Aldi Petrol Pressure Washer - just bought one.

[mickywillis]

Looks good for the money:

https://www.aldi.co.uk/en/specialbuys/thu-22-oct/product-detail/ps/p/petrol-pressure-washer/

£199 and 3 year warranty, looks fairly well built for what I want to do with it.
Build up time about 20 minutes, even comes with a bottle of engine oil, funnel and small tool kit.
Used with the lowest power nozzle on the patio gave much better results than my Karcher K7 unit (but to be fair that is now about 3 years old).
Also available is a 12Mtr hose and a syphon hose to use with a water butt or non pressurised water supply.
I'm looking at buying a sand blasting attachment to fit the lance and will give the keels on our Griffon a go with it.
The engine started 2nd pull out of the box, water pump primed fine and its reasonably quiet (for a petrol engine) no more noisier than a petrol lawnmower.

Just giving my opinion on what appears to be a good deal for use on the boat. I know its Chinese and probably won't last as long as a Karcher or a branded machine, but at less than a fifth of the price of the equivalent branded unit, got to be worth a chance?

 

[robertj]

just a tip for you.
When pressure washing always drain the lance down when shutting down and dont run the machine unless the lance is on or you will crack the manifold. This is not only the Aldi one in particular but all of these machines.

 

[Kwik Decision]

As one who likes to run the boat up a beach / tie to the piles for a scrub a few times a year, which is hard work done manually, I like the idea of a pressure washer which is independent of mains electric and water supply. I've a couple of questions which you (or others) may be able to answer......
Would this be man enough to clean a hull in a sensible time - say an hour or so (A Griffon will be more or less the same size as our S29)?
Would it cope with sea water, or would the inevitable mud / sand / muck which will be sucked up with the sea water cause problems?

 

[rogerthebodger]

I had a Karcher engine driven pressure washers some years ago until it was stolen. Just don't leave the high pressure hose lying on a brick/concrete surface with the engine running as the vibration will ware through the hose covering.

 

[Binman]

I run my electric Karcher sometimes from a petrol genny, but don't think I would chance sea water, unless from a large water butt that was filled a couple of hours before, then don't go to close to the bottom, never tried it lol. Why does yours take 20mins to build up pressure! Is that the norm for petrol pressure washers.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I hope it works better than my Aldi hedgetrimmer. Bought last year for £60 and worked well. This year I filled with fuel which immediately started leaking around the tank connection. It's got a three year warranty so I got a replacement which also leaked. I've now got a third one which I've yet to try.
Pity because I've been very satisfied with other aldi special buys.

 

[garvellachs]

I guess he means how long to put it together out of the box?

I run my electric Karcher sometimes from a petrol genny, but don't think I would chance sea water, unless from a large water butt that was filled a couple of hours before, then don't go to close to the bottom, never tried it lol. Why does yours take 20mins to build up pressure! Is that the norm for petrol pressure washers.

 

[mickywillis]

Would this be man enough to clean a hull in a sensible time - say an hour or so (A Griffon will be more or less the same size as our S29)?
Would it cope with sea water, or would the inevitable mud / sand / muck which will be sucked up with the sea water cause problems?

Not sure yet as I haven't been able to get to the boat. Will be there this weekend so will have an idea then.
I'm not going to chance using salt water, may be too abrasive for the pump pistons, seals and bore, causing irreparable damage, not covered by warranty .

Yes, correct takes 20 mins to build the unit up as its supplied in a semi knocked down state (handle, wheels, oil to fill, etc)

Regards the hedge trimmer, cheap Chinese tools seem to use a really poor type of plastic pipe for the petrol supply and gets easily destroyed by petrol. We had this with a Screwfix Titan brushcutter. Decent quality fuel pipe from the local model shop resolved the problem.

 

[mickywillis]

Have always done that with my electric pressure washers, and also tipped them up to drain as much water out of the pump head as possible, especially if cold conditions are due.
Didn't know that about the lance not fitted, how does that work when using say a drain cleaning hose that is basically an open hose?

just a tip for you.
When pressure washing always drain the lance down when shutting down and dont run the machine unless the lance is on or you will crack the manifold. This is not only the Aldi one in particular but all of these machines.

