Which £100 pressure washer?

[Rannsachair]

I use a washer for my work. Every time one fails i eye up Kranzle again. As it happens, one is currently failing again now.

For me, the consumer ones always start to go full duty. Or rather the pressure switch breaks. Or something starts to loose pressure and the pulse of death starts. Apart from the karcher. That properly died.

I bought the wife a Kranzle 1152 TST in 2018, its been faultless and well used, I got fed up replacing cheap ones, the wife will happily spend 5 or 6 hours pressure washing, she finds it therapeutic

 

[julianf]

Another thing to dislike about consumer pressure washers -

Basically, i want a box, with a lead comming out, and two hose couplings. And a handle, but thats about it.

Taking this latest Nilsfisk apart is like a puzzle... you have to take the wheels off, before you can get to additional screws, and then thats only the first shell...

 

[julianf]

I bought the wife a Kranzle 1152 TST in 2018, its been faultless and well used, I got fed up replacing cheap ones, the wife will happily spend 5 or 6 hours pressure washing, she finds it therapeutic

Yeah, £600 or so though...

£350 ish second hand but id rather the k10 to the k7, as ill suffer a bit of extra noise (i wear ear defenders anyway) for the extra output.

Ive not found any close enough to me currently though.

 

[8ob]

I've had a K4 for about 12 years with average amount of use, but sometimes upto 4 hours use in one session.
I think a lot of the woes come from leaving them outside in all weathers (and freezing) - I've looked after mine, clean it up and stored inside after use and it's never let me down - yet!

I reckon regular use is key to the longevity of some of this kit, out little K4 is still battling on and it was a bitza made up from three of swmbo`s dead ones. Ours is only used for vehicle washing so its only really used as a powerful hose, not to be confused with a proper washer.

Bob

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Screwfix one's been spot on for me

 

[keithski122]

I bought a wolf pressure washer after practical classics gave it a best buy review in one of their tests. Biggest bit of rubbish I have ever bought, it kept leaking at all the lance joints or they would fall apart, rubbish pressure and the swirly patio cleaner just gave odd patterns to anything it was used on. Never got it to work properly and then gave up on home pressure washers and just use a brush and bucket of detergent on anything I need to clean.

 

[Gareth J]

Have two electric kranzles which are decades old now. Both the max you can run (just about almost) on a 13A plug. Both have had a rebuild kit once and generally abused. All the plastics and wheels got bashed in so they now sit as pump and motor. One used to sit in a wheel barrow but the pipe leaked faster than the holes in the barrow once so submerged it. Oops. But still going now after a few new bearings. Relatively compact for what they do. Bought a nilfisk somethin-or-another to "upgrade" one. Again, supposed to be a industrial grade and maxxed out a 13A plug. It was comparatively rubbish, full of "useful" gadgets like a windy reel that proceeded to break in no time. Gave it away

The machine to replace it is an interpump pump connected to a 5hp electric motor. Motor-Pump-Hose-Lance. Simple.

But these stories aren't much help as it doesn't fit your requirements. Apart from saying get the simplest you can with the biggest motor you can. Pressure is only part of the equation, flow being the other and lots of manufacturers are a bit quiet about one or both of these. On/off stop start, wind up hoses and specific proprietary lance's etc are just things to wear out or go wrong.

....one final thought - any capability to bolt on a pump to your propulsion engine!

 

[premmington]

I got two K4's - one at home and one at the workshop. One at the workshop takes ages to start pump after water pressure from tap gets in it.

I have a hot water one as well - Ehrle.

My only complaint about these little pressure washers is: Yes there is plenty of pressure but no volume of water that comes out of them - it takes ages to wash a car down with them.

 

[Bki26]

out of interest...
gave up on Karcher....
bought a cheapy of ebay with a 5hp petrol eng...think it's nearly 3,000psi......first check was that a replacement pump was £60.....
ideal to make ur own.....!!!! just gotta find a cheap waterproof high HP motor tho.........
anyway I have used it on the farm for cleaning tractors over the last 10 years...the copy Honda engine always starts second pull....
it's done hundreds of hours and still good.....

Doesn't have to be waterproof, just use a longer hose or stick a box over it lol

 

[carbon]

just gotta find a cheap waterproof high HP motor tho.........

Doesn't have to be waterproof, just use a longer hose or stick a box over it lol

Exactly, I don't know of a current manufacturer that uses a waterproof motor even the water cooled motors in the small karchers has a connector into the motor that attempts to seal the electrical connections with a moulded plastic housing with an o ring seal. Most industrial machines have motors that are usually ip54 rated so only splash proof. There are some machines the even have open frame motors but water spraying inside the case does tend to kill these.

 

[Wightsparks]

I get that completely.

