How To Drain A Power Washer

To completely drain your pressure washer and prevent your water pump from freezing and cracking in freezing weather, you must follow a rigorous emptying procedure.

First, turn off the water and disconnect the garden hose. With the engine off, pull the spray gun trigger to release system pressure and drain the residual water from the high-pressure hose. Next, remove all hoses and spray guns. For the inside of the pump body, for the fuel engine, you need to pull the starter cord 5 to 6 times, while the electric type runs for no more than 2 to 3 seconds until the water outlet no longer comes out. Finally, and my most important professional step: inject pump protector from the inlet until it sprays out of the outlet. This squeezes out the last of the moisture and protects the seals.

Disconnection And Pressure Relief

Safety and pressure relief always come first in any equipment maintenance process. Turn off the water as soon as you are done with your work. At this time, quickly pull out the garden hose to prevent water from entering the machine.

However, at this time, there is still a lot of energy inside the machine. Many people tend to be careless in this process. You must pull the trigger in a safe direction with the motor or engine off. Pressure relief is crucial to allow the water held in the high-pressure hose to drain out while reducing the pressure on the internal O-rings and seals, so you don’t have to struggle to remove the fitting and it’s safer.

Cleaning The Hose And Boom

Once the pressure is exhausted, the high-pressure hose and spray gun can be removed. I recommend draining these accessories separately. Gravity is your best helper at this point-Straighten the high-pressure hose, raise one end, and let the remaining moisture flow out. Do not underestimate the small amount of water in the hose. Once it freezes and expands, it will easily burst the lining of the hose.

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Internal Emptying Of The Pump Body

It is not enough to drain the outside hoses, there is often enough water left inside the pump housing to ruin the entire machine. Here we need to treat it differently according to the machine type:

Fuel-powered: I would first unplug the spark plug wire and then pull the starter cord 5 or 6 times. This manual reciprocating motion drives the pump body pistons, which releases the last remaining water in the pump chamber so it “spits” out of the water outlet.

Electric type: Just turn on and run for a short time, about 10 to 20 seconds. This mechanical force is sufficient to empty the pump body and is short enough not to overheat the seal due to dry grinding. Seriously, turn off the machine as soon as water stops coming out of the outlet.

Professional Finishing Of Pump Protectants

This last step-spray pump protectant-should never be avoided if you want your device to last a long time. Even if you feel the water has drained away, those tiny droplets can still cling to internal parts, causing rust or scale.

The procedure is simple: connect the pump protector’s pressure tank to the garden hose inlet and spray it in until you see the lubricating antifreeze coming out of the outlet. This ensures:

• Squeeze out the moisture thoroughly: Special liquids will push out every drop of residual moisture.
• Lubricate Seals: Lubricating ingredients keep the inner rubber seals flexible, preventing them from drying out and cracking.
• Winter protection: The anti-freezing performance ensures that even if there is a very small amount of residue, it will not freeze and swell in extremely cold weather and crack the pump head.

As long as you follow this delicate emptying and protection process once, you can save the pressure performance of the machine, and it will definitely be in the best condition when you take it out for use in the spring of next year.

Author: Dave Miller
I’ve seen far too many high-end pressure washers end up in the scrap heap simply because they weren’t winterized properly. My goal is to share the hard-earned maintenance secrets I’ve picked up in the shop to help you save money and keep your gear running like new for seasons to come.

Last updated: April 20, 2026