Hey guys,
Just wondering what pressure washers you all use, karcher is obviously popular but are they the best and if so is it worth getting a k5 vs a k4 for example?
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Hey guys,
Just wondering what pressure washers you all use, karcher is obviously popular but are they the best and if so is it worth getting a k5 vs a k4 for example?
Just for car washing or for anything more heavyweight? Occasional use or going to be used for long periods a lot of the time?
The cheaper, lower pressure units are fine for washing cars but struggle with anything heavier, like patio / stone cleaning. Just doesn't have the oomph. The little Karcher I have is ok for washing cars / bikes but struggles to clean the ***ae (is a cnut) off of my stone water trough garden feature. That's a ~100bar cleaner. The K5 is 150 ish from memory, so would no doubt manage it a lot better.
On length of use - again, washing the odd car with an air cooled motor is fine as it's not in use for extensive periods. But if you're doing a whole decking area for example, you'll want the K5 as its motor is water cooled and thus more reliable for use over longer periods.
So I guess the answer is, depends on what you plan on doing with it, and for how long / often :)
I bought the Karcher K4 back in 2016, it was on offer for £119 and still going strong.
It's like arry said if your going to use it for heavy usage pay a bit more
The Karcher K2 goes on offer every now and again for £70 odd. We bought that for car washing and it's fine.
Thanks for the advice guys!
Predominantly it’ll be for car washing but I’d like to clean patio and brickwork occasionally too. Think I’ll go with a water cooled unit to make sure it’s not stressing the motor out.
Karcher seems to dominate the market so will probably go for one of theirs!
I just broke my old Karcher, it was a 1400w model - did ok but did not have huge balls behind it - fine for car though.
The other night i found an Amazon warehouse deal for a top end K5 full control Karcher with all the bells and whistles for under half price so... its now here and i have just used it.
Much more powerful but has lots of controls to the output ect, comes with loads of tools i already have! and seems to have bluetooth app - on a pressure washer ffs
Still its washed the car fine, has a long hose and is very heavy but has huge grunt behind it so if you need something to shift really bad muck thats your daddy.
Tools wise, the floor / path cleaner unit and several others.
Sounds really good!! What is the Bluetooth for? I remember joking about having Bluetooth on my washing machine a few years ago but it’s an actual thing these days.
K5 might be the one for me, hope I don’t accidentally strip the paint of my car with it though :o
Feck knows i didnt read the manual...
I recon its so you can have a legit reasons to fiddle with your penis with one hand in your pocket while cleaning your alloys, folk will ask wtf are you doing and you can pull out your phone and say - adjusting my psi's
Or something.
But if your only washing a car, the smaller ones are fine but if you want some balls behind it then the bigger models are the ones. I have a snow foam attachment and it shat it pants at full power - i was like Dumbo the flying elephant only urinating bubbles while flying around my (private, fk you!) car park....
One thing the big k5 has is a water filter, and while i have only washed once so far its not left any marks.
Normally i am too lazy to dry the car so i leave lots of deposits - but when i checked it earlier not a mark on it so.... maybe its down to the filter.
If it is then imho its worth the price on its own. i hate drying cars.
Haha, ah cool the water filter will be handy, can give the house windows a clean and not worry about marks
I have been using a kartcher unit for ages now, currently have the k5 full control unit. The all in one lance is a diamond, barely need to change it throughout the day.⁸
I use the thing more than most doing patio and driveway cleaning, can be 3-4 days a week some times and it's more than man enough for the job. I always planned to replace it with a bigger trade unit but three years on the kartcher is still here.
Couple of things I have found with them.
I always buy from screwfix, purely for the warranty, any issue they have always replaced on the spot no questions, I had a patio head give up and as it came with the kit I brought they replaced the whole lot not just the washer head.
The little yellow locater things in the end of the tool eventually come loose after lots of use, took me a while to figure out what happened but it unscrewed from the lance and left it in the trigger. Pair of needle nose pliers to remove it and a bit of superglue and its mint again.
Also I had a spell where a couple appeared to have given up, had about 3 units in 3 months all with the same issue, plug it all up and just nothing happens, got them replaced through screwfix and it kept happening.
Did some investigation and they can get air locked, seems to happen when you use a really long hose pipe. Mines 100m so can happen.
All you need to do is plug the hose into the unit, don't connect the trigger unit, and leave the power off. The turn on the hose and let the water run through for a couple minutes. Connect it all back up and fire it up should be golden.
That was two years back now and if it ever happens just bleed it and she's fine. So I bet the units I had replaced just needed bleeding and hadn't packed up at all.
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I was in the market for a pressure washer last year and ended up buying a Nilfisk. They are really good value and you get so much more than you get with a karcher. However teh main reason for buying one was when doing my research, I found that karchers have plastic pumps which over time become brittle and break. There is no way to repair them so the JW is junk. The Nilfisks use an aluminium pump which is far more durable and long lasting.
I think the K5 and above have metal pumps, but yeah plastic not good.
Did you get a 10m hose with your k5? Seems to be different lengths available for different places.
K5 seems like it might be the winner though, I’ve not heard of Nilfisk before but they look good too
Where's cheapest for a K5 at the moment?
It depends on the version but the non compact version sells for £280 at Argos which seems to be the cheapest
£370 for the k7 on an amazon warehouse deal
https://www.amazon.co.uk/K%C3%A4rche...e-deals&sr=8-1
Thats diddy money for a big fella like that, 2.8KW will was away mount Everest within a couple of mins.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sx rider
Nilfisk seem good, i was thinking of going with one of them but as i had all the tools for the Karcher i thought i best stay with them - thing is the dam K5 i got came with everything i already have !!!
No idea on the length of its hose but its long, i will go out tomorrow and measure it - should be ten lengths of my willy.
I'm using a k4 karcher....
One thing that really let's it down is the short, plastic and not flexible hose for the lance...
But 12 quid gets you a rubber 8m replacement from ebay and it transforms the experience
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The hose on my old K4 :mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by DLowe
K7 karcher compact for £299 https://www.karcher-center-chemtec.c...er-19433-p.asp
Good deal but not sure what draw backs this has over the regular unit?
I bought a small Karcher 110psi washer about 15 years ago and it is still going strong. I'd only use it for washing the car mainly, but also washed windows, patio and unblocked drains with it. For heavy patio work you would need a better one, but it does the job for me.
I wouldn't say you could go far wrong with any of the big named ones.
Good to hear that yours has lasted so long!
Well looks like i will be having to break out the TFR and snow again tonight, only 12 hours after being washed a squadron of flying rats decided to have a rave on my 5.
:D:D:D:D WTaF :D:D:D:D
Funk me that's amazing :D Good luck with that
A hammer and chisel is more in order! ;-) :-0Quote:
Originally Posted by sideways14aWell looks like i will be having to break out the TFR and snow again tonight, only 12 hours after being washed a squadron of flying rats decided to have a rave on my 5.
Honestly i just washed it yesterday evening.
Its like a god just let our all his pet flying rats and they came to shit on my car.
I will have my revenge though, watch space.... no really watch outer space cos if i see one i am kicking it so hard it will go into orbit.
The k5 has now removed all of the shit, although TFR through a foam gun and some actual snow did the job as well.
I am now camping out nearby with the Karcher on "annialate" in case the wee rats with wings come back.
feckers will be red mist if i get them.
Iiincoming!
