Pressure washer nozzle chart: colors and angles
Five tips, five colours, one angle each. The major tip makers share the same colour code, which makes it the one piece of pressure-washing knowledge worth memorising before anything else. This chart answers which angle; the nozzle size calculator answers which orifice, and the PSI chart by surface answers how hard to push.
The five colour-coded tips
| Tip | Angle | Practical max | Surfaces on this site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red | 0 deg | 4000 PSI | Spot work only |
| Yellow | 15 deg | 4000 PSI | Garage floor with oil |
| Green | 25 deg | 3500 PSI | Poured concrete driveway, Concrete sidewalk and steps, Concrete pavers |
| White | 40 deg | 1500 PSI | Stamped or decorative concrete, Asphalt driveway, Natural stone |
| Black | ~65 deg | 500 PSI | Vinyl siding, Fibre-cement siding, Painted wood siding |
Surface damage risk
The green 25-degree tip is highlighted because it is the one you will fit for most of a working day. Practical-max figures are the pressure above which each tip starts marking the surfaces it is meant for — not the tip’s rated limit.
Fan width at 12 in, to scale
Width = 2 × 12 in × tan(angle ÷ 2). Same pump, same flow: the wider the fan, the less pressure lands on each inch.
Why the angle changes the pressure
The machine puts out the same flow through every tip of the same size. A 0-degree tip concentrates all of it into a point; a 40-degree tip spreads the same water across a fan about three times wider than the yellow 15-degree tip at the same distance. Nothing about the pump changed — only the force that lands on each square inch of the surface. That is why swapping tips is the fastest safety control you have, and why stand-off distance works the same way.
| Fitted tip | Fan width at 12 in | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 0 deg red | A point | Cuts. No routine use. |
| 15 deg yellow | ~3 in | Strips bare concrete |
| 25 deg green | ~5 in | The working default |
| 40 deg white | ~9 in | Rinses without marking |
| Black soap | ~15 in | Opens the injector; almost no pressure |
Fan widths are geometry at a nominal 12-inch stand-off (2 × 12 × tan of half the angle), printed to show the relationship — not a measured figure from any one machine.
Reading the tip itself
The colour only tells you the angle. Quality tips are also stamped with two numbers: the spray angle and the nozzle size. The size is the orifice, and it has to match your machine’s pressure and flow — Landa’s nozzle catalogue puts it plainly: too small a size can damage the equipment, and too large a size costs cleaning power. Read the stamp, not the colour, when you buy a replacement, and use the size calculator to find the number for your machine.
- Quick-connect tips fit a 1/4-inch quick coupler on the end of the wand. Release the trigger and lock the gun before you pull the collar back; a tip released under pressure can be thrown from the wand.
- Worn tips open up as the orifice erodes, so the pressure at the surface drops while the machine sounds the same. An uneven or streaky fan is a common sign. Compare it against a new tip of the same size before you blame the pump.
- Rotary or turbo tips spin a 0-degree jet in a circle. They cut faster on bare concrete; treat one with the same care as the red tip on anything softer.
Injection injury risk
The tip that is not a tip
The black soap nozzle is the largest orifice in the set. Fitting it drops the pressure downstream far enough for the venturi in a downstream injector to start pulling chemical from the bucket. Fit anything else and the draw stops — which is why a soft wash that suddenly stops working is almost always a tip left on the gun, not an empty bucket. For washing paint, the white tip and the soap tip are the only two that belong anywhere near it; the car washing guide covers the stand-off.