Six months ago I bought a cheapy (Kinzo) pressure washer, up to 150 bar they reckoned. Took most paint off, not bad for 72 euros in the local supermarket. Yesterday the lance developed a leak which proved impossible to mend, so I rushed out and bought a 400-euro Karcher (K6.79, ISTR), as we have to strip the entire outside of the house in the next week or so.

Well boy, am I unimpressed. For something six times the price, it barely does the same job. And from what I've read on here, it probably won't last six times as long.

 

Strange, I've had the same Karcher for 6 years and it wasn't mega dear but it would move the house and not just clean it.

This summer the lance high pressure hose split and as Karcher UK is only 20 minutes away I popped to see them.

I went with the idea of buying a hose but the bloke took one look and came back with a whole lance plus hose which he promptly handed me saying it was gratis.

No argument from me required.

 

It seems to be a common fault with Karcher, Kew and a few other makes. They either leak onthe lance or underneath where the water either goes in or comes out ... I bought a Ł16.99 jobbie from Safeways and no problems so far I was under the impression that Karcher, Draper and a few others all came from the same place or the internals and other components did, which then was somewhere in Italy! Might have changed now, but I've also had the petrol ones and they developed the same faults as well .....

Bl00dy annoying when it happens though as they all seem to go wrong when you've summoned up the enthusiasm to do the job

Nath

 

I think its a relatively recent Karcher problem. My old man has had one for about 15 years and has never gone wrong. Mine lasted about a year before the seals blew out in the valve on the lance and I got a face full of water! I replaced the part and the same thing happened after about 5 hours of use!

I have now "bypassed" the valve in the lance so its always on as I can't be arsed to keep replacing bits!

 

Ahem - update

I just found out what the Dirt Blaster lance was, and tried it.

It's a freakin' laser beam

 

LOL

 

RTFM

 

Tell us more about this Dirt Blaster lance then Brendan!

Les

 

Brendan- Actually not as daft as it might sound. I have 3 lances with mine that unless you look closely, all look alike.

One would bump start a car, one would be ok'ish but have a wide angled jet, and the other would be fine for watering delicate plants.

Had you fitted any other lance than the first one I can well see why you thought it was póo.

 

If its the one I'm thinking of it fires a rotating jet out the end in a cone shape and agitates the dirt off! Works well on the rough render on my house!

 

Wot E Sed.

The jet is miniscule, I'd say barely 1mm in diameter, so it's ultra-high-pressure (it really is a jet, not a spray). But the nozzle spins it into a cone so it covers a much wider area - say, 3in wide at a range of 9in - so it's usable over a larger surface.

Whereas the variable nozzle on full power would push the exterior plastic paint off, then slowly remove the protection on top of the render, and finally make some indents into the render if you held it close enough - this thing insouciantly slaps the exterior paint off and then earnestly drills through the render. Assuming you should start at the top of the wall and work your way down, thus the stuff below should be well soaked and softer by the time you reach it, I'm hoping the job will speed up a bit.

Probably get back tonight to find the builders have buggered it up somehow

 

Seeing as my small Karcher which I've had for a few years has started leaking badly, what's the alternative? Any recommendations (not talking mega buck semi-pro jobs, just something to use around the garden and clean the car).

Chris

 

You could always buy the seals and replace them yourself, there not hard to work on as long as you keep track of what goes where.

I used to repair pressure washers for about 2 years and I came to the conclusion that most of the aluminium headed pumps are pretty naff. The difference in prices may well be due to using either aluminium or brass pump heads and whether the cut off valve is electronic to stop the motor or an unloader valve that recircs water round the pump.

If you look around a good make is Kranzle. Their not cheap but are very good and more robust than Karcher. KEW are good and last a long time but used to have real wiered pump heads.

 

Thanks Edd - I did look at removing the case, but it seems to use 'star' type screws that are buried deep in the body and I'm not sure if it was really worth taking it all apart.

I'll have a look at Kew and Kranzle (do they all begin with 'k' ? )

 

Thanks ajm and Brendan for that info. I'll look into getting one for my Karcher to do my house rendering with, the standard lance is hard work.

Les

 

Chris, Star bit set