Advice on pressure washers

[Guderian]

I want to buy a pressure washer. This will mainly be used to clean the walls and pathways around the house when they become marked. It's a modest bungalow, not a huge mansion, though the boundary walls have all been finished with decorative brickwork which gets stained by black algae in places as a result of dripping rainwater during the rainy season. This brickwork on the boundary walls is the biggest part of the work. I only anticipate doing it once a year at most, though cleaning the pathways and patio may be more regular.

A Thai friend lent me his pressure washer, an Imperial Airman machine as pictured:

This is a cheap machine costing around 3500 Baht which worked a treat and seems quite popular with Thai workers (the guy who cleans my air con units uses one too). My only reservation is that I have never heard of this brand so I don't know how long I can expect it to last. Does anyone have any experience with this make?

The alternative is to go for a well-known make such as Karcher, but they tend to be much more expensive. Home Works here has a promotion on Zinsano pressure washers from Italy at the moment, are they reliable and long-lived? This looks like it would do the trick and is on offer at something just over 4000 Baht:

The home-scale washers seem to come in roughly three sizes, 100 Bar, 110 Bar and 120 or 130 Bar. The flow rate gradually increases as the pressure gets higher, but the price also goes up at a surprising rate for the more powerful washers. For the kind of job that I want to do, which isn't industrial scale or being done regularly, would the small 100 bar washers be sufficient or do I need a bit more muscle? I'm not certain, but I think the Imperial Airman I tried out was rated at 110 Bar and that certainly did the trick.

Home Works also has a small 100 Bar Karcher machine on offer at less than 3000 Baht, but my feeling is that it's just too dinky for what I want. It's something like this one:

As I said, the job isn't industrial scale but it's not nothing either. Last dry season working for 1 to 2 hours a day it took me a week to do all the walls. This machine looks like it would be fine for washing a car or bike but it may be too small for what I want.

Does anyone have any general advice what I should be looking for? Is it worth paying extra for the famous makes or not? How long can you expect a pressure washer to last if you are only using it a few times a year? Thanks for any help and insights.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Guderian

[rizla]

The common mistake when buying a pressure washer is going for the highest pressure ......its not high pressure you need it is the Best flow you can get, as all have enough pressure but most have low flow which only give a small jet spray which takes forever to do large areas...

[Guderian]

The common mistake when buying a pressure washer is going for the highest pressure ......its not high pressure you need it is the Best flow you can get, as all have enough pressure but most have low flow which only give a small jet spray which takes forever to do large areas...

Checking the Karcher and Zinsano catalogues the sort of size machines I am looking at deliver between 300 and 400 litres/hr. The higher the flow rate you want the higher the pressure rating, and so the cost goes up quickly. The Zinsano Arctic I posted the photo of above delivers 360 litres/hr at 120 Bar which sounds OK - what do you think?

The Imperial Airman had a fine flow rate but unfortunately I have no idea what it was.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Guderian

[WitawatWatawit]

Rizla is correct. My advice would be to check the distributor first and make sure it can be serviced here. I bought a Goldex many years ago - their top line model, and it worked brilliantly until it broke down just after the warranty expired (ain't that typical?). Couldn't find anyone to fix it. If anyone reading this has any ideas, I'd be grateful to hear from them.

All the best,

Wit

[IMHO]

The common mistake when buying a pressure washer is going for the highest pressure ......its not high pressure you need it is the Best flow you can get, as all have enough pressure but most have low flow which only give a small jet spray which takes forever to do large areas...

Checking the Karcher and Zinsano catalogues the sort of size machines I am looking at deliver between 300 and 400 litres/hr. The higher the flow rate you want the higher the pressure rating, and so the cost goes up quickly. The Zinsano Arctic I posted the photo of above delivers 360 litres/hr at 120 Bar which sounds OK - what do you think?

The Imperial Airman had a fine flow rate but unfortunately I have no idea what it was.

360L/hour is decent, and 100 bar+ is enough to do the job, especially from Karcher or Zinsano who have trustworthy ratings. 600L/hr is awesome though

If there's not much difference in price, I would recommend the Karcher simply because they have such a huge support base in Thailand- parts are readily available in-stock, and they also have a huge range of accessories.

For prices, google for:

Krieng Thai Watana (Karcher distributor - ask for a price and you'll get lower then what's on their website)

Thai Washer Car Club - the for sale section there has several vendors selling Karcher and Zinsano at cheap prices.

