Karcher Power Washer & Car Kit

#1
#2

Edit - Oops wrong one…

http://www.amazon.com/Karcher-2-27-Electric-Pressure-Washer/dp/B004LIDTSW

3/5 stars and a list price of $99.99 without the car care kit.

Here’s one for $131.18 with the car care kit:

http://www.amazon.com/Karcher-K227CCK-Electric-Pressure-Washer/dp/B003YKVGS8

#3

The “economy” lines of Karcher pressure washers have plastic pump bodies and plastic pistons. The hose connection is also plastic and if you trip over the hose or it gets pulled on when moving the washer, that coupling breaks, and last one I bought cost about $16 shipped iirc. For occasional use it’s OK, but if you wash you cars regularly with it, you might look to something better with a metal pump.

#4

Some interesting tips on selecting a power washer…

#5

[youtube=bfVq3mp4e1k] [/youtube]
HSN has a 10 minute long commercial for your viewing demonstrationalizing pleasures.

not all accessories in the video are included

[MOD: Looks like a different model. Note the handle]

#6

Karcher customer service made good first and second impressions with me, I’d trust their warranty 100%.

I bought a similair Karcher on clearance from Wal-Mart a year ago. It was open box and missing a few pieces. I called Karcher and they shipped me the parts no charge and used 2-day shipping. A few months later the hose started leaking from a rubber gasket. Another call and they shipped me the part out 2-day.

We get occasional use out of it, cleaning sidewalk, side of house, etc. and it does fine for its job. I don’t doubht as some others stated that this woulnd’t last in a ‘commerical’ use setting, but for occasional residential use the one I have is fine.

#7

If the woot deal had come with the foam cannon, I would have already bought. However, I have a feeling I need to watch some HSN.

#8

I just edited to point out that not all accessories in the video are includedz

#9

I agree that and the deck/driveway cleaner attachment, I’d be all over it.

Still doing some math…

#10

I used to own a Karcher electric power washer. A few comments:

  1. First of all, if you’re buying this thinking it’s going to be all the power of your average self-serve car wash, think again. It’s not even close.

  2. The reason it’s not close is because there are actually two things that make a power washer: Pressure and flow. Electric washers can get fairly high pressure, but only at abysmal flow rates. For the flow rates you need to, say, wash a car, it’s not all that powerful. This is a limitation of your electric outlet - only a certain HP motor can be run off of a standard outlet. That’s why most pressure washers are gas powered, and the ones at your car wash run off of a special electric service.

  3. Eventually, as noted in one of the comments above, one of the plastic coupling parts broke. On my unit, that meant buying the whole hose/wand assembly, which was like a $50 part. Since I only paid like $80 for the unit, and was underwhelmed by the power, I passed, and bought a gas powered one, which I have no regrets about.

#11

What is the black sleeve looking thing next to the power cord?

#12

The wand holder? You can see it on the side of the power washer on the first photo.

#13

Ahhh. It all makes sense now.

#14

Agreed. As much as I hate having yet another gas engine out in the shed, you just can’t beat a gas powered power washer.

#15

Wal-Mart carries this line as well. It worked great the first couple of times, but eventually I had problems with it building enough pressure or staying pressurized.

Not impressed with this one and would recommend giving it a pass.

#16

Regarding the myriad quick failure comments… I own several electric appliances, such as a snow thrower, trimmer/edger, etc. I learned quickly that they work well, but if pushed too hard, they fail quickly. Treat them like their gas-powered cousins and belts literally melt or plastic components break. Shorter tasks or simply more careful attention to the device gets the job done without breaking it. I don’t have a pressure washer and would really like to add one to my shed.
Could the quick failure concerns be related to treating a simpler electric model like a full-powered gas model? Or is this washer truly of inferior construction and/or materials? Can pressure washing just not be done with an electric?

#17

There was a pressure washer 2 WootOffs ago that I missed getting by 10 seconds and got me into the hunt for one. It had similar specs and price and generally seems to get better reviews. How does the Karcher compare to that AR Blue Clean AR142P?

EDIT: Looks like the AR Blue Clean is on Amazon here for $127. Sounds like it might be worth the extra $40 for a starter?

#18

I bought a very similar model from BJ’s. Worked great the first day. That was the only day it worked great. Power kept cutting off requiring RESET on the power cord and eventually quit all together. I’d never buy this brand again.

#19

Probably a bit of both. The part that broke on mine was definitely not abused - it was the coupling between the washer body and the hose/wand. On the wand side, the coupling was just a plastic nut. Since this connection is (by definition) always under high pressure, it finally wore out.

These things are built to hit a certain price point. On the other hand, a gas model is about 4x the price (at least) so they can afford to use quality components throughout. For example, that same unit-to-hose connection on my current gas model is a brass quick-release connector. And the difference in quality of the wand is night and day (current is heavy and mostly metal, the electric was light duty plastic)

#20

I worked for 3 years at a big box store Outside Lawn & Garden Dept… Karcher elec power washers were by far the #1 returned item in the whole dept.

Almost no one seemed to be satisfied with them, and the big box stopped carrying them. Recommend a pass on this deal.