I just purchased an 1800 PSI Pressure Washer. Question is, what should I put in the detergent tanks?

I want to do my deck, sidewalk, side of house... what do you put in the tanks for DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS? Such as wood/ aluminum siding/ etc?





thanksI just purchased an 1800 PSI Pressure Washer. Question is, what should I put in the detergent tanks?
There really is no one size fits all solution for cleaning. Deck cleaning should be done with a soium percarbonate based cleaner. Vinyl siding cleaning with something containing non ionic surfactants and sodium metasilicate (and bleach). Rust on a foundation needs an acid like oxalic. Sidewalks need a combination of bleach and caustics like sodium hydroxide. Cars need something gentle.





Be careful with running cleaning chemicals through whats called an ';upstreamer';. This pushes the chemicals through your pressure washing pump and will corrode it. Look for something called a ';downstreamer'; to apply chemicals. It goes on your pressure washer after the pump.





There are good products made for homeowner duty and distributed under the ';Zep'; line of cleaners. Look for them at Home Depot.I just purchased an 1800 PSI Pressure Washer. Question is, what should I put in the detergent tanks?
Generally speaking you want the detergent to soften and loosen the dirt on whatever it is you're cleaning. The pressure washer doesnt' apply the cleaner under pressure-just a weak stream. After the detergent has had time to work, the intense pressure cleans everything away.





All of that means that unless you're trying to clean algae or mold, use a little liquid soap as the detergent; for mold or algae use a mild bleach solution. Just remember that if you use bleach,and something becomes discolored, you can't fix it, so be careful on siding and wood.
Lowes or Home Depot sell specific duty cleaners in 1 gallon jugs. I at first thought it was a scam and was all the same. I tried different ones and they work pretty good. There's concrete cleaner, siding cleaner, car wash, degreaser, general cleaner, etc.