 

[ghostlymoron]

Edit on hedge trimmer. Just tried the replacement and it doesn't leak, started easily and ran smoothly. It also cuts well. Will bear your comments in mind if it leaks again.

Would this be man enough to clean a hull in a sensible time - say an hour or so (A Griffon will be more or less the same size as our S29)?
Would it cope with sea water, or would the inevitable mud / sand / muck which will be sucked up with the sea water cause problems?

Not sure yet as I haven't been able to get to the boat. Will be there this weekend so will have an idea then.
I'm not going to chance using salt water, may be too abrasive for the pump pistons, seals and bore, causing irreparable damage, not covered by warranty .

Yes, correct takes 20 mins to build the unit up as its supplied in a semi knocked down state (handle, wheels, oil to fill, etc)

Regards the hedge trimmer, cheap Chinese tools seem to use a really poor type of plastic pipe for the petrol supply and gets easily destroyed by petrol. We had this with a Screwfix Titan brushcutter. Decent quality fuel pipe from the local model shop resolved the problem.

 

[LadyInBed]

I would say definitely NOT to be used with salt water.
Pump fittings are probably cheap and will corrode over a short period of inactivity, even if you flush through with fresh water.

 

[Kwik Decision]

I would say definitely NOT to be used with salt water.
Pump fittings are probably cheap and will corrode over a short period of inactivity, even if you flush through with fresh water.

Yes, I strongly suspect you're correct in this statement, but I was wondering whether anybody had any actual experience of running something like this with sea water......

 

[cowpat]

The Pressure washer dealer here says that salt water can be drawn into a pressure washer. Its not the salt that wears the pump it's the silt/particles, so if on clean sea water it's OK. If in doubt keep to fresh. The pump should always be flushed with fresh as the pump is made using dissimilar metals and brass ! I would NOT use salt because my experiences is that you never seem to flush salt out of anything.

 

[prv]

Yes, I strongly suspect you're correct in this statement, but I was wondering whether anybody had any actual experience of running something like this with sea water......

For what it's worth, our yard has a pressure washer for the pontoons whose intake is simply a short length of hose dropped over the edge into the sea. It looks a bit of a rusty old heap but I assume it still works after many years.

Of course it probably isn't an Aldi one.

Pete

 

[lw395]

We thought about it for a while, then decided to just use all the water from the boat's tanks, plus a couple of 25 litre drums we had kicking around.
For one thing, the idea is to fresh waterrinse so it dries quicker than salt and you can slap the paint on.
I think pressure washers are over rated anyway, boys' toys? It's often quicker to just hit the hull with plastic scrapers and wet'n'dry.
A low pressure rinse pump can be helpful....

 

[[70521]]

Yes, I strongly suspect you're correct in this statement, but I was wondering whether anybody had any actual experience of running something like this with sea water......

The club that I am a member of has a power washer we ONLY use fresh water in it.

 

[mickywillis]

Just a quick verdict.
Have used the pressure washer today to blast the hull off our Griffon.
From start to finish took about 2 hours. This was start/stop pressure washing, in between scraping crusty barnacles off with scraper.
Using the 40 degree angle spraytip, a strip of about 50mm wide was easily achieved.
With the lesser angle, too much pressure was causing the antifoul to come off the epoxy coating! A bit too powerful if used with anything under the 30 degree spraytip, so be careful if using on painted surfaces.
The washer used about 2 1/2 Ltrs of petrol and performed faultlessly.
However it is a little bit noisy, especially when it was located between the boats in the compound, the sound seemed to bounce and reverberate off the other boats hulls.May look into an add on silencer for the future?
Used off the tap with freshwater, not saltwater.
Can honestly say that this is a cracking pressure washer for the price.
Need to try it on the car now with detergent through to see how it copes with car washing.