Pressure Washer Issues

[x5x3]

As the company that cleans our patio/drive etc every year has recently decided to double their price I decided to purchase a PW and do it myself.

I bought the recent Aldi one and everything was going fine for a few minutes then it cut out and never started again. Aldi support were not at all interested and said to take back for a refund.

So, I decided to get a Karcher K7, which I believe to be a reputable brand but not cheap!

But, the same thing is happening, although the K7 will start again after a "cool-off" period and do exactly the same.

I have tried the following with no success;

1) new hose - 25m in length
2) different wall socket for plug
3) different attachment - it does seem to run a little bit longer with the T5 surface cleaner than the wide angle nozzle\
4) different electrical extension cable
5) checked the inlet water socket on the K7

Someone suggested running it with no attachment and that does seem to make some difference, I left it running for 3 or 4 minutes.

Has anyone got any ideas or perhaps seen this before?

Thanks in advance.

[gmaz]

Is your outside tap providing enough flow?

[g7jtk]

gmaz said:

Is your outside tap providing enough flow?

Your instructions should tell you how many litres per minute should be available

[x5x3]

Thanks, how would I measure that?

[Jermy Claxon]

With a bucket of known volume and a stopwatch

[geeks]

Are turning the tap on properly? Ours gets fussy if I don't really open the tap properly.

[redstar1]

How long is a few minutes? They won't be happy with extended continuous use. The K7 has a better motor cooler but thermals will win eventually and will wreck it.

[Ste-EVo]

gmaz said:

Is your outside tap providing enough flow?

+1

Most likely your issue especially if its happened on two different units.

Does your pressure look high when you turn on the outside tap? I.e. does it shoot out or just a steady slow flow? Ours blasts out and fills a watering can or bucket sharpish.

[119]

Could be a buggered NRV on the outside tap assuming its got one.

[x5x3]

Thanks all,

I've just got an old bucket, filled it with 5 litres and scratched a mark at the level. Then ran the tap on full until it reached the mark. Result was 15 litres a minute.

A quick Google suggests the minimum for the K7 is 10 litres a minute.

Next time I try it - I will make sure that the tap is 100% open, and yes when I open the tap there is a strong flow of water.

[Magic919]

Would be worth measuring output at the end of the hose, as it’s more representative.

Are you able to test the PW without the extension lead?

[595Heaven]

Karcher say you can’t use an AquaStop hose fitting in the hose run

Might be that?

[M11rph]

Are you using an Aqua-Stop connector? That's the Hoselock terminology.

You should be able to see through the connector if you remove it. The ones which stop the flow of water if disconnected can cause issues with pressure washers.

15l/min should be quite enough for a PW.

[Skyedriver]

Are you using an extension lead with a cut out on it?
Speaking from recent experience.......

[Danns]

M11rph said:

Are you using an Aqua-Stop connector? That's the Hoselock terminology.

You should be able to see through the connector if you remove it. The ones which stop the flow of water if disconnected can cause issues with pressure washers.

15l/min should be quite enough for a PW.

+1 on that, and not just from performance.
I broke a brand new Stihl pressure washer by using an aqua stop accidentally / in a hurry to try it out.

[x5x3]

thanks all, I tried it without the aqua-stop and it made no difference.

I tried running with no attachment and it ran for longer but still cut out.

I have managed to clean some of the patio today - by only using bursts of 2-3 seconds.

With the hot weather it is taking much longer to reset.

No progress so far, Karcher support have suggested some more things to try.

Is it worth trying the water intake feature (i.e. where it will draw it's own water from a bucket or similar), that would rule out the hose and WP being the issue?

[Chris_i8]

x5x3 said:

thanks all, I tried it without the aqua-stop and it made no difference.

I tried running with no attachment and it ran for longer but still cut out.

I have managed to clean some of the patio today - by only using bursts of 2-3 seconds.

With the hot weather it is taking much longer to reset.

No progress so far, Karcher support have suggested some more things to try.

Is it worth trying the water intake feature (i.e. where it will draw it's own water from a bucket or similar), that would rule out the hose and WP being the issue?

Hmm my first suggestion would have been to use a nornal hose connector but you've already tried that.

Have you got a neighbour with an outside tap you could ask to use for 5mins to see if it runs normally?

[Skyedriver]

Skyedriver said:

Are you using an extension lead with a cut out on it?
Speaking from recent experience.......

I'll ask again.

[x5x3]

Skyedriver said:

I'll ask again.

No, not using a cut out on the extension lead

[OutInTheShed]

It only needs two things to work, so if it's not the water supply, maybe it's the electricity?
A quick look at the volts using a power monitor plug might be in order?

My pressure washer will run from a bucket or water butt, the water wants to be clean though...
RTFM before doing this, you may have to prime the supply hose etc.