Cold Pressure Washer Hot......

[GRW]

Just one of those "I wonder" things my brain comes up with.
I have a Karcher (K4 I think) basic, cold water Pressure Washer.
I also have a redundant LPG Tankless Instant Water Heater (this operates on a Pressure switch start/stop, so cold water tap pressure IN, turn on flow OUT & the Burner ignition kicks in).

So.... in theory, I have the main ingredients of a hot Washer if combined.

The question is though.... would it actually work? (I'm pretty confident it will - but would the hot water do the Karcher a mischief?)

 

[carbon]

If you're going to put this before the pressure washer then it will probably damage the seals in the pump of the K4. The seals in a K4 are reasonably soft and unlikely to withstand high temperatures

 

[carbon]

A quick look for K4 specifications shows the max water inlet temp to be 40c

 

[hotponyshoes]

I've messed about with some fairly large instant lpg heaters.
At the flow rates used by most pressure washers I don't think the heater would be able to output much more than 40⁰
Or you could just set the lpg heater to 40⁰

I don't know if 'quite warm' water will be much better than cold?
Depends what you are washing I suppose.
If the pump is easily accessible/serviceable you could measure the seals up, crank the temp up, then replace the seals if they do melt.

 

[Gareth J]

First thing to check is the karcher manual. That may have a maximum advised inlet temperature. I've seen it specified more than once.

I did occasionally used to run an old kranzle off the hot water cylinder. It did a great job of cleaning (at ~75C I'd guess) and I didn't run it for long periods but I do suspect it shortened the life of the seals.

 

[carbon]

At the flow rates used by most pressure washers

Max flow is somewhere around 6l/m

If the pump is easily accessible/serviceable

Most of the pump is plastic of some description, I'm not sure of what temperatures this could take

I have a Karcher (K4 I think) basic, cold water Pressure Washer.

The motor on this is water cooled, the cold water inlet circulates water around the motor before going to the pump

 

[bricol]

I have connected mine to the un-used hot water connection to the washing machine - worked rather well. No idea if if shortened the life of the washer - it was a few years ago, the washer is still working.

Hot water makes a big difference to cleaning ability - but also to the rapidity of rust appearing on your now clean steel and iron parts as they are not hot - need to get them dry and protected quickly.

 

[JOEPRO]

Sell the Karcher (they are only fit for the bin anyway) and get one of these



I bought this Lavor broken locally and repaired it. Running perfect for years now.

 

[GRW]

Sell the Karcher (they are only fit for the bin anyway) and get one of these

View attachment 505095

I bought this Lavor broken locally and repaired it. Running perfect for years now.

Not heard of a Lavor.
I shall Google