Anyone have a Karcher power washer?

[HardDrive]

You can pick one of these up at Lowes for $99. Hell, at that price, it only has to last about 8 hours to make it worth it the cost vs. a rental.

Anyone have one? Any other suggestions for a cheap electric power washer?

[azasadny]

I bought one of these $99 Karcher pressure washers about 4 years ago and it comes in very handy to wash the driveway, vinyl siding, patio and brickwork, cars, pool ladder, etc... It's not powerful enough to hurt anything and it's lightweight and easy to move around. Great little tool, just don't expect it to do anything too demanding...

[WolfeMacleod]

I was going to buy one because they were on sale at BigLots a few weeks ago, but after reading the review at Amazon.com, I decided against it. Seems they have a problem with hoses bursting/cracking, seals blowing, and other stuff. Not very reliable, it seems.

Read the Amazon reviews.

[Dottore]

Yes. I have one that I bought at Costco. Use it all the time on the house and walkways. Works like a charm.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Yes, bought it at Sears for about the same price last year. Nice little unit. Works well.

[sammyg2]

The wife bought one a couple of years ago. It doesn't have many hours on it but it works fine for what it is. The only problem we had with it was that the plug has a built in GFCI and it failed. I cut it off and installed a regular plug, no worries.

[turbo6bar]

Bought one with the consumer-grade Honda engine. It has done really well. I will eventually upgrade, but for now, it does the trick.

[Evans, Marv]

I bought one at Costco maybe 10 to 15 years ago when they were a new thing. At that time, they cost $299. Mine is a 1,200 psi model, and I've used it a bunch over the years so it's paid for itself. At Costco the other day I saw they had models that put out 1,600 or 1,800 psi (don't know what the GPM output is) for a lot cheaper than I paid for mine.
The only problems I've had with mine were the housing cracking (this one you have to pick up like a suit case), which I fixed with through bolts and the pressure spring quit working. I fixed the spring by flushing with WD40 and lubricant. Now I put a little WD40 in it each time I use it & turn it up to drain the water out. Maybe it will last another 10 to 15 years.

[rob justice]

Had mine now for approx 8 years.
Gets used every weekend either on the cars or cleaning the moto-crosser.
As for reliability - its been 100%.
Great little machine.

[jyl]

I've never used a power washer. What are they useful for?

My main desired uses would be cleaning off greasy car engines and undersides, and getting oil/dirt out of my concrete driveway.

[kach22i]

Next time I'll use it before the greasy messy valve adjustment and not just after to help find oil leaks.



Works on hovercraft and hovercraft trailers too.

[Porsche_monkey]

I bought a cheap one. The start/stop button fell apart the first year, I bypassed it. The motor bound up the second year and started to sound like crap. This year (year 3) it started blowing the circuit breaker. I never got more than 10 hours out of it. And now it sits there, mocking me.

You get what you pay for. (You might have guessed that I don't really like the disposable tool theory.)

[Moses]

Power washer confessions, part I.

I had a really nice Honda powered Karcher unit from Costco. My son was using it to power wash our patio. He didn't notice when the unit vibrated itself over a step and onto it's side. He did notice the thick cloud of black smoke the engine produced as it seized.

I took off the pull cord, but couldn't rotate the shaft with a ratchet. Motor seized up completely. Turns out the price of a whole new power washer is about the same as a replacement motor so I bought a new power washer.

I put the old, seized power washer on the curb to be hauled away. My 82 year old dad put it in his truck and took it away. He said, "Hell, son. I can fix this." He took the spark plug out and squirted WD-40 in the cylinder. Two days later he was able to turn the motor with a ratchet. He bolted on the pull cord and the damn thing started right up. No noticeable change in power either. Dad has a new power washer.

[azasadny]

If you have a 2 story house, like I do, the power washer comes in very handy to clean the siding, remove bee/wasp nests, clean off bird crap, clean the driveway and patio, clean the pool and ladder, clean patio furniture and BBQ grill and my neighbor uses his to "de-thatch" his lawn...

[JeremyD]

Great for cleaning area rugs too - a little simple green - and wash - poof - no more stains.

I bought the $129 karcher with the briggs and stratton engine - one of the few things that I have that starts right up - even of it's been sitting for a year (although the gas tank leaks a little right now)

A must if you have boats - docks - big decks

[mattdavis11]

I would strongly recommend getting an orbital nozzle for whatever pressure washer you may ever barrow, buy, rent, or steal. J/K on the last one. Really though, they make things that much easier, especially on concrete.