All I was really saying is that the CAT pumps are a quite simplistic piston setup and are fully rebuildable. They do lots of different sizes, I've got a large S1 rated motor because then it means as the pump is continuous rated as well I'm only limited by water supply (doesn't need a pressurised supply).

I used to fix RO watermakers on the Superyachts and they all used CAT pumps for the high pressure side, these would run solidly for months at a time - with salt water of course, I used to keep a stock of re-build kits and do them once a year. Never had to replace the actual pump itself.

 

[Beeezer]

£100 nilfisk, fantastic bit of kit had it six years never let me down, used it three times now I think…..

 

[Hopefuldave]

Exactly, I don't know of a current manufacturer that uses a waterproof motor even the water cooled motors in the small karchers has a connector into the motor that attempts to seal the electrical connections with a moulded plastic housing with an o ring seal. Most industrial machines have motors that are usually ip54 rated so only splash proof. There are some machines the even have open frame motors but water spraying inside the case does tend to kill these.

Mine's a green and black rounded one... I think perhaps a Performance Power, lowest of the low, BUT it has an induction motor (at a guess about 1&1/2 HP), which is rare in cheap naff pressure washers, so can withstand water splashed about - was off Freecycle and needed a run capacitor (housed in a waterproofed box along with the on/off, also waterproofed, and "security" screwed), but it's lasted 6 or 7 years since... It doesn't get left out for the frost though.

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[Keith 66]

Another thing to dislike about consumer pressure washers -

Basically, i want a box, with a lead comming out, and two hose couplings. And a handle, but thats about it.

Taking this latest Nilsfisk apart is like a puzzle... you have to take the wheels off, before you can get to additional screws, and then thats only the first shell...

Unfortunately you are not supposed to fix them. I had a nilfisk & it blew a seal (frosted up) it was probably fixable but by the time i had broken various plastic tabs & bits off opening up the casings to get inside I lost patience with it & chucked it in the scrap. Bought another one (also from machine mart) It gets thrashed to hell cleaning the boat & paths a few times a year. Better than karcher i think.

 

[Chris Snow]

I bought the wife a Kranzle 1152 TST in 2018

I bought a K1152TST back in 2014 and it's worked flawlessly since.
I actually imported it from Germany as it was considerably cheaper than the UK. Paid about £475 delivered for it. Now seems to be £800 ish in the UK or £650 ish from the same place. Not sure I could justify once at that price but hopefully will never need to as everything is repairable.

Krnzle small power packs-high pressure cleaners at your Hytec-Hydraulik Online-Shop

www.hytec-hydraulik.com

The cheapest model 1050 is still going to be £300 ish.

When comparing pressure washers flow x pressure is basically cleaning power.

 

[Munkul]

You get what you pay for, at £100 you could have a good or bad experience with Karcher, Nilfisk, Kranzle, Titan, etc etc
Personally I'd go with Nilfisk, we used to use my cousins cheap nilfisk a lot. It had its faults but once you know them you can compensate for them.

 

[sg66]

I've got an old karcher, no idea of the model, got from guess where, yes the skip, no idea why it was in there, it works fine had it about 8yrs now, all I do is make sure it doesn't freeze in winter and get air out of it before switching it on.

 

[Rannsachair]

I bought a K1152TST back in 2014 and it's worked flawlessly since.
I actually imported it from Germany as it was considerably cheaper than the UK. Paid about £475 delivered for it. Now seems to be £800 ish in the UK or £650 ish from the same place. Not sure I could justify once at that price but hopefully will never need to as everything is repairable.

Krnzle small power packs-high pressure cleaners at your Hytec-Hydraulik Online-Shop

www.hytec-hydraulik.com

The cheapest model 1050 is still going to be £300 ish.

When comparing pressure washers flow x pressure is basically cleaning power.

I got mine from Cleantec in Omagh, was an ex demo, like new in its box, was £510 delivered in 2018, like yours its been faultless.

 

[jerrytug]

Thanks for all the replies!
I have got a Titan from Screwfix, after 5 minutes it is already spurting tapwater out from the hose coupling, which appears to have mismatched threads, so got to bodge it with Sikaflex or something.
It's all made of brittle plastic, so the expected lifespan is measured in weeks rather than years

The squirty jet is powerful enough though, it being the 140 model.

 

[MickeyW]

I would not have an issue with a Titan product. They are pretty good value, plus you have the assurance that Screwfix are good at honoring returns. I have a Titan garden shredder and an 5kg SDS hammer that have had years' of use.
The main issue with the cheaper pressure washers is that the hose tends to be a bit short. This Titan says 6m, and the Karcher you're looking at is only 5m. This is actually quite short when you start to work around a car or boat. The cheapies can also be noisier than the more expensive brands.

I bought my Karcher back in about 1989 (when stuff was made to last) for cleaning my Landrover. It still works well although is on its 3rd hose and 2nd lance, which I have no complaints with after 30 years' use.