Pressure washer nozzles explained

The tips that come in the bag with a pressure washer are the most useful and least explained accessory in the yard. They do not change what the machine produces. They change where it lands, and that is what decides whether a surface gets clean or gets damaged.

What a nozzle actually changes

That framing is the key to everything else. A 3000 PSI machine with a 40 degree tip is gentler at the surface than a 2030 PSI machine with a 15 degree tip, which is why the PSI figure on the box tells you less than people assume. The output side is covered in the PSI and GPM guide.

The five tips

Distance is the other half of the control

Nozzle angle and standoff distance do the same thing. Moving the wand further away spreads the same fan over a larger area, so a 25 degree tip at 24 inches is gentler than the same tip at 6 inches.

The soap stage, which most people skip

Detergent is drawn into the stream at low pressure, which is why the soap tip is wide and gentle. That is a design constraint, not a weakness, and it changes the order of the job.

1. Fit the soap tip and apply detergent from the bottom of a vertical surface upward, so runs do not streak dry areas.
2. Let it dwell. This is where the cleaning actually happens; the machine mostly rinses.
3. Do not let it dry on the surface.
4. Swap to 40 or 25 degrees and rinse top down.

Sun Joe publishes two removable 0.9 L detergent tanks on the SPX3000 specifically for this stage. Greenworks does not publish a detergent system on the 60V page we cite.

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Nozzle safety, from CPSC

Two published safety points bear directly on tips and wands, and both are worth knowing before the first trigger pull.

• Seat every quick-connect tip fully. CPSC has recalled a pressure washer because the nozzle could disconnect from the spray wand when under pressure, posing an injury hazard. Check the latch before every pull.
• Electrical safety comes first on any electric machine. CPSC's standing warning is that consumers could receive a fatal electrical shock if the power cord connections become wet or an internal short exists, and that at least eight such fatalities had been reported to the Commission. Its guidance: always plug a three-wire grounded pressure washer into a properly grounded receptacle, never cut or splice the power cord or extension cords, never remove the grounding prong, never allow children to operate a pressure washer, and wear insulating footwear.

Nozzles versus machine modes

On a cordless washer there is a second control worth understanding alongside the tip. Greenworks publishes an Eco mode at 2200 PSI and 1.0 GPM against a full output of up to 3000 PSI and 2.0 GPM.

Practically: use Eco mode plus a wide tip for delicate work and save full output plus a narrower tip for concrete. Eco also stretches the published 30-minute runtime.

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What we cannot tell you

Neither manufacturer publishes force at the surface for any tip at any distance, so we cannot give you a number for what a 25 degree tip does at 12 inches. Greenworks does not publish its nozzle set on the page we cite at all.

What is published: five tips on the Sun Joe at 0, 15, 25, 40 and soap, the cleaning-unit figures for both machines, and CPSC guidance on grounding, cords and nozzle seating. Start wide, start far away, and work in only if you need to.