[Guderian]

The common mistake when buying a pressure washer is going for the highest pressure ......its not high pressure you need it is the Best flow you can get, as all have enough pressure but most have low flow which only give a small jet spray which takes forever to do large areas...

Checking the Karcher and Zinsano catalogues the sort of size machines I am looking at deliver between 300 and 400 litres/hr. The higher the flow rate you want the higher the pressure rating, and so the cost goes up quickly. The Zinsano Arctic I posted the photo of above delivers 360 litres/hr at 120 Bar which sounds OK - what do you think?

The Imperial Airman had a fine flow rate but unfortunately I have no idea what it was.

360L/hour is decent, and 100 bar+ is enough to do the job, especially from Karcher or Zinsano who have trustworthy ratings. 600L/hr is awesome though

If there's not much difference in price, I would recommend the Karcher simply because they have such a huge support base in Thailand- parts are readily available in-stock, and they also have a huge range of accessories.

For prices, google for:

Krieng Thai Watana (Karcher distributor - ask for a price and you'll get lower then what's on their website)

Thai Washer Car Club - the for sale section there has several vendors selling Karcher and Zinsano at cheap prices.

Thanks for that. The small cheap Karcher I mentioned only delivers 300 litres/hr at 100 bar. Do you think that would be adequate?

[ignis]

Myself Bought a Bosch, Aquautak 10... 300 L/hour and 100 bar, in December 2011, good price 2,400 baht... I think it is very good and use it 3 to 4 times a weeks, so gets well used........... both car and truck, all the patio's and drive way, all the Fish filters, all the dog things [ have 8 dogs and over 300 Koi Fish] + use for cleanings all the Fans every week, and many other items.

I do wonder how I managed before, so the 2011 floods did do some good.

Edit:

The small cheap Karcher I mentioned only delivers 300 litres/hr at 100 bar. Do you think that would be adequate?

YES

Edited August 5, 2013 by ignis

[IMHO]

The common mistake when buying a pressure washer is going for the highest pressure ......its not high pressure you need it is the Best flow you can get, as all have enough pressure but most have low flow which only give a small jet spray which takes forever to do large areas...

Checking the Karcher and Zinsano catalogues the sort of size machines I am looking at deliver between 300 and 400 litres/hr. The higher the flow rate you want the higher the pressure rating, and so the cost goes up quickly. The Zinsano Arctic I posted the photo of above delivers 360 litres/hr at 120 Bar which sounds OK - what do you think?

The Imperial Airman had a fine flow rate but unfortunately I have no idea what it was.

360L/hour is decent, and 100 bar+ is enough to do the job, especially from Karcher or Zinsano who have trustworthy ratings. 600L/hr is awesome though

If there's not much difference in price, I would recommend the Karcher simply because they have such a huge support base in Thailand- parts are readily available in-stock, and they also have a huge range of accessories.

For prices, google for:

Krieng Thai Watana (Karcher distributor - ask for a price and you'll get lower then what's on their website)

Thai Washer Car Club - the for sale section there has several vendors selling Karcher and Zinsano at cheap prices.

Thanks for that. The small cheap Karcher I mentioned only delivers 300 litres/hr at 100 bar. Do you think that would be adequate?

Higher L/hr just means you're cleaning more area in each sweep of the lance..

For example, a reasonably blackened cement / sandwash driveway can be effectively cleaned in one sweep with a spray width of ~10CM @ 600L/hr (about 30-45 seconds to clean 1 sqm).. at 300L/hr (and slightly less bar) your spray width is going to be 3-4cm wide to achieve the same sort of cleaning power.

If you're not having to clean huge areas, 300L/hr and 100 bar will be fine..

In my latest house I have 400sqm of sandwash to clean every month or so (deep clean every 6 months or so), and 3 cars to clean every week, so spent the money for a 600L/hr machine. No way would I spend that if I was only cleaning 50sqm and 1 or 2 cars though.

Word of caution: don't spend too much time looking at the Karcher accessories list or all the sudden your workshop will be full of extra attachments you've convinced yourself you'll need one day

Edited August 5, 2013 by IMHO

[WitawatWatawit]

Hi Guderian. I just found the manual to my Goldex mentioned above. Can't remember what I paid for it, but it was expensive (an expensive piece of junk, right now - lol). The stats are: working pressure 110 bar, max pressure 200 bar, working flow rate 360 l/hr, max pressure water supply 4 bar, weight 19kg, dimensions 82x30x40cm. When it was in operation it was excellent - more than I really needed - if that's of any help to you. It made short work of my concrete drive, walls etc - and was great for spraying my plants and lawn.

