Discussion
I had a KEW Hobby power washer for about 15 years and decided to upgrade it. So I bought a Karcher which had two resevoirs which you put snow foam in one and a liquid wax in the other. It was about £300 and after only using it about 10 times in just over a year it fell to pieces, I took the cover off to see why it spewed water out on the low pressure side only to find a casting section had broken I took this to a friend who runs an engineering business who said basically it was the cheap crap rubbish materials used that caused it to break. Took a photo of the porous casting and sent it to Karcher who didn't want to know so in the end had to swallow the £90 the local Karcher agent charged me for it. What I have done is coat the elbow in silicone and wind a fabric around it to prevent it doing it again. Would I buy another Karcher product? absolutely not.
i've got a Karcher K7.85M - superb
even use it with hot water to 60 degrees C
nice very long 'hose' saves you dragging the machine all over the place plus winds onto internal reel for storage
one tip i was told - before you switch the power on allow water to run through under normal tap pressure for a few seconds (presumably ensures there is water in the system/primed?)
even use it with hot water to 60 degrees C
nice very long 'hose' saves you dragging the machine all over the place plus winds onto internal reel for storage
one tip i was told - before you switch the power on allow water to run through under normal tap pressure for a few seconds (presumably ensures there is water in the system/primed?)
G-P said:
The last one I had was a Karcher but it broke very quickly and there customer service is rubbish.
I am think £300-£500.
Couldn't agree more about the customer service attitude they just didn't care and I got the feeling I might as well talk to myself. I remember before buying it a friend did say 'oh mine fell to pieces and I threw it away' but I thought with such a big company it would be o.k. and ignored him and went ahead and spent £300-350 on a machine that does work o.k. now but it landed up costing me a lot more than I planned.I am think £300-£500.
grand cherokee said:
if i recall correctly my Karcher uses metal 'components' rather than plastic as used on cheaper models?
may also be related to the ability to use hot water?
Yes the low pressure water elbow was a cast metal component rather than plastic it's just the casting was porous and probably an inferior metal. Probably a good ABS plastic would have been a better choice to withstand the 'jerking motion' the on and off action of the gun causes. This is the reason I 'wound' a flexible strong fabric type membrane around it because if it cracks again I will probably have to pay £60 for a potentially defective metal cast component.may also be related to the ability to use hot water?
To get a pressure washer that doesn't fail after a handful of uses you have to look a machines with brass pumps, not plastic.
The trouble is these are classed as 'professional' and cost hundreds. I would also beware of the 'semi-pro' ranges. These boast metal pump components but details can get a bit sketchy. I suspect they are more closely related to cheap models than the proper Pro machines.
I ended up spending a not inconsiderable amount on a second hand Kranzle. It is built like a battleship and weighs about the same.
The trouble is these are classed as 'professional' and cost hundreds. I would also beware of the 'semi-pro' ranges. These boast metal pump components but details can get a bit sketchy. I suspect they are more closely related to cheap models than the proper Pro machines.
I ended up spending a not inconsiderable amount on a second hand Kranzle. It is built like a battleship and weighs about the same.
LordGrover said:
I bought a cheapy Halford's own back in July. Used every week and still going strong. For £40 or whatever it cost it sounds like I could buy two a year f needed and still be quids in. 
Well that could be the other way to go - as cheap as possible. It's the ones that fool you into thinking you are buying something that's going to last a few years if you pay a bit more that are the real con.
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