Let the washer take the pressure off to keep your van clean

I know it’s tough at the moment, what with the road grit and spray, but when you turn up to a job, the first thing a customer sees is your van and if it’s covered in grime, with “clean me” graffiti on the back – I did this  in photoshop…honest – well, it doesn’t say a lot about your general standards, does it.

So me and the missus, Vanessa, we bought a pressure washer to keep our vans in sparkling-clean condition and I have to say it was a great buy.

I did my homework, as always, to find out exactly what I needed and just like finding the cheapest van insurance I used the internet to hunt down the best deal.

So, here’s my guide to getting the best pressure washer for the job.

Ivan’s top tips for pressure washer buying

• First of all you must consider where you’re going to use the washer: If you work in remote spots without a power supply you’ll need a petrol pressure washer, but if you’re only ever going to use it close to home or your business premises, then an electric washer might be the safer option – no cans of fuel in the back of your van! 

• Secondly, what are you going to use it for? Cheaper models are likely to work at a fairly low pressure of around 100 bar and whilst these are great for cleaning patio furniture and bins, they won’t strip gunge off decking or remove two inches of dried-on mud from a tractor. For those sorts of jobs you’ll need 110 to 130 bar. 

• If you need flexible cleaning, look out for models which allow you to vary the pressure. And if you want complete flexibility you’ll need to check out how portable it is. So weight is a factor and it might even be best to get one on wheels for ease of manoeuvrability round your van as you clean it. 

•  And finally, always check out the accessories the machine comes with, because some of them, like wheel rim brushes or rotary heads, can be expensive to buy as extras.

So, now you’re set with the best tool for job, you can make sure no one ever scrawls “Don’t wash – plough” on the back of your van ever again!

image © tallkev, via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence