Karcher K2 pressure washer and snow foam Lance problem
Discussion
I've had my karcher K2 pressure washer for many years now. I used to use it with a karcher snow foam Lance and used to work well. I bought a more professional foam Lance bottle and the karcher has been sitting in storage for over a year. Ive moved home and the garden tap pressure isn't wow but water flows. I'm able to run a hose and get it spraying water. So I connected the karcher to this tap and tried just jet spraying first and the pressure output seemed really really weak. I'm sure in the past the pressure was very strong. So I put snowball snow foam solution and mixed with cold water and on the Lance i set it to as high as possible foam setting. When I turned it on I just got a little soapy water. Literally mainly all water and the snow foam bottle just emptied in few seconds and this bottle was full of about 900ml of solution and no snow foam.
Could my garden tap pressure cause this? Sure if there is a good flow of water going into the karcher, the karcher should be able to create the pressure shouldn't it? From what I've read you are even supposed to be able to run the karcher from water butts and surely pressure input isn't that important. As long as water goes in continuously shouldn't it be able to create pressure? Is something wrong with the karcher or the foam Lance? I doubt it's the foam Lance because it's a new product. When I used to use my previous karcher snow lance, even being a small bottle you could spray it for a good while before it empties the bottle.
Any advice would be much appreciated. thanks
Could my garden tap pressure cause this? Sure if there is a good flow of water going into the karcher, the karcher should be able to create the pressure shouldn't it? From what I've read you are even supposed to be able to run the karcher from water butts and surely pressure input isn't that important. As long as water goes in continuously shouldn't it be able to create pressure? Is something wrong with the karcher or the foam Lance? I doubt it's the foam Lance because it's a new product. When I used to use my previous karcher snow lance, even being a small bottle you could spray it for a good while before it empties the bottle.
Any advice would be much appreciated. thanks
I'm assuming the pressure washer works normally without the snow foam attachment fitted?
If not then measure the water flow from the tap into a bucket for 60 seconds as said above. If the tap cannot provide enough water the pressure washer won't work correctly.
As for the foaming bit, it sounds like it is adjusted incorrectly, you need to consider the snowfoam to water ratio at the output of the lance as it shouldn't empty as quickly as you describe, try experimenting a bit by turning the adjustment knob fully the other way and then back off a bit.
If not then measure the water flow from the tap into a bucket for 60 seconds as said above. If the tap cannot provide enough water the pressure washer won't work correctly.
As for the foaming bit, it sounds like it is adjusted incorrectly, you need to consider the snowfoam to water ratio at the output of the lance as it shouldn't empty as quickly as you describe, try experimenting a bit by turning the adjustment knob fully the other way and then back off a bit.
Hereward said:
Measure the quantity of water (litres) that comes out of the garden tap in 1 minute then cross-reference that to the minimum required by your K2. You'll then know if it's a water issue or if your unit has a technical problem.
The spec says min 8L per min. I measured it and i'm getting about 6L per min. I then tested at another house with a better garden tap flow rate and it works. At first the foam wasn't working, but then I realised I misunderstood the foam setting on the lance. It has a + and - setting, I assumed + would mean you want more foam and - meaning less foam. But it seems + meant more water and - meant less water. And less water means more foam. It's rather confusing. I am going to try again on my low flow tap to see if that was the reason I wasn't getting foam. When you turn the tap to the hose on and then turn on the karcher, it's supposed to make a little noise on and then stop right? and if you have the karcher on and the hose tap on and you're not spraying anything, every now and then is the machine supposed to make a noise?
Ok so I got the K2 working. It was the pressure of the tap. I've installed another tap with better pressure. I have a question though. While washing the car with soap can I leave the tap to the karcher on? Is the karcher able to hold the water pressure inside? If so do I need to leave the karcher power on or off?
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