Ferm pressure washers any good?
 

Tempted by the following offer:

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=24009

It's a Ferm Prime 100 Bar Pressure Washer with the following features:

a.. 1300W Induction Motor
a.. 2-Wheel Portable Trolley
a.. 6.25Ltr/min Flow Rate
a.. High Power Turbo Lance
a.. High Pressure Hose
a.. Detergent Bottle
a.. Car Brush

Just £40 .... very tempting ... Has anyone here any experience with this
brand of washer? I'd use it primarily for car washing, but also for the odd
jet blast of the patio to clean it up.




a

al wrote:
Tempted by the following offer:

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=24009

It's a Ferm Prime 100 Bar Pressure Washer with the following features:

a.. 1300W Induction Motor
a.. 2-Wheel Portable Trolley
a.. 6.25Ltr/min Flow Rate
a.. High Power Turbo Lance
a.. High Pressure Hose
a.. Detergent Bottle
a.. Car Brush

Just £40 .... very tempting ... Has anyone here any experience with this
brand of washer? I'd use it primarily for car washing, but also for the odd
jet blast of the patio to clean it up.


I don't have experience of Ferm pressure washers, but I have owned
several Ferm tools. On the whole, I think it's fair to say that the
quality sucks.

Consider spending an extra £40 and getting a Karcher. They are really nice.

--
Grunff

Hi

All cheapo HPC are crap basically, but induction motor for =A340? If
they are daft enough to give a three year warranty on it, tear their
arm off!

That's =A313:50 a year!

Forget car washing BTW. Unless you can access the correct chemical a
pressure washer won't clean car bodywork unless you agitate with a
sponge - it which case the HPC is just a rinse.

Dave

I recall some Karcher can have a failure mode around the pump
casing, it leaks, and is a design issue. So beware spending too
much assuming indestructable. That is many years back, and I
suspect that may have been limited to a particular model.

I would not use a pressure washer for a car.
o Pressure washers can remove decals, perhaps damage seals
---- they might also get under your wheel arch undercoating
o Steam cleaners are different beasts to pressure washers
---- main use is engine bays, then add dye to find leak sources

If you have tar etc:
o Use Zymol HD Cleanse - also good at removing oxidised paint
o Based mainly on various fruit oils, marked up accordingly

A Ferm pressure washer would be ok for doing paving 2x a year.
So if your usage is low I see no problem, although you can also
buy refurbished Karcher pressure washers - big ones £40-60.

Where Ferm is "usably" different to say a brand like Makita:
o Cordless drill
---- Makita has ultra low-speed yet good torque
---- Ferm is more a disposable garden shed / DIY assembly tool
o Pressure washer
---- it squirts water - opportunity for differentiation is less
---- top brands will last longer re duty cycle (like a big laser printer)
---- cheap brands may match your usage fine

Warranty is not indicative of life - you can do a design so cheap,
yet still price high enough that warranty issues are not a concern.

Part availability IS a difference between the power tool brands:
o Easy to get service on Hilti, Hitachi, Bosch, Makita, BDK/Dewalt etc
o Generic brands may have more difficult servicing arrangements

Might be worth checking the local power tool places, they often do
refurbished tools at "Ferm pricing", with a warranty & easy servicing.

Pressure washers are water squirters, you don't tend to drop them &
crack the casing half way through drilling a water pipe or mains cable.

Hozelock & others do brush/hose/shampoo combos, the shampoo is
good at stripping wax off and not much else. The brush is useful tho.
Doesn't trash painted woodwork, plants & such like a pressure washer.
--
Dorothy Bradbury

On Thu, 06 Jan 2005 17:40:18 GMT, "al"
wrote:

Tempted by the following offer:

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=24009

It's a Ferm Prime 100 Bar Pressure Washer with the following features:

a.. 1300W Induction Motor
a.. 2-Wheel Portable Trolley
a.. 6.25Ltr/min Flow Rate
a.. High Power Turbo Lance
a.. High Pressure Hose
a.. Detergent Bottle
a.. Car Brush

Just £40 .... very tempting ... Has anyone here any experience with this
brand of washer? I'd use it primarily for car washing, but also for the odd
jet blast of the patio to clean it up.

