While a regular garden hose is useful for watering plants and other simple gardening tasks, a pressure washer is a handy tool to clean driveways, roofs, gutters, patios, cars, machines and many more. It can generate 50 to 100 times the pressure than a garden hose and a nozzle at the end will dictate the amount of pressure. In this guide, let us take a quick look at Pressure Washers, its nozzle and also Pressure Washer Nozzle Chart to help you choose the right nozzle.
A Brief Note on Pressure Washers
Pressure Washer is a very useful power tool that makes cleaning job very easy. It produces a high-pressure water spray to clean different kinds of surfaces and objects. They are available as gasoline engine powered or electric motor powered.
Apart from the engine/motor, there is a spray gun with a trigger and a nozzle at the end. The engine or motor will drive a pump to increase the incoming water pressure by several hundred times. Nozzle at the end of the spray gun directs this high-pressure spray on the surface.
The nozzle also can have a specific angle of the spray i.e., a wider spray to cover large area with slightly distributed pressure or a more focused spray with maximum pressure at the point of impact.
So, it is clear that the nozzle of a pressure washer is a very important part in the overall working. With a proper nozzle size, you can the correct pressure, spray pattern and distance.
Pressure Washer Nozzle Chart
Before looking at the pressure washer nozzle chart, an important point about pressure washers in general is that we measure its cleaning power in terms of Gallons per Minute or GPM.
Higher the GPM, more water flow rate and faster it can clean. Apart from GPM, the pressure at the nozzle, which is measured in pounds per square inch or PPI is also important.
For regular household cleaning, we need a pressure washer that can produce roughly about 2,500 to 3,000 PSI with a flow rate of 2.5 to 3 GPM.
Coming to pressure washer nozzle sizes, we use the combination of GPM and PSI to determine the size i.e., a nozzle must handle pressure washer GPM at a particular PSI.
With this information in mind, let us proceed with the pressure washer nozzle chart for different GPMs and different PSI values.
| Nozzle Size | Hole (Orifice) Size | Flow Rate in GPM at specific PSI | ||||||||||||||||||
| inch | mm | 500 PSI | 600 PSI | 700 PSI | 750 PSI | 800 PSI | 1000 PSI | 1250 PSI | 1500 PSI | 1750 PSI | 2000 PSI | 2250 PSI | 2500 PSI | 3000 PSI | 3500 PSI | 4000 PSI | 4500 PSI | 5000 PSI | ||
| 2 | 0.034 | 0.86 | 0.71 | 0.77 | 0.84 | 0.87 | 0.89 | 1 | 1.12 | 1.22 | 1.32 | 1.41 | 1.5 | 1.58 | 1.73 | 1.87 | 2 | 2.12 | 2.24 | |
| 2.5 | 0.042 | 1.07 | 0.88 | 1 | 1 | 1.08 | 1.1 | 1.25 | 1.4 | 1.53 | 1.62 | 1.77 | 1.88 | 1.98 | 2.17 | 2.34 | 2.5 | 2.65 | 2.8 | |
| 3 | 0.043 | 1.09 | 1.06 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.68 | 1.84 | 1.98 | 2.12 | 2.25 | 2.37 | 2.6 | 2.81 | 3 | 3.18 | 3.35 | |
| 3.5 | 0.048 | 1.22 | 1.24 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 152 | 1.6 | 1.75 | 1.96 | 2.14 | 2.32 | 2.47 | 2.63 | 2.77 | 3.03 | 3.27 | 3.5 | 3.71 | 3.91 | |
| 4 | 0.052 | 1.32 | 1.41 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.73 | 1.8 | 2 | 2.24 | 2.45 | 2.65 | 2.83 | 3 | 3.16 | 3.46 | 3.74 | 4 | 4.24 | 4.47 | |
| 4.5 | 0.055 | 1.4 | 1.59 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 1.95 | 2 | 2.25 | 2.52 | 2.76 | 2.98 | 3.18 | 3.38 | 3.56 | 3.9 | 4.21 | 4.5 | 4.77 | 5.03 | |
| 5 | 0.057 | 1.45 | 1.77 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 2.17 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 3.06 | 3.31 | 3.54 | 3.75 | 3.95 | 4.33 | 4.68 | 5 | 5.3 | 5.59 | |
| 5.5 | 0.06 | 1.52 | 1.94 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 2.38 | 2.5 | 2.75 | 3.07 | 3.37 | 3.64 | 3.89 | 4.13 | 4.35 | 4.76 | 5.14 | 5.5 | 5.83 | 6.15 | |
