Karcher died on Friday the 13th ... after 24 years not bad really

[Submariner1]

sadly the dear old Karcher went in and on Friday 13th they advised me there were no more cylinder heads for this one.

Unfortunately to get a similar build quality ( brass head and stainless steel valve inserts ) means one needs to gomto the mid if the professional range.

Very good company, waived the postage and inspection fee and even offered me an additional £150 credit against a new machine. Cant be fairer than that !

Hmm the replacement is £711 but found it discounted to £499! pretty good saving.

 

[Craiglxviii]

Is this a Karcher pressure washer? If so what do you need to do with it to require professional quality..?

 

[AMGeed]

£700+ for a pressure washer!

Do you clean wheelie bins as a second occupation?

The £140 one I bought years ago still serves me well around the garden.

The dearest one on their own website is £570

 

[John Laidlaw]

Yip, my 120 quid job does just fine....

 

[Headhurts]

I have a Bosch that cost around £180, hardly ever used really but it does look the business hanging on the wall in the garage.

Robin


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[L John]

The one I use cost a lot more but it has a lot of benefits.....

1. It has a hot foam brush
2. It has a high pressure lance that is cantilevered for easy access to all areas.
3. I don't have to keep it at home.
4. It only costs around a fiver each time I use it.
5 I don't have to clean up the mess of foam and dirt I leave behind.

It might catch on in other areas

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

I bought this earlier in the year and it's brilliant

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bosch-Adv...989297&hash=item2cc305c9a9:g:E~sAAOSwmoBZbI94

Powerwashed three large block drives with it so far and it's perfect for the job, plenty of power without going petrol and good quality pump

 

[ajlsl600]

i just bought 2x those 70 quid karcher so i have a spare replacement and maybe a few bits to keep second one going when first dies.140 total. its been my experience that these makers produce parts for one model that will not fit any other of their models and then the part you are forced to buy costs about the same as a new machine, my theory anyway

 

[Hi RX7]

Well you certainly had better luck than me. I bought a £500 Karcher pressure washer it's the one with the two separate tanks on the front in which you can put different detergents. Had it just over 12 months and one day it exploded from the the bottom and water (low pressure) just poured out.

Being a practical sort of person I took it to bits only to discover that a cast low pressure elbow had fallen to pieces. Bearing in mind the washer along with my cars are kept in a heated de-humidified garage there was no question of it being left out and freezing.
Having taken off the elbow I noticed the casting was rather porous and looked cheap. So I took it along to friend who runs an engineering company who agreed with me it was a 'cheap sh*t casting from China more than likely'

So this is where Karcher really let themselves down when I phoned they said it was out of warranty by a week or two and that I should send it in to an approved repair centre. When I explained about the casting I was told I shouldn't have 'messed around with it" the technical guy was a t**t who refused to acknowledge the fault as being a crap casting.
It was a case of talk to the hand.
In the end I bought a new elbow for £60 yes £60 for another slightly less porous cast elbow as the repair centre wanted £120 for the pleasure of fitting it.
So I bound the casting in one of my glass-fibre roving membranes and it's been as good as gold for six years now.
But I'll never buy another Karcher as their customer service is beyond bad.

 

[JBell]

PMSL at spending £500+ on a pressure washer!!!

Shouldn't this thread be in the Benz Bin???????

 

[keefysher]

Karcher have followed the typical corporate model of moving manufacturing to poor quality areas.

I have 2 of the crappy models since that move, but as I only use them to rinse off the cars using water from water butts I accept the leaky seals that are standard. I use the solar PV system for the electrickery, so effectively have a 'green' car wash on the drive. Plus the activity of stretching, bending and using my muscles gives me exercise, so all in all a positive thing.

If I need to do a pukka job on the driveway and decking I borrow my brothers petrol high pressure jobby that has to use mains water. Not environmentally friendly really.

 

[turbopete]

dad bought a Karcher 25 years ago. the switch failed after about 2 years (electric one) but it stuck in the 'on' position, so no huge problem. then he just decided to replace it with some unknown thing that looks like it cost 20p! only reason he gave was the switch on the Karcher.

 

[Wighty]

You can get a Kracher K4 for £169 delivered on Amazon , I've had one for 5 years , you don't need better than that .
But of trawling on tinternet may find one cheaper still .
Edit .....just checked eBay £149 New , delivered ...one left !!!

 

[GlosRichCLK]

Karcher quality isn't what it was. Nilfisk are arguably better.

 

[AMGeed]

^ I would agree with that. My Dad has one and its better than my Karcher.
Karchers always leak!

 

[Craiglxviii]

Karcher quality isn't what it was. Nilfisk are arguably better.

No arguably about it. Demonstrably I’d have thought!

 

[Wabby]

+1 for Nilfisk.

 

[Richard Moakes]

Kranzle even better still

 

[Submariner1]

Well you certainly had better luck than me. I bought a £500 Karcher pressure washer it's the one with the two separate tanks on the front in which you can put different detergents. Had it just over 12 months and one day it exploded from the the bottom and water (low pressure) just poured out.

Being a practical sort of person I took it to bits only to discover that a cast low pressure elbow had fallen to pieces. Bearing in mind the washer along with my cars are kept in a heated de-humidified garage there was no question of it being left out and freezing.
Having taken off the elbow I noticed the casting was rather porous and looked cheap. So I took it along to friend who runs an engineering company who agreed with me it was a 'cheap sh*t casting from China more than likely'

So this is where Karcher really let themselves down when I phoned they said it was out of warranty by a week or two and that I should send it in to an approved repair centre. When I explained about the casting I was told I shouldn't have 'messed around with it" the technical guy was a t**t who refused to acknowledge the fault as being a crap casting.
It was a case of talk to the hand.
In the end I bought a new elbow for £60 yes £60 for another slightly less porous cast elbow as the repair centre wanted £120 for the pleasure of fitting it.
So I bound the casting in one of my glass-fibre roving membranes and it's been as good as gold for six years now.
But I'll never buy another Karcher as their customer service is beyond bad.

Most of the people at K are great, did speak to one who was exceedingly rude. Because Imwanted to get an adapter to run my domestic accessories with a pro machine.

And thats why I bought a pro machine, they are built like the top of the range domestics were years ago ... mine cost £209 in 1993 and lasted 24 years , and was still running until I sent it back to have a leak fixed but it still ran..

.

 

[Submariner1]

£700+ for a pressure washer!

Do you clean wheelie bins as a second occupation?

The £140 one I bought years ago still serves me well around the garden.

The dearest one on their own website is £570

Would you?