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I would recommend trying it out personally for your intended use. The Karcher K2 could not satisfactorily remove the mud from the wheel wells of my car. The 110 bar pressure is really too low.

I would recommend you to stretch your budget a little, and go for a minimum 125 bar and above for better cleaning. And for the service and spare, please take feedback at the local level because every company has different standards in different cities, and too much depends on the attitude of the service provider.

Thanks guys. I'll just try the K2 for now though since I am on a budget. If it doesn't serve my purpose I'll return it and look for a better option.

Just a reminder that the last time I saw a pressure washer manual it warned against using full pressure on cars as damage can result.

Please don't do this to your cars. The way people are talking about pressure makes me think you guys really want a sand blaster!

You spoke my mind. Everyone here is on ABOUT MAX psi and MAX BAR, but no one really knows the upper limit that would damage paint.
It's just a pressure washer guys! Concentrate more on the washer bit and less on the pressure part!

Expectations have to be managed. Don't think that caked-on wheel-well mud is going to vapourise: it probably won't. But, with a bit of soaking and going over it a few times, a pressure washer will remove it, probably more easily than other methods.

Thumb rule is, if the water jet feels comfortable on your palm, the paint is fine. If not, the paint too is getting damaged.

I need to get a washer to wash the plants in my balcony, the washer should have water storage built in (5-10 L). Currently I use the manual ones which are available commonly, however they break down frequently and are pain to use. Any suggestions.

This stuff is really not for washing plants. Pressure washers can break up concrete: for plants you really need something gentle.
Thumb rule is never, ever to test a pressure washer on flesh!

You are right here if you use only pencil jet it will inevitably harm the paint but with Bosch 3 in 1 nozzle with soap option is as good as service center washing pressure, and it does not do any harm to the car if you use it wisely.
I would here want to recommend not to buy a washer with only pencil jet spray, instead, go for a brand which provides 3 in 1 nozzle option or spray pressure.

The spray option is way below the upper limit so it will not do any harm to the paint.
And it should be of a proper combination of wash and pressure to do the job effectively. Otherwise, it will not solve the purpose.

I'm planning to buy a pressure washer with a max budget of Rs.10k. Confused between Bosch aquatak 125 and Karcher k2. Any inputs? Didn't consider resqtech since they don't have any service center in Kolkata. Thanks in advance!

If you want to draw water from a bucket, go with Bosch 125. Although many people say that K2 also can draw water from a bucket, the company official take on it is that it will damage the motor. All Bosch models comes with self priming feature.
Secondly karcher spares and accessories are costlier.

Recently I bought myself a Karcher K4.

I had never owned a pressure washer before. I have used them many times at self car wash places and at the odd marina working on yachts.

Our primary purpose, or so my wife tells me, is to use it in our garden. We have are fortunate enough to have a seizable garden, lots of grass and borders, but also lots of terraces. And that means a lot of grass and weeds in between the various tiles, cobblestones etc.

Removing them by hand is a huge job. My next door neighbour had one of these so I had a chat with him. He used his very successfully to blast away the moss/weeds.

So a few weeks ago I sett off to a local DIY centre. We have several of these all within a 20 minutes drive. I went to a specific one, where I knew you can get good advice. Plenty of DIY centres about, with great stuff. But only a few of them have really knowledgeable staff.

Anyway, so I ended up talking to a nice sales guy who knew a lot. Basically, I asked him what kind a pressure washer I needed and what are the criteria for buying one.

Ultimately it is down to pressure/capacity to a large extend of course. But he came up with some other good criteria as well. The smaller units might struggle with continuous use. When I do our terraces I am at it for almost a day. Smaller units might not cope well with that. Fine for hosing down a car, the garden furniture, but to keep going for hours at full blast you better get a larger unit.

I do not know how these Karchers are sold in India, but in the Netherlands they all come in a certain package. A larger unit also gets you more accessoires and also, importantly a longer high pressure hose. Mine comes with a 6 m hose. Again, this was good advise from the sales guy. One model down and it would have been a 4 m hose. Even when hosing down a car, that means you need to drag the whole pressure washer around the car several times.

On the box of the Karcher they actually give rough specification on average cleaning time per square meter. For the K4 they reckon you can do 30-35 m2 per hour.

Mine comes with two lances, the regular one and a special ultra high pressure. Also included is one of these special terrace/wall cleaning attachment. Not very effective I found.

It has the possibility to attach cleaning liquid/shampoos etc on the pump as well.



In the end I ended up buying the K4. I have used it a few times. The big jobs were doing the garden terraces. Not only did it pretty good blazing away the moss/weed in between the terrace, it did extremely well cleaning up the surface of the tiles/cobble stone. Had not really noticed, but they had a very thin layer of much and grime attached to it. Very different colour terraces we have know.

It does take a lot of time though. You can not just flick the hose around. You actually have to aim carefully, move the water stream across the tiles/cobble stone slowly.

I have used it on my wife’s Ford Fiesta once.

This thing was not cheap, but I am very pleased with it.

Jeroen

The lance does have an option to vary the pressure of the output, once decreased, the pressure is significantly low. You do have the option to turn down the force if required using this lance. I am talking about the vario lance. There is no way to increase the max pressure than what the machine can pump out. I feel it is better to buy a higher pressure washer and vary to a lower pressure output than being stuck with a lower pressure.

Your "lower" pressure is already substantial.

There are times when we wish for higher pressure. Mine was when removing flaking paint from my terrace. But, as I said, it is not a sand blaster!

After the demise of my small Bosch unit, I have always been satisfied with the two bar pressure from my garden hose. Except it is not so good as the pressure washer when it comes to under the car.

All of us tend to be tempted by "higher" specs when buying our toys and tools. That's fine, but necessity is different. And so is danger.

Jeroen gives some good reasons for buying the larger models.

GAS: I don't feel any need at all to buy a pressure washer. As I said, the pressure in my house is enough. But still, sometimes, I get the temptation to buy one! :D