Pressure washer for cleaning house + patio

ampleforth

Want to clean my house before a re-paint and def. want to clean my patio this summer (and similar jobs). I usually do not wash my car given all that rain in our fine country, but it might happen .

What kind of pressure washer would you recommend for this more occasional use? I have a shed but won't like a clunky thing standing around all year. Prefer electric (240V) over petrol (but this should be a no-brainer as petrol washers are larger anyway).

Have seen models with 110-140 bars for about 100-120 Euro (Amazon) from the so-called good brands (e.g. Kaercher). Suggestions?

Water John

Have a Karcher K7, does the job well. It is €5/600 TMK.

CJhaughey

Kranzle are the best bang for buck. Ask anyone who has one.

Shefwedfan

Electric your was wasting your time in my opinion, a big petrol one is your only man....

Faze11

Bought a karcher k4 full control. Great for around the house and comes with all the attachments. Was on offer in woodies for 249, may still be. Find it excellent.

CJhaughey

CJhaughey wrote: »

Kranzle are the best bang for buck. Ask anyone who has one.

I have a kranzel therefore its the best
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I have a Kratcher therefore its the best.
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I have a petrol one therefore its the best.
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I have a Nilfisk one therefore its the best.

boards.ie in a nutshell

listermint

Value for money nilfisk amazon.

GolfNut33

Karcher K5 mini is unbelievablly powerful and very small too. It would literally strip paint off the wall.

statto25

I have used both and while an electric is handy and less expensive, for bigger jobs or extended use such as house washing/patio cleaning/driveway cleaning a petrol washer is the way to go. The motors and pumps in an electric are not built for heavy duty use.

CJhaughey

BrownFinger wrote: »

I have a kranzel therefore its the best
next poster
I have a Kratcher therefore its the best.
next poster
I have a petrol one therefore its the best.
next poster
I have a Nilfisk one therefore its the best.

boards.ie in a nutshell

I don't have a Kranzle, but if you do a search on Kranzle washers and there are a load of people that have them they are universally praised.
Brass head, built to last and not a bad price.
Nilfisk are good as well but not quite the same as Kranzle.
Karcher have alkot of complaints about the plastic pump heads cracking, Im sure the metal ones are better but they aren't very cheap either.

Graham

ampleforth wrote: »

Have seen models with 110-140 bars for about 100-120 Euro (Amazon) from the so-called good brands (e.g. Kaercher). Suggestions?

Bought a Karcher K2 Full Control Home from Argos for €140 this weekend. Very pleasantly surprised how capable it is for such a small machine.

I'm not planning on opening a professional cleaning business anytime soon so just wanted something to clean sandstone paving slabs, wash the side of the house/shed and blast the algae off a section of fence that doesn't get much sunlight.

It's done a great job on the slabs/house/shed. Got a bit too close to the shed initially and stripped the stain off the timber, that's probably a good thing for someone that's planning to strip paint.

It comes with a high pressure lance, a variable lance (spray/medium/low/high-ish) and a patio cleaner. Ended up using the high pressure lance on everything.

I've had the larger/more expensive models in the past but for my current use couldn't justify spending a few hundred euro on something larger.

Reasonably cheap and does the job.

Shefwedfan

BrownFinger wrote: »

I have a kranzel therefore its the best
next poster
I have a Kratcher therefore its the best.
next poster
I have a petrol one therefore its the best.
next poster
I have a Nilfisk one therefore its the best.

boards.ie in a nutshell

Not sure what your point is? its not like people are selling washers. They are giving personal opinions.


My personal opinion. I have tried a number of electrics over the years. Different types and models. They clean, don't get me wrong. I had cobblelock driveway and they would clean it up.



Also around the house they would clean.



But then I got mate to bring up his petrol washer, two large barrels and I used that. Now that was cleaning. No comparison at all. Even the walls of house made a perfect job


Moved house and now have paving stones etc, drivewya to do. I have electric washer which does odd job around hosue and then once a year my mate drops over the big petrol. I clean out the bins and use them to hold the water which is easier than keeping large barrels for water.



Recently painted the house so sprayed the entire outside, I had to stand back from the wall to make sure I didn't damage the plaster. Thats the pressure you are getting from it.



Electric are good for tricking around etc. If you want a proper power washer then go for petrol.


Simple question, ever see a professional power washer land up with a little electric washer?

Wildsurfer

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Electric your was wasting your time in my opinion, a big petrol one is your only man....

