10 Essential Pressure Washer Safety Tips: For Any User

By Power Tools

September 7, 2019


A pressure washer is not a toy! Follow the pressure washer safety tips with high importance or you can get injured with a severe cut.

Pressure washer safety

YES! Operating a pressure washer with less safety precaution can result in devastating injuries.

Many if the consumers already know the fact and some of them are suffering from severe injuries. So these pressure washer safety tips are no joke!

Lacerations are the most common injuries. Also, punctures, bruises, eye injuries are common.

Pressure Washer Safety: Injuries are Avoidable!

What surprises me when I see these pressure washer injuries is it’s completely avoidable.  YES, avoidable! A little more caution can prevent injuries. You do not want to use your pressure washer like a kid’s water gun. Because it can run havoc on your hands or legs if you underestimate the pressure it has. Don’t believe me?

Check out these real stories:

I used to work in the paint industry two years back. And we used Karcher pressure washer for washing hard stains on the mixing tanks.

It was a tough job.

Two of my machine operators were washing a mixing tank using a 15⁰ nozzle. Somehow the pressure washer operator was distracted and lost his balance. He couldn’t quite manage the pressure washer spray gun and the spray passed over the other operator’s hand.

He was lucky. But still, he bears the scar on his hand.

What may seem just a scar on the skin is actually a deep threat to the muscle tissue. The high-pressure jet can easily penetrate the soft muscle tissue injecting the fluid in it. This can lead to long-term bacterial infection. This kind of injuries will need long operations and months of physical therapy to recover.

So always have your guards on!

Check These Facts Why a Pressure Washer Can be Dangerous

Real Image of Damage done by the pressure washer jet

Pressure washer safety injury
Damage by pressure washer jet spray

Look at this man. He never thought of this while operating his pressure washer without proper safety.

Just a touch of pressure washer accidentally and he has injured himself with Laceration.

He might be all right now but it could have been much worse than this. So always be careful while operating a pressure washer.

Your Skin is nothing for a pressure washer to damage

Do you know how much pressure it takes to pierce human skin? I guess not. It takes around 1200 PSI to pierce your skin and making a 0.1inch hole. Pressure washers are extremely powerful.

What is the capacity of your pressure washer then I guess it’s above the 1200 PSI range. For steel, it will take 30000PSI to get punctured. Bad news for you! You don’t have steel on your body.

Hold Tight or Get Pushed Away: Important pressure washer safety

Back force by pressure washer jet
Pressure washer creates this kind of back force.

Pressure washer exerts huge back force while spraying water through the spray gun. This back pressure can be huge and difficult to control if you are a beginner.

If you are holding the spray gun with a soft hand, it can just get out of the hand or it can easily change direction. This can injure others as discussed above.

The pushback also can be enormous. Have you seen people get the pushback while using a gun for the first time? The same thing applies here. Sometimes you need to lean forward to omit that push back. This is the same thing as shown in the picture. This man is really working his butt off for holding that spray nozzle in hand! This is not a pressure washer but this picture will clarify the force created by a pressure washer. In addition, you can understand how important the pressure washer safety issue is!

Now the Most Essential Pressure Washer Safety Tips

  • Take your time before you start. If you are feeling down then let go.
  • Check the weather. Pressure washing on a rainy day or in the heavy wind is not a good idea.
  • Clear your surroundings. Perform pressure wash in an open place. A congested place is not a good place to do the washing.
  • Never use a gas power washer in an enclosed space. A gas power washer can fill the enclosed space with heavy fume. Also, it can get really noisy. Better have the job outside!
  • Avoid electrical connection area. Maintain a safe distance from the electrical connection as you are playing with water.
    Pressure washer safety and protective gear
    Safety Gear For Pressure Washing
  • Use protective gear. Always use protective gear while you are operating a pressure washer. Already you know what injuries you can get if you operate a pressure washer without proper safety.
  • Before you start, check for any leakage. Before starting the job check for any leakage or any abnormal sound you are getting from the pressure washer.
  • Read the user manual. It won’t take much time reading the pressure washer manual but it will help a lot. There will be a few checklists for operating the specific pressure washer you have.
  • Start with a wide-angle spray nozzle. Don’t get intuitive about the job. Start with the 25⁰ nozzle from two feet distance. This will be perfect for any general cleaning job. If you are not satisfied then change the distance. Still, if you are not getting the result change the nozzle. However, start with the nozzle you need most if you are an expert in this job.
  • Avoid using ladders. This one is another common mistake. Remember the back force issue? Yes, if the force is too much you can fall like a projectile with the ladder.

In A Nutshell

Please don’t be stupid. Use your common sense. Use your protective gear. These safety tips should keep you safe while you are at home and washing your car!