountered very little in 9 years of business. Down the road I may get there. –Here’s an update. I’m there! I bought a brand NEW HOT WATER pressure washer (December 2015) and it rocks! It’s also heavy. So far I’ve only used it for front yard surfaces and I hook it up directly from my trailer. It’s NOT a model requiring an electrical outlet so it is truly a ‘stand alone’ unit. I’m looking forward to expanding services to provide professional clean-up of oil and grease.

I use eco-friendly chemicals on fewer than 5% of my jobs. Our storm drains go directly to our streams where those elusive steelhead and salmon are trying to ignore my bait. There are ‘environmentally friendly’ chemicals that I occasionally use. I liken it to a banana peel. It is fully biodegradable. When you toss a banana peel on the ground you can say, ‘it won’t hurt anything. It’s biodegradable.’ Yes, but in the mean time it’s garbage. Even environmentally friendly chemicals have their impact. I’ve done several side-by-side pressure washing jobs to compare the results between chemicals and no chemicals. I am not convinced that the difference – if discernable – is worth the environmental cost.

There is a diminishing return on the extra efforts we could take to get our surfaces cleaner than a cold water pressure washer. It is similar to the level of agitation used to clean a surface. I might use MORE pressure or clean in one place LONGER to improve the cleaning on a job. Surface damage is possible but unlikely. Understanding this is key. Most people want to increase the pressure but the better and safer (for surfaces) way to clean is with a larger volume of water coupled with appropriate pressure. It’s preferable to have more water volume (we measure it in gpm – gallons per minute) than water pressure (we measure it in psi – pounds per square inch).

My conclusion today is that agitation with cold water will get our surfaces clean. Yes, I would like ‘brilliant surface renewal’ for every job on every surface. Sometimes that’s just not possible unless I have hot water or chemicals or both. I’ll use them but only when truly appropriate, safe, and responsible. I can live with a 95% clean surface using my relatively simple (but powerful) and non-invasive cold water machines. Now that I have a HOT machine I can add temperature to my arsenal of cleaning. But the harmful impacts from chemicals are too high a price to pay for the incremental improvement in cleaning residential surfaces. I won’t go after that diminishing return at such a large cost. Here’s an update! I’m on the trail of some ‘chemical’ treatments that hold promise to be effective on oil and grease concrete stains that are also environmentally responsible. The treatments use MICROBES that EAT OIL rather than harsh chemicals. This ‘microbe’ approach is also used for oil spill clean up. I’m currently (January 2016) exploring/researching their use/effectiveness and may slowly ‘turn the corner’ regarding my stance on chemical use. Stay tuned!

All that being said, here are four recommendations I give to my customers to delay the return of the bio-critters – the mold, mildew, algae, lichen, moss, etc….that make our surfaces look dull, black, green, and cruddy. #4 can be key.