OP is talking about spending €150 euro and you recommend a big petrol one! Electric is perfect for what OP wants to do, no messing just plug it in.

Shefwedfan

Wildsurfer wrote: »

OP is talking about spending €150 euro and you recommend a big petrol one! Electric is perfect for what OP wants to do, no messing just plug it in.

I didn't see anything saying they had a 150 euro budget?


They had a recent petrol one in Lidl/Aldi for under 200 euro. Plenty around for circa 200 euro as well. Not much bigger than electric but with a lot better performance.

ampleforth

Shefwedfan wrote: »

I didn't see anything saying they had a 150 euro budget?


They had a recent petrol one in Lidl/Aldi for under 200 euro. Plenty around for circa 200 euro as well. Not much bigger than electric but with a lot better performance.

I am looking for something no more than 200 Euro ideally. Best bang for the buck while not being too large.

Shefwedfan

ampleforth wrote: »

I am looking for something no more than 200 Euro ideally.

Lidl or Aldi had a petrol one recently, it was 180 or something like that. Probably still some instore

ampleforth

CJhaughey wrote: »

Kranzle are the best bang for buck. Ask anyone who has one.

They look super sturdy. But...

* they seem to start around 500 Euro
* they seem to be all pretrol

and appear to serve the pro community. Source: https://ige.ie/brands/Kranzle.html

listermint

Shefwedfan wrote: »

I didn't see anything saying they had a 150 euro budget?


They had a recent petrol one in Lidl/Aldi for under 200 euro. Plenty around for circa 200 euro as well. Not much bigger than electric but with a lot better performance.

Presuming your aware that slapping a petrol engine on it doesn't increase the pressure....


Right ?

vintcerf

can you not hire one for a day or 2?

Old codger

As a now retired seller and repairer of pressure washers I can give you some advise. Firstly, for your needs an electric washer is best. Stihl, Kranzle and the more expensive Karchers are all good but forget about anything for less than around €450, they have a very short life expectancy and are generally not worth repairing. If space ( and pocket ) are a problem and you will only need a washer a couple of times a year why not rent one when you need it ? If you line up all your work and get maximum use from a days hire and run the car through a car wash for €8 a time you will do much better than buying a lousy piece of Sh1t for €150 or less from a German “bargain” store with no spare parts or service. You get what you pay for !!!!

ampleforth

Old codger wrote: »

As a now retired seller and repairer of pressure washers I can give you some advise. Firstly, for your needs an electric washer is best. Stihl, Kranzle and the more expensive Karchers are all good but forget about anything for less than around €450, they have a very short life expectancy and are generally not worth repairing. If space ( and pocket ) are a problem and you will only need a washer a couple of times a year why not rent one when you need it ? If you line up all your work and get maximum use from a days hire and run the car through a car wash for €8 a time you will do much better than buying a lousy piece of Sh1t for €150 or less from a German “bargain” store with no spare parts or service. You get what you pay for !!!!

I think I just ran through a 'bargain' priced 'offer' from one of the German stores in under 30 minutes! They do the connectors in plastic and one of the pipes must have burst -- design for failure, amazing. Will try to return it as it should still have some guarantee, or otherwise I just have to count it as educational money that I have spend to get wiser.

So, here is my refined list of requirements:

a) Def. no rental as I enjoy having one; discovered that I can actually use it for a lot of jobs b) definitely electric as it is comfortable and I hate having to use petrol for something as simple as that (especially since the pressure produced was fine and more than enough to lift the plastering (!) and c) I want solid build (i.e. metal connectors and pipes and no throw-away plastic -- this is perhaps the most important aspect that I now def. care about! d) ~300-400 Euro max

I def. do not want to keep returning broken pressure washers and go through that once again... lesson learnt!

ampleforth

https://ige.ie/2000psi-industrial-electric-pressure-washer/#product-reviews

https://ige.ie/kranzle-k1050-tst-pressure-washer/

???

howsshenow

Had a supposedly good Karcher with water cooled motor. All the nozzle and hose connections were plastic, even the pump head! Which of course cracked eventually. More like Fisher price! Never again.

Just bought a Comet Brand kl1600 gold for €325 delivered and the difference is unreal. Proper threaded fittings for nozzles, metal lance, comfortable trigger and a brass head on the pump. Impressive for a low to mid market Italian machine.

Audioslaven

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120440860#Comment_120440860

Kranzle is the only washer tbh. Super washers