Pressure washers

[woolybanana]

Could kind people please give some advice on pressure washers, svp?

Ideally it should be suited for washing walls, shutters and terraces, garden steps, the odd car where very muddy.

What would be an appropriate pressure for these things, given one would not want to cause too much damage to surfaces?

How about water use?

Karcher seem the dominant make but Nilfisk now do them and their vacuum cleaners etc are very good quality indeed.

I dont want to get anything which is oversized for simple outside use; there seem to be so many models it is quite confusing.

And some of the prices are, well, oversized too.

Are they cheaper in UK? Where best to buy?

Advice please much appreciated.

Thanks guys.

Oh, and it must be suitable for use by both sexes!

[idun]

We bought a Karcher in one of the sales in France years ago and are happy with it. The good thing is that they can work from a bucket or water butt, too if there are water restrictions. As ours has lasted so long we have not looked at other makes.

[Frederick]

Karcher does seem to be the one most people go for .....There is a selection to go through on this site Wools  ....UK looks to be cheaper than France .

http://www.comparingguru.co.uk/pages/nsearch?seedid=889&origin=google&gclid=CPCQw53xir4CFZDKtAod7kcAWw

You can  always check your  local Vide Greniers....I saw one for 20 euros  a small one with a carry handle . I had a similar one a Draper and that was very powerful ...

[Théière]

Both Lidl and Aldi have had them in very recently, they are made with Lavor from Italy another very good make.  The Lidl, Aldi and some others including Nilfisk have the high pressure hose on a drum making it easy to roll up and stay put and mounted near the handle, otherwise this strong hose has a life of it's own and constantly tries to unfurl.

Pressure isn't as important and the water flow in my book, insufficient water flow means more time cleaning as you get narrow clean lines and have to wash the dirt away more frequently so 420 lpm should be the min 480 lpm is good and around 120 bar.

I bought a cheapo from brico d on promo and it still works 3 seasons later which is 2 seasons longer than I expected and it's very lightweight compared to my big machine in the UK 

[Chancer]

The Lidl one I bought recently is identical to the Karcher K something model thats ells for between 2 and 3 hundred euros, it also came with some accessories that are extras for the Karcher, reading around the web I am fairly convinced it was made by Karcher, the attachments have a slightly different fitting but they also sold an adaptor to use them on a karcher or karcher ones.

[Chancer]

I am still using the KEW hobby that I bought in 1987 for £300+, only 70 bar but until the Lidl Karcher I had never found anything to match it despite claims of far more power and pressure, it was about flow as Théière pointed out.

However, there is a however, the Karcher Rotobuse nozzle is superb as it converts a narrow jet into a swirling one with the coverage of a wide angle one, that is why modern washers (equiiped with this) can consume so little water, the Lidl washer has the rotobuse.

The round rotating patio brush looked like a gimmick but is in fact really good as it cuts out all of the splashing, means my trousers dont get soaked and filthy and no splashes up the sides of walls, in fact I cleaned my patio wearing socks and sandals, before I had to wear waterproofs.

[woolybanana]

Thanks guys; * shall have a good look round for the best prices.

[Théière]

[quote user="Chancer"]The Lidl one I bought recently is identical to the Karcher K something model thats ells for between 2 and 3 hundred euros, it also came with some accessories that are extras for the Karcher, reading around the web I am fairly convinced it was made by Karcher, the attachments have a slightly different fitting but they also sold an adaptor to use them on a karcher or karcher ones.[/quote]

The tool ranges at Lidl and Aldi feature certain names, Parkside, Florabest, Powerfix, Gardenline and Qualcast etc which are manufactured by Einhell as can be seen on the website where you go for spares, I know they used to use Lavor for pressure washer parts, pump etc but may now use Nilfisk. This can be confirmed using Einhels product code

Einhell UK

Spares and accessories

Incidentally Brico depot have a little bag of adapters to couple different parts from different manufacturers, only about €10 the set.