Hi,

Bought off this guy on Ebay in the past, the K110 is worth a look:

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQcatrefZC5QQfbdZ1QQfromZR6QQnojsprZyQQpfidZ0QQ sacategoryZQ2d1QQsacurrencyZ0QQsalocatedincountryZ 3QQsaslZredmarauderQQsaslopZ1QQsocolumnlayoutZ3QQs ofocusZbsQQsopostalZWC1BQ203DGQQsorecordsperpageZ5 0QQsosortorderZ1QQsosortpropertyZ1QQsotrtypeZ1QQso trvalueZ1

cheers,
Pete.

"Dave" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi

All cheapo HPC are crap basically, but induction motor for £40? If
they are daft enough to give a three year warranty on it, tear their
arm off!

That's £13:50 a year!

Forget car washing BTW. Unless you can access the correct chemical a
pressure washer won't clean car bodywork unless you agitate with a
sponge - it which case the HPC is just a rinse.


I know. Even with chemicals down at a petrol station, you don't get it
clean without a brush. The simple fact is that my mains pressure isn't
really up to much in terms of powering one of those normal hosepipe carwash
brush gizmo's and having something that can power a brush adequately (if
it's not pushing lots of water through, the dirt is staying put and
therefore scouring the paintwork).

Normally I soak the car, wash it down with a hot sponge & shampoo, then soak
it again and dry it (wax it if feeling highly energetic!). It's a real
chore though ... powered brushes are so much easier to use .. though I'm not
sure how well it will work in comparison with cold water.



a

"Pete C" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Bought off this guy on Ebay in the past, the K110 is worth a look:

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQcatrefZC5QQfbdZ1QQfromZR6QQnojsprZyQQpfidZ0QQ sacategoryZQ2d1QQsacurrencyZ0QQsalocatedincountryZ 3QQsaslZredmarauderQQsaslopZ1QQsocolumnlayoutZ3QQs ofocusZbsQQsopostalZWC1BQ203DGQQsorecordsperpageZ5 0QQsosortorderZ1QQsosortpropertyZ1QQsotrtypeZ1QQso trvalueZ1


Seems to be £55 unused there. An extra £15 is quite tempting. Hard to find
that model in retail outlets though - is it an old one or just a bit
obscure?



a

K110 has a brush motor, expected life 10-12 hours, go for induction.
Dave

K110 has a brush motor, expected life 10-12 hours, go for induction.
Dave

I know. Even with chemicals down at a petrol station, you don't
get it
clean without a brush.

What you need is a special chemical called Traffic Film Remover and
ideally soft water. The forecourt machines use low concentration TFR
and should have softened water, but because the staff are too
mean/thick/lazy to top up the salt level it doesnt happen.
TRF is powerful stuff and usually only available to the trade.

Dave

On Thu, 06 Jan 2005 23:41:47 GMT, "al"
wrote:

"Pete C" wrote in message
.. .
Hi,

Bought off this guy on Ebay in the past, the K110 is worth a look:

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQcatrefZC5QQfbdZ1QQfromZR6QQnojsprZyQQpfidZ0QQ sacategoryZQ2d1QQsacurrencyZ0QQsalocatedincountryZ 3QQsaslZredmarauderQQsaslopZ1QQsocolumnlayoutZ3QQs ofocusZbsQQsopostalZWC1BQ203DGQQsorecordsperpageZ5 0QQsosortorderZ1QQsosortpropertyZ1QQsotrtypeZ1QQso trvalueZ1


Seems to be £55 unused there. An extra £15 is quite tempting. Hard to find
that model in retail outlets though - is it an old one or just a bit
obscure?

Hi,

Bit of both I'd expect. A few other things to consider:

- Does the Ferm come with 1 or 3 yr guarentee?
- Do the cheaper pressure washers take the same attachments as a
Karcher?
- Screwfix might drop the price of the Ferm at some point
- Rotary brushes can be had for £15ish off Ebay

cheers,
Pete.