Still trying to find someone in Pattaya to fix it.

Cheers

Wit

[IMHO]

Hi Guderian. I just found the manual to my Goldex mentioned above. Can't remember what I paid for it, but it was expensive (an expensive piece of junk, right now - lol). The stats are: working pressure 110 bar, max pressure 200 bar, working flow rate 360 l/hr, max pressure water supply 4 bar, weight 19kg, dimensions 82x30x40cm. When it was in operation it was excellent - more than I really needed - if that's of any help to you. It made short work of my concrete drive, walls etc - and was great for spraying my plants and lawn.

Still trying to find someone in Pattaya to fix it.

Cheers

Wit

It's not dark blue at the bottom and black and the top (a bit like the Zinsano but more round), and bought at Makro by any chance? If so, it sounds awfully like my first pressure washer, which burnt a motor one day after the 6 month warranty expired. Before it did that, it blew holes in 2 high pressure hoses though

In the end I got the motor rewound, but I still had the problem that the only high pressure hoses that would fit it were crap and lasted only a few weeks each (@ 400B ea).

It's the machine that drove me into spending more money for a quality unit.. I ended up giving it away (with blown hose #6) when I got my first Karcher. Now on #3 Karcher (and #3 house) and have never had a problem with literally hundreds of hours on each of them.

[WitawatWatawit]

"It's not dark blue at the bottom and black and the top (a bit like the Zinsano but more round), and bought at Makro by any chance?"

That's the one.

I hope you'll forgive my ignorance, but I was under the impression that something was wrong inside the body to cause the hoses to burst. That is what I wanted fixed. Phew, I really need to get out more. Ok, so do you have any recommendations on the hoses? I really don't want to buy another one - if I can fix this one, then fine, but if not, I'll go for a smaller, cheaper unit as per your suggestion. Many thanks IMHO.

[keemapoot]

On a somewhat related topic, I'd like to buy a wet suction vac for cleaning my car interiors. Any suggestions?

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[IMHO]

"It's not dark blue at the bottom and black and the top (a bit like the Zinsano but more round), and bought at Makro by any chance?"

That's the one.

I hope you'll forgive my ignorance, but I was under the impression that something was wrong inside the body to cause the hoses to burst. That is what I wanted fixed. Phew, I really need to get out more. Ok, so do you have any recommendations on the hoses? I really don't want to buy another one - if I can fix this one, then fine, but if not, I'll go for a smaller, cheaper unit as per your suggestion. Many thanks IMHO.

The first couple of replacement hoses I was able to buy from the salesrep at Makro - he had a little sideline business going on them, but his were arguably even worse than the one that came with it.. The next 3 I bought from shophouse mower/trimmer style vendors - they were marginally better, but still ended up blowing out after 12 or so weeks of regular use.

If you're really keen on keeping it, your best bet will be to try an find a hydraulics servicing/repair place I guess... or just buy another 400B hose, sell it, and buy something new

[IMHO]

On a somewhat related topic, I'd like to buy a wet suction vac for cleaning my car interiors. Any suggestions?

Sent from my GT-N5100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I'm also in the market - I've had a cheap Astina wet & dry vac I've been using for the past 12 years or so, but the hose is so gone now it's almost all duct-tape.. and the model isn't sold anymore

There's a Karcher model I'm semi-interested in, but at 15K Baht it just seems a bit too much to spend - especially when the same thing sells in Western countries for around 5-6K Baht.

Open to anyone with positive experiences to share

[transam]

I thought it was the pressure that did the job providing the water supply was sufficient.

[IMHO]

I thought it was the pressure that did the job providing the water supply was sufficient.

If you only turn on your garden hose half way, you'll still get close to max pressure (put your thumb over it and you can still make it squirt pretty far), but it has a much lower flow rate, so not as effective as being fully on.

Same concept applies to pressure washers

[transam]

I thought it was the pressure that did the job providing the water supply was sufficient.

If you only turn on your garden hose half way, you'll still get close to max pressure (put your thumb over it and you can still make it squirt pretty far), but it has a much lower flow rate, so not as effective as being fully on.

Same concept applies to pressure washers

Hmmmm, thought if supply was there that the machine takes over to do the job, higher pressure better job. After all, folk drill holes in concrete with water.

[IMHO]

I thought it was the pressure that did the job providing the water supply was sufficient.

