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.

SS wrote:
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

On Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:00:41 +0100, Bob Minchin wrote:

Would the £50 - £60 range be sufficient for the above?
Karcher or Nilfisk seem to be the most popular in this price
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 £99 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.

Ideally by what bits you need at the outset eg patio cleaning head.

I've not got on with that but it may depend on how algae encrusted
you patio is. Ours was pretty bad.

You might need and extra long pressure hose for your roof cleaning
plans;

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.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Thu, 28 Jul 2011 10:56:02 +0100, SS wrote:

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.


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.

--
Rod

"polygonum" wrote in message
news On Thu, 28 Jul 2011 10:56:02 +0100, SS wrote:

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.


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.

--
Rod

Thanks for the comments, The Nilfisk is in argos at £51 so will go with
that.
The roof wont be a problem,
A. I wont be doing it my son will.
B. We have a sunroom extension on ground floor with sloping roof and from
that roof its only about 6 feet onto the main one, He is used to going on
roofs so will just take the washer up there and use a hose and elec
extension. The roof is not a steep angle and easily walkable on it. (for
him, not me), I cant do ladders above 10 feet.

On 28/07/2011 20:55, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:00:41 +0100, Bob Minchin wrote:

Would the £50 - £60 range be sufficient for the above?
Karcher or Nilfisk seem to be the most popular in this price
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 £99 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.

Ideally by what bits you need at the outset eg patio cleaning head.

I've not got on with that but it may depend on how algae encrusted
you patio is. Ours was pretty bad.

You might need and extra long pressure hose for your roof cleaning
plans;

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.

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.



--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk