When washing my car, I like to physically touch the car as little as possible. As such, I like to power wash bugs and dirt off before going at it with a wash mitt.

Nozzles you buy for the garden hose have too large of holes, so they don't give a high pressure stream of water to power bugs and dirt off.

I own a gas powered powerwasher, but it's a pain to get out, hook up and work with just for washing the car.

I tried one of these things below and it failed miserably. The joints between parts are not threaded and about the third time I used it, when I opened the valve, the 2 foot long steel tube shot off as a projectile. Luckily it wasn't pointed at the car. A waste of 15 bucks.



So, I made my own, it works perfectly, was cheaper than the alternatives and I thought I'd share it with the forum.

Here's what you need:

-One 2' long 1/2" PVC pipe, threaded on both ends
-One valve of your choice that will fit a standard garden hose end. I used a ball valve.
-One brass fitting to join the valve and PVC
-However many end caps you want. One for each size/stream of water you desire.
-Thread tape

Everything you need:



It's pretty self explanatory how to put it all together. For the end caps, just drill a hole or cut a slot with a Dremel to the desired size. You may have to toy around with the size to get the desired water pressure. Obviously you should start small and drill it out more if the stream is too narrow. The end caps are cheap, so you can have multiple sizes. Using no end cap at all produces a very nice normal stream of water that will help with sheeting action to whisk away water beads.






Finished product:




Every joint is threaded, so there's no danger of the thing coming apart like store bought ones. Higher pressure than any nozzle you can buy. Valve to turn on and off. Interchangeable caps so you can change the pressure. Win-Win. Hope it helps someone else out, it works great for me.

 

I just might give this a try. Thanks.

 

Great DIY...thanks

 

Cool and something to try

 

Very cool, thank you!

 

This is why I like the Forum!

 

You have got me thinking, when I try creating end caps, I want to try one with three small holes in a line so as to create a "flat" hard spray instead of a point. I am looking forward to this, and will do it on a hot day as I am sure I will get wet.

 

great idea. Where did you get threaded pvc pipe or did you thread it yourself? Thanks

 

thanks for sharing.

 

All parts were purchased from my local big box home store, Menards. Should be commonly available at any hardware or home store. Check plumbing and garden sections and you should find all you need.

 

I made an end cap like this as well, however I used a small cutting wheel on a Dremel rotary tool to cut a really thin 'slice' into the end cap. It maintains water pressure while producing a flat spray.

 

Had some time today, figured what the heck.

Purchased everything at Lowes for about $5.

Works as advertised! Thanks again for the tip Cyber2010.

 

Looks good gibear. After seeing yours I realized I'd bought schedule 80 endcaps, which were about 2 bucks each. The schedule 40 ones you used are only 59 cents at my local store--I could've made it even cheaper!

Cheers!

 

Kool beans. Thanks - I'm off to Home Despot

 

I now have five different caps. My favorite is the combo, one small diameter hole and one small thin slice...great pressure that covers a large area.

 

I would NEVER wash my car with high pressure water.. NEVER

 

 

I have a gas pw too and use the least pressure from a distance to get the majority of the grime off. You can really hurt the paint with one. Use it for cleaning concrete garage pads, driveways, sidewalks, and patios.
Hot soapy water does the job getting bugs off and safe for the paint.

Hot water cuts cleaning time down a lot compared to cold.

 

Aside from the obvious about seals and weatherstripping not being able to stand up to high pressure, a couple hundred PSI of water pressure can't be doing the clearcoat any good

 

Were still talking about the pressure provided from a standard garden hose, not a powered machine shooting 1500+ PSI that could etch wood.

Granted we are increasing the pressure by using nozzles with small openings, but I don't think there's any damage being done to clearcoat or paint.

It is worth noting that the extra pressure could be hard on seals and could cause water to be forced into somewhere you don't want it.