My elderly baby Karcher 80 went bang the other day just as I was preparing to clean the weekend's mud off my Defender. Does anybody have a recommendation for something to replace it with - this time I would like something that can steam/hot clean as well as pressure wash. Not too worried about huge pressure as with my Def that is likely to also remove paint and I'm not yet ready for a polished Aluminium Defender................ 2018 Mini Countryman Cooper S E All4 PHEV in Melting Silver - it’s whisper quiet in EV and polluter modes

loads on machine mart from about £800 upwards... ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

What you have to remember with hot pressure washers is the amount of power they take to operate. A household socket can handle 13 amps and you can go up to 16 without too much worry, but when you start going higher than that you can run into problems and this is the reason most heated PWs are 3 phase.
Kranzle are about the best there is on the market today but they are expensive.


I have a couple which I could recommend, the Lavor Ontario which is a large, high output cold water machine for commercial use which I have owned for 6 years now and it really does shift dirt, caution required on an aluminium Defender. I recently bought a Nilfisk C120 which was mega cheap, about £70 on promotion and these have a massive following on the detailing forums. The Nilfisk is perfect for cleaning cars but would be a complete waste of time for pressure washing paths, patios etc.

Don't waste money on a petrol driven PW, they really aren't very good and try and keep away from Karcher, they were good years ago but they now have plastic pumps and reliability is not very good.

For long life you want to get one with a motor speed of around 1400rpm, but again these are usually on the larger machines.

If you need any further pointers let me know.


edit

Just checking the Machine Mart site, don't touch anything Clarke.....utter rubbish

I agree with Alan, I too have a Nilfisk C120 which replaced a Karcher, great bit of kit for the money....

Paulo wrote:

I agree with Alan, I too have a Nilfisk C120 which replaced a Karcher, great bit of kit for the money....

Alan

i use a Karcher K7.85M

will take hot water 'off the tap' up to 60 degrees C

had a hot water tap fitted specifically fitted

another vote for the Kranzle here.

47p2 wrote:

Paulo wrote:

I agree with Alan, I too have a Nilfisk C120 which replaced a Karcher, great bit of kit for the money....

Alan

Ooopsss....

My memory for names is legendary....

Sorry....

Paulo wrote:

Ooopsss....

My memory for names is legendary....

Sorry....

No problem Billy

Check out the Nixon range. Big and very farmer-ish. Based on Kranzle fittings and easily replaceable pumps etc. Proper pumps which have the ability to change oil etc. Diesel or kerosene fired boiler for hot wash and variable pressure at the nozzle (adjusted on the main pump valve)

Indestructible if looked after. Had mine for 6 years now. Serviced once a year by a mobile guy and even survived the frosts over winter when I forgot to drain it properly.

Downside is it's not exactly portable. Wheels to move around but too heavy to lift into the back of the RR.

Link here.
http://www.briannixonjetters.com/pressurew...aster.html

I use the hi end domestic Nilfisk Alto its about £320 but being a domestic come with 3 year warranty, has foam lance and own pick up unit and you can run up 80" water through it ( i never bother ) snow foam and cold water is fine. Far to many gone...

CPC do a good line of Nilfisk:

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.j...%2B1001276

And I can get a decent snow foam lance for about £50, with some foam, as well as other detailing bits.

A neighbour has had one of these for a while, which he highly recommends....

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/index_18814.htm

Looks like a steal at the price with a 3 Year Warranty too, if only I could bring myself to enter their store...

We have got through loads of K'archers, will never buy another. Years ago they were well built industrial strength tools, alas no more.

As said before Kranzle are excellent, its what we use now, and some very compact. Interpump good too aparently. Dirt driver are the nuts, expensive though.