Pressure Washer, Power Washer or Jet Wash?

Hot Pressure Washer. Power Washer. Steam Cleaner. Steam Jenny. Jet Wash.

These are a few of the names we often hear people calling our products.

But do they all mean the same thing? Are a pressure washer and a power washer really any different? Spoiler alert: they are pretty much the same thing.

As it turns out, there much isn’t a difference between most of these terms although you could argue the differnt terms may refer to differnt machine outputs. It is mostly preference and geographic area that determine which term is most prevalent.

Pressure vs. Power

From our perspective, pressure washers and power washers are the same thing. Those who claim they are different say they differ because while both pressure washers and power washers use pressure, power washers mean it uses heat. 

Ultimately, as we said before, no matter your perspective on the terms, both machines use pressure. 

Here at Alkota, we tend to refer to our cold water machines as cold water pressure washers, and our hot water machines as hot water pressure washers. 

Now, what about those other machines?

Steam cleaners are pretty much what they sound like: an alternative to pressure or power washers that deliver a gentler, milder cleansing by using steam rather than full, pressurized streams of water.