Which pressure washer ?

Seajet

Seajet

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Wasn't sure whether to ask on the Lounge or here, but as it's for cleaning my boat...

We had an Alto unit which worked well for years, but I think a few goes cleaning ex-SWMBO's large garden paths finally proved too much.

It seems tricky finding reviews on pressure washers without joining ' Which ', so what does the team think please ?

What I did see about Vax units - and experience of owning one of their vacuum cleaners - put the mockers on that.

Looking to pay around £150ish, to be used every autumn cleaning the weed & barnacles off the boat's bottom, and general use cleaning a medium size patio, so fairly infrequently but needs to be reasonably powerful for the boat ( yes the club is happy for people to use them ).

Thanks in advance,

Andy
 
Seajet said:
Wasn't sure whether to ask on the Lounge or here, but as it's for cleaning my boat...

We had an Alto unit which worked well for years, but I think a few goes cleaning ex-SWMBO's large garden paths finally proved too much.

It seems tricky finding reviews on pressure washers without joining ' Which ', so what does the team think please ?

What I did see about Vax units - and experience of owning one of their vacuum cleaners - put the mockers on that.

Looking to pay around £150ish, to be used every autumn cleaning the weed & barnacles off the boat's bottom, and general use cleaning a medium size patio, so fairly infrequently but needs to be reasonably powerful for the boat ( yes the club is happy for people to use them ).

Thanks in advance,

Andy
Click to expand...

Pumping capacity ( litres per minute or whatever) is probably as important, if not more so, than pressure otherwise it's like antifouling the hull with a 1/2" paintbrush, but you probably realise that from past experiences.

I have small cheap one, nothing to lose if its no good, sort of purchase ... Its no good. The pressure is adequate but the volume of water it too small for large jobs
 
I would not fiddle faddle around with small cheap ones.

For the same money as a dinky new one, you could get a man-sized reconditioned blaster.


Our local company is very very good at selling recond units, and a good warranty with them.

http://www.pressurewasherssw.co.uk/


My PW from them is now at least 10 years in my possession and heavy farm use. I have had to replace the capacitors once and the nozzle once.
 
sarabande said:
I would not fiddle faddle around with small cheap ones.

For the same money as a dinky new one, you could get a man-sized reconditioned blaster.


Our local company is very very good at selling recond units, and a good warranty with them.

http://www.pressurewasherssw.co.uk/


My PW from them is now at least 10 years in my possession and heavy farm use. I have had to replace the capacitors once and the nozzle once.
Click to expand...

Yep, agree. You can't beat the proper tools. Trolly based petrol job proper lance with different but fixed spray heads and 4000psi - makes the job soooo much easier as you can have a powerful wide jet and get the job done far quicker. Otherwise, you get a surgical mm2 point of water to get the force needed to shift anything.
 
I have 2 Karchers, a petrol driven one at home and a small 230v one on the boat. Small one good for deck cleaning but takes ages to blast the hull with the aid of a scraper in places, whereas the petrol one is far more powerful with higher water flow.
 
GrahamM376,

that's interesting, as the Alto - now Nilfisk - 230V one we had, which was probably about a £120 job at todays prices, was powerful enough to clean the slime and weed off the boat quite easily, no scraper involved, in a band roughly 6" wide, the lance a foot or two away; I don't remember the rating.

Any idea of the model or bar pressure rating of your electric Karcher please ?, as it sounds like I need at least the next model up if going Karcher !
 
It was an Alto Nilfisk 3650 X Tra we had before which was great and lasted years, the frustrating thing is I've just read what seems like most of the bloody internet and can't find the spec' of this old machine, to compare to the current ones !
 
Karcher have served me well. The second one broke down after six months and Karcher sent a new one by return without asking for the defective one to be returned.
 
Seajet said:
Thanks folks, please keep 'em coming !
Click to expand...

A fellow member of my gliding club, who sold these things for a living, always recommended Kärcher, who also made them for Lidl, iirc, under a different name. I had a big cheapie which bust and now have a smallish Bosch which seems well made and is easily portable.
 
OK, only adding to the general suggestion of a Karcher but I had been put off the cheaper ones by reading on here (bizzarely) of them being plastic **** with plastic pistons, they froze in the winter and the only way to go was, oh, a Merlin engine or something of equal power.

I was therefore surprised to see that just about every boat in our French marina had one for blasting their decks and often the undersides too.

Having said that someone over there lent me theirs and it took forever to remove just slime ... the jet size was pathetic and it seemed to be like trying to paint a room using just an artists brush.

Go big.
 
Thanks all,

I've gone for an Alto Nilfisk 130, seems the best deal and I was impressed with the last one.

Looking at the various spec's and prices I get the idea Karcher have the big name as they advertise like mad on TV, but of course the price reflects that, when comparing like for like.

If the Nilfisk blows my eyebrows off and bores clean through both sides of the hull, I'll just keep quiet about it.

Ta,

Andy
 
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