If you only turn on your garden hose half way, you'll still get close to max pressure (put your thumb over it and you can still make it squirt pretty far), but it has a much lower flow rate, so not as effective as being fully on.

Same concept applies to pressure washers

Hmmmm, thought if supply was there that the machine takes over to do the job, higher pressure better job. After all, folk drill holes in concrete with water.

OK think about this: 2000 PSI in a stream if water 2mm wide vs 2000 PSI in a stream of water 10cm wide. That's what we're talking about

[WitawatWatawit]

I thought it was the pressure that did the job providing the water supply was sufficient.

If you only turn on your garden hose half way, you'll still get close to max pressure (put your thumb over it and you can still make it squirt pretty far), but it has a much lower flow rate, so not as effective as being fully on.

Same concept applies to pressure washers

Hmmmm, thought if supply was there that the machine takes over to do the job, higher pressure better job. After all, folk drill holes in concrete with water.

OK think about this: 2000 PSI in a stream if water 2mm wide vs 2000 PSI in a stream of water 10cm wide. That's what we're talking about

Would punch a mean hole thru the neighbour's yappy mutt ... hmm, better not think about it.

[transam]

My point was if you have a 2cm hole in your gun at 200psi it will do a better job than 100psi through the same hole.

[ignis]

My point was if you have a 2cm hole in your gun at 200psi it will do a better job than 100psi through the same hole.

Yes a very good point.......... depends what you will need it for.......... for me have used a bigger one and is not for me, as makes holes in the Fish filters to easy, takes the cement/grout out of walls far to easy, does NOT clean the painted area's but blasts the paint off.

I even us it in the bathrooms, walls and floor, a smaller one is lighter and easier to use........ I used the big one from a Thai friend and was super for the clean up after the floods, I gave it back and went a bought a smaller one which is ideal for my use.

[Ace of Pop]

For Me its just ,"Another Good Idea at the Time". All i do is trip over the dam thing in the Garage.Used it once or twice,and got soaked from leaks.

[IMHO]

My point was if you have a 2cm hole in your gun at 200psi it will do a better job than 100psi through the same hole.

Yes a very good point.......... depends what you will need it for.......... for me have used a bigger one and is not for me, as makes holes in the Fish filters to easy, takes the cement/grout out of walls far to easy, does NOT clean the painted area's but blasts the paint off.

I even us it in the bathrooms, walls and floor, a smaller one is lighter and easier to use........ I used the big one from a Thai friend and was super for the clean up after the floods, I gave it back and went a bought a smaller one which is ideal for my use.

Yep, very good point.

One of the lances that came with my latest Karcher throws out a ~4mm wide stream - at 160 bar all it does is cut lines into cement though - I'm yet to find a surface it can clean and not destroy. Even the normal lance which throws out more of a fan will take off paint if you get much closer than about 5cm from the surface. Then there's the angle lance (designed for cleaning under cars) - that's one's so powerful that if you get within around 15cm of a tire it will leave a permanent mark in the rubber (somewhat scary).

All of this potential damage at just 160 bar, no way I'd want a real 200 bar unit. 100-120 bar would be a lot safer.

Edited August 6, 2013 by IMHO

[technologybytes]

Over the years I have bought about 3 of these, both in the UK and here in Thailand.

Honestly, just buy a Kacher, they are more expensive than the other brands but you can buy parts and get them repaired and they do work very well.

Whatever you do, never buy the cheap Chinese things that you see in Tesco/Big C.

[islandguy]

Pressure washers are something men love. Easy to get carried away, buy a powerhouse, and take away the paint (as a previous poster said he did). It seems the main point for you is how days (once a year) do you want to spend doing the wash job?

[biplanebluey]

The common mistake when buying a pressure washer is going for the highest pressure ......its not high pressure you need it is the Best flow you can get, as all have enough pressure but most have low flow which only give a small jet spray which takes forever to do large areas...

Bought a Karcher about 6 yrs--- use it once or twice a year on walls and use it on under car occasionally especially after rainy season.Never had any problems.Do not remember the price except Home Pro were doing it on "Special" and do not know anything about What pressure or flow rates and all that rubbish.but a reliable machine i9s worth a hell of a lot more than the 2week old one that sits in the corner of the garage cos it no work.------------ Now its up to you

[richardlg]

Lived on a farm for 4 years in Nong Bua Lamphu. The house had a covered concrete area on two sides that was forever getting stained and dirty. I bought soda (looked like baking soda) from a hardware shop in Ban Phu, just a