Cheap pressure washers in the UK - recommendations

I bought my Karcher off ebay - got it from a recondition place for £60 should have been £200

Si

Seen sellers at boot sales (leeds and j34 m62 i think)selling recon Karcher units of all different models i think they were from Newark but I may be wrong on that.

-- Jon

They prolly were from newark, they are at each newark autojumble, saying any washer you want they havent got, they'll nip back to the yard and fetch one,

i've had a couple of cheapie pressure washers, none lasted more than a year, usually the same fault.. the plastic pump unit springs a leak, first one poped the motor when it did that (it sprays water all over the insides of the case.. not a good idea really)

bought a karcher one, just a cheap one, think halfrauds were selling them at half price a good few years ago, Still got hte karcher, and it workes perfectly, first thing i noted was the karcher ones have metal pump heads, the motor is much quieter (induction motor as opposed to a cheap DC motor fitted to the other brands)

But the best bit about karchers, you can get spares for them if anything does break/wear out,

plus there is a good range of lances and attatchments for the karcher available everywhere, most of the cheapie washers have a few attatchments available, but then the firm making them goes under, all the atatchments dissapeer, or firms bring out a newer model, and nothing from the old line of models fits the new ones, at least karcher stuff from 20 years ago fits modern karcher washers.

Plus with karcher washers.. you have a choice of models, all with varying pressures, the £50 supermarket version comes in a bog standard flavour, take it or leave it.

The karcher may cost a bit more, but at least you'll get a decent machine, if it was for the odd hose down of the family car, clean the patio once a year etc, then maybe a £50 machine would be fine, but if you go mud plugging every weekend, then you'll soon wear out a cheapie machine.. and prolly have to use it for longer to get the mud off due to the lower power.

Hi Geoff,

We bought a middle-range Karcher (~£120 from B&Q) a few years ago and the handle started to leak. I phoned the uk distributor expecting to pay through the nose for a spare part but it had a surprise 3yr warranty and they didn't even charge postage! Nice washer and nice people.

Cheap = False economy ............... if U wannit to last pay the dosh ............. if U don't, buy s**te .......... Karcher is maybe OK, non false economy ...... but U pay a bit more at the start.

The Story Of Life !!!! U will learn !

I concur - my Karcher stays out in the garden in wind and rain and still works fine 3 years on. In common with all pressure washers I've used, it's fine for removing mud but crap for getting a car properly clean.

Easier just to bung 3 quid at the local car wash - you don't get all the crap on your drive.

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 '77 101FC Ambulance '95 Discovery V8i

Main problem with karcher is the total lack of customer care some of their agents display. Be especially wary of the one in Lanarkshire. Otherwise, good machines. Had a small Kew once which was nothing but trouble.

anything

attatchments

atatchments

flavour, take

karcher seem to have cheapened off my old one had a large low rpm induction motor and the whole thing was solid alloy with a plastic handle.

where as the new one i saw had plasticy insides in a plastic case and what looked like a drill motor that was high rpm. my old one is somthing like 13 years old.

-- Jon

Seems as though Karcher is winning. Bugger of it is that there was one in the B&Q near me a couple of months back for half price - end of line or something. Oh well I'd better start looking.

Cheers

Geoff

Our Karcher pressure washer plugs into the three phase supply. The electrical contactor thing in the top cost £150 after it was damaged by frost a few years ago, after a spell in the garden. It wouldn't heat up.

-- Nikki