More effective "power washer"

[Higgs Boson]

Science Daily

has a very interesting article about a new environmentally safer and more effective device for performing some of the same functions currently handled by "brutal" (my wording) power washers. Also deals with cleaning small items.

HB

[Home Guy]

What they're doing is a modification or extension of the concept of ultrasonic cleaning as implimented in lab appliances like instrument cleaners:

These come in various sizes from about the size of a small toaster to the size of a stove/oven.

What these guys are doing is directing ultrasonic energy through the water stream to the object or surface being cleaned. What they don't tell you is that you need a completely laminar or solid stream to flow from the outlet to the surface. If that stream breaks up or separates into smaller streams or becomes turbulent then the ultrasound can't be conducted from the outlet nozzle to the surface being cleaned.

All the talk about hosing or washing down large surfaces from distances of several feet is nonsense - you can't maintain a solid laminar "rod" of water for that distance, and ultrasound is attenuated by travel over large distances. And even if you could maintain a solid laminar rod of water for a distance of several feet from a hand-held gun to a wall or floor that you want to clean, you're only going to clean that small spot where the water is hitting, and you're going to use a lot of water to keep that stream flowing and intact.

[Home Guy]

Note that when you have a power washer generating several thousand PSI of pressure, you're actually not using a lot of water to clean something with that sort of pressure coming out of the nozzle.

Now, the energy used to pressurize the water to that extent is not trivial. But if it's a matter of conserving water, then pressure cleaning is pretty efficient.

[HeyBub]

Buy two and save two environments.

It's for the children.