Wickes' pressure washers (attn: Medway Handyman)

Hi,

Wickes are selling a range of four pressure washers. There are two washers with yellow bodies:

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on their prices, I assume these have universal motors and plastic parts and are best avoided but that's just an assumption based on the prices, so I could be very wrong.

However, there are two models with blue bodies that sound much more interesting:

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descriptions explicitly mention induction motors. The 140 bar model says it has an aluminium pump head and the 160 bar model says it has a brass pump head.

IIRC plastic is bad, aluminium is good, and brass is best. Is that right?

I am unsure what a "pump head" is. Is all the pump brass or just part of it?

I would be very interested to hear if anyone has bought one of these. I'd particularly like top hear from the Medway handyman because I know he has many years experience of pressure washers and is a big shopper at Wickes.

The diy faq says a cleaning effect of 2.3 is the best you can expect from a 3kV, 230v, single phase supply.

If my maths is right: 160 * 510 /60 /600 = 2.26, which is pretty close

Of course, I know the disclaimer that the pressure stated is the maximum. Reading the reviews, one says the machine is made by lavor and has an operating pressure of 145 bar. If that is so, the figure becomes: 145 * 510 /6 /600 = 2.05, and the faq says anything over two is good.

When I have looked at pressure washers before, the 160 bar models are always £400, so this sounds too good to be true. Is it?

Thanks in advance.

Reply to
Fred
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useless.

I think you are spot on.

Years ago HPC's had a motor driving a pump via a vee belt. Modern machines are 'close coupled' and have three main components, the motor, an oil filled crankcase containing the swash/wobble plate, pistons & bearings and a 'head' which contains the seals, inlet & outlet valves.

The crankcase is pretty much bomb proof as long as the oil is OK & it doesn't matter what its made of.

The 'head' takes care of the water & detergent. Brass is far superior because of its corrosion resistance.

I am a big shopper there, but only because its handy & carries what I want. Wickes certainly don't make any of those machines, they are badge engineeered. I'd guess the yellow ones are Chinese & the blue ones Italian.

It is. The 2.3 figure is from a quality industrial machine, but the cleaning effect would be based on the same set of lies :-)

You should base the calculation on the published figure, all makers 'lie' by the same amount :-)

Could well be made by Lavour, long established manufacturer of lower end machines.

Seems like a fairly good deal to me, Wickes have a pretty good refund policy if its not up to spec, but overall I'd say you won't go far wrong with it.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Thanks. I only mentioned that you shopped there because I thought you might have seen the boxes on the shelf and had a read. I shop at Wickes a lot and for the same reasons you mention.

Thanks for the clarification; I wasn't sure whether to use the 160 bar or not. Using the 160 bar "lie" makes it sound very impressive indeed.

I will try and track one down, 160 bar models seem to be three or four hundred pounds everywhere else.

Thanks again.

Reply to
Fred

Lidl, 15th April:

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Reply to
mike

to 2800w.

Pressure hose a bit short at 6m compared to the 8m on the Wickes.

But less than half the price. Hmmm.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

I think the formula gives a cleaning effect of 1.875

Has anyone bought this washer, is it brass and induction? If so it is a very good price. I wonder which to choose? That said, they've probably sold out now, so I may end up with the Wickes one after all.

I see Wickes sell extension hoses, do all machines take the same hose; if so the 6m length should not be an issue, it could be replaced if necessary?

Reply to
Fred

Bought similarly specced but slightly different looking one from Lidl a few years ago (along with patio cleaning head). It's been very good. The patio head is excellent too. It's induction but no idea if it's brass.

Not everything in Lidl/Aldi sells out immediately.

Reply to
mike

There's a chap on eBay (seller name of "07733" or something) near Taunton who's some sort of Karcher service agent. He sells refurbs in boxes (minor case scratches) for extremely good prices. Not sure on model comparisons, but I'm happy with ours.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

The hose is the same, but the fittings aren't. Karcher for example use a hose end that fits inside the trigger in a blatent attampt to make you buy their hoses at a premium price.

The Wickes machine looks as though its a standard thread, so any local hydralic hose place/pressure washer supplier could supply.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Just going to add that if you ever need spares for a pressure contact Exchange engineering - 01476 578505, they charged =A333.70 for a 15 metre hose for a commercial Kranzle machine whilst Kranzle wanted =A350+ for a 10 metre hose.

Reply to
David

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