| 6 | 0.062 | 1.57 | 2.12 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 3 | 3.35 | 3.67 | 3.97 | 4.24 | .5 | 4.74 | 5.2 | 5.61 | 6 | 6.36 | 6.71 | |
| 6.5 | 0.064 | 1.63 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 2.81 | 2.9 | 3.25 | 3.63 | 3.98 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 4.88 | 5.14 | 5.63 | 6.08 | 6.5 | 6.89 | 7.27 | |
| 7 | 0.067 | 1.7 | 2.47 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 3.03 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 3.91 | 4.29 | 4.63 | 4.95 | 5.25 | 5.53 | 6.06 | 6.55 | 7 | 7.42 | 7.83 | |
| 7.5 | 0.07 | 1.78 | 2.65 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.25 | 3.4 | 3.75 | 4.19 | 4.59 | 4.96 | 5.3 | 4.63 | 5.93 | 6.5 | 7.02 | 7.5 | 7.95 | 8.39 | |
| 8 | 0.072 | 1.83 | 2.83 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 3.46 | 3.6 | 4 | 4.47 | 4.9 | 5.29 | 5.66 | 6 | 6.32 | 6.93 | 7.48 | 8 | 8.49 | 8.94 | |
| 8.5 | 0.074 | 1.88 | 3.01 | – | – | 3.68 | – | 4.25 | 4.75 | 5.21 | 5.62 | 6.01 | 6.38 | 6.72 | 7.36 | 7.95 | 8.5 | 9.02 | 9.5 | |
| 9 | 0.076 | 1.93 | 3.18 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 4 | 4.5 | 5.03 | 5.51 | 5.95 | 6.36 | 6.75 | 7.12 | 7.79 | 8.42 | 9 | 9.55 | 10.06 | |
| 9.5 | 0.078 | 1.98 | 3.36 | – | – | 4.11 | – | 4.75 | 5.31 | 5.82 | 6.28 | 6.72 | 7.13 | 7.51 | 8.23 | 8.89 | 9.5 | 10.08 | 10.62 | |
| 10 | 0.08 | 2.03 | 3.54 | 3.9 | 4.2 | 4.33 | 4.5 | 5 | 5.59 | 6.12 | 6.61 | 7.07 | 7.5 | 7.91 | 8.66 | 9.35 | 10 | 10.61 | 11.18 | |
| 11 | 0.083 | 2.11 | 3.89 | – | – | 4.76 | – | 5.5 | 6.15 | 6.74 | 7.28 | 7.78 | 8.25 | 8.7 | 9.53 | 10.29 | 11 | 11.67 | 12.3 | |
| 12 | 0.087 | 2.21 | 4.24 | 4.6 | 5 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 6 | 6.71 | 7.35 | 7.94 | 8.49 | 9 | 9.49 | 10.39 | 11.22 | 12 | 12.73 | 13.42 | |
| 12.5 | 0.089 | 2.26 | 4.42 | – | – | 5.41 | – | 6.25 | 6.99 | 7.65 | 8.27 | 8.84 | 9.38 | 9.88 | 10.83 | 11.69 | 12.5 | 13.26 | 13.98 | |
| 13 | 0.091 | 2.31 | 4.6 | – | – | 5.63 | – | 6.5 | 7.27 | 7.96 | 8.6 | 9.19 | 9.75 | 10.28 | 11.26 | 12.16 | 13 | 13.79 | 14.53 | |
| 15 | 0.096 | 2.44 | 5.3 | 5.8 | 6.3 | 6.5 | 6.7 | 7.5 | 8.39 | 9.19 | 9.92 | 10.61 | 11.25 | 11.86 | 12.99 | 14.03 | 15 | 15.91 | 16.77 | |
How to Choose the Right Size Nozzle?
As the nozzle determines the spray pattern, pressure, angle and also the intensity, choosing the right nozzle size is very important. If you select a smaller nozzle size than what is required, then you may damage the pressure washer due to the additional pressure.
On the contrary, if you select a larger nozzle size, then you will compromise the cleaning ability by reducing the pressure. So, it is important that follow some guidelines set by the manufacturer to select the correct pressure washer nozzle.
Most pressure washer manufacturers provide a recommended list of nozzle sizes for a particular machine depending on its GPM and PSI values. In case you don’t have that information, the you can use the previous pressure washer nozzle chart to figure out the appropriate nozzle size.
Pressure Washer Nozzle Color Code
You can easily identify the angle of the spray from a nozzle just be looking at its color. Here is the list of some standard nozzle colors that most manufacturers use for different spray angle nozzles.
| Color | Angle |
| Red | 0° |
| Yellow / Orange | 15° |
| Green | 25° |
| White | 40° |
| Black | Soap / Detergent (wider than 40°) |
Using the above table as reference, you can easily select a nozzle for different spray angles.
Conclusion
Pressure Washer Nozzles have very little attention but they are an important part of the entire machine. Using a correct nozzle size will not only make the cleaning job easy but also prevents damage to your expensive pressure washer unit. In this guide, we saw some common pressure washer nozzle sizes in a simple pressure washer nozzle chart. We also saw the nozzle colors for different spray angles.
