Looking to buy one for limited use. Will probably do the roof to get rid of moss (a one off) The patio slabs (once a year) Possibly later for cleaning external walls prior to painting (a one off)
After the roof and the walls it is likely a once a year for patio so doesnt merit a top of the range so looking cheap. Would the £50 - £60 range be sufficient for the above? Karcher or Nilfisk seem to be the most popular in this price range.
Both are reasonable makes. Include in your decision, the range of accessories that you might want now or later as they are not often interchangeable between brands. Ideally by what bits you need at the outset eg patio cleaning head. This has a scrubbing action and can often make up from the lack of extreme pressure lacking on the basic models to blast away dirt.
Store it in a guaranteed frost free environment and make sure you drain all the water from inside before the winter. The low end models have a lot of plastic components that will be damaged by freezing.
You might need and extra long pressure hose for your roof cleaning plans; you don't want to be up a ladder holding the pump, washing the roof and holding onto the ladder with your 3rd or 4th hand.
Bob
range.
I've been happy with my Karcher K2.95 (I think) IIRC it was a little more expensive than your price range might have been =A399 but it came with a good selection of tools (vario lance, dirt blaster, patio cleaner).
The detergent bottle clips onto the top of the machine. Some detergent bottle are stand alone, just asking to be kicked/knocked over and it makes moving the machine harder.
It's done sterling service this and last year pressure washing the outside of the house prior to repainting, 5 or 6hrs/day pretty much non stop with the dirt blaster for several days at a time. I was half expecting it to die but it's showing no signs of doing so.
I've not got on with that but it may depend on how algae encrusted you patio is. Ours was pretty bad.
I got a generic 10m one from B&Q that came with a variety of adapters to screw onto the Karcher lance pressure hose and onto the machine. This enabled me to leave the machine on the ground and still PW right to the top of the chimneys up three risers of scaffold. I found out the other month that the detergent "suck" doesn't work if I have the extension hose connected, can't figure out why that should be.
On Thu, 28 Jul 2011 10:56:02 +0100, SS wrot= e:
I got a Nilfisk from Screwfix - not the one that is/was recently on =
special - I scrimped and got the even cheaper one, same basic model but = =
with only a patio head not the car cleaner thingy as well.
It is inevitably not going to last forever so the less spent now the les= s =
painful it will feel when replacement is required.
Anyway, it works fine. Hose is long enough for my needs. Noise =
surprisingly acceptable.
I got a Nilfisk from Screwfix - not the one that is/was recently on special - I scrimped and got the even cheaper one, same basic model but with only a patio head not the car cleaner thingy as well.
It is inevitably not going to last forever so the less spent now the less painful it will feel when replacement is required.
Anyway, it works fine. Hose is long enough for my needs. Noise surprisingly acceptable.
The detergent system works on the venturi principle. When the pressure at the nozzle drops the pressure difference between nozzle/pump allows the venturi to suck in detergent.
With another hose connected (they are very small in diameter) the extra back pressure doesn't give enough of a pressure difference.
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