Pressure washer nozzle chart
Five tips, five colours, one number each. The colour code is the same on every machine and every brand, which makes it the one piece of pressure-washing knowledge worth memorising before anything else. Here is what each one does and where it belongs.
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, Stucco and EIFS |
| Black | ~65 deg | 500 PSI | Vinyl siding, Fibre-cement siding, Painted wood siding |
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.
PSI & nozzle quick reference
- 0 degRed
- Spot jet. Etches most surfaces.4000 PSI
- 15 degYellow
- Stripping bare concrete.4000 PSI
- 25 degGreen
- General concrete and walkways.3500 PSI
- 40 degWhite
- Siding, wood, vehicles.1500 PSI
- ~65 degBlack
- Detergent draw, low pressure.500 PSI
Why the angle changes the pressure
The machine puts out the same energy through every tip. A 0-degree tip concentrates all of it into a point; a 40-degree tip spreads the same energy across a fan roughly forty times wider. Nothing about the pump changed — only the pressure per square inch that lands on the surface. That is the whole trick, and it is why swapping tips is the fastest safety control you have.
| 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 | ~16 in | Opens the injector; almost no pressure |
Fan widths are geometry at a nominal 12-inch stand-off, printed to show the relationship — not a measured figure from any one machine.
Surface damage 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.