Pressure Washing vs Power Washing: What's the Difference?

In everyday usage, pressure washing and power washing are the same thing — they're both terms for using high-pressure water to clean surfaces. The distinction some people draw is that power washing uses heated water while pressure washing uses cold water. In practice, most domestic and commercial cleaning services — including JPS Jetwashing — use cold water pressure washing, which is effective for the vast majority of exterior cleaning tasks.

Hot water pressure washing does have specific advantages for certain jobs, particularly removing grease and oil in commercial settings. The higher temperature breaks down fats and oils more effectively than cold water. For domestic driveways, patios, gutters, and fascias, cold water pressure washing combined with appropriate cleaning products gives excellent results.

When searching for exterior cleaning services, you'll find companies describing themselves as pressure washers, jet washers, or power washers — they're essentially all offering the same service. The key factors to evaluate are the quality of equipment they use, their experience with different surface types, whether they're insured, and whether they provide fixed quotes. Don't get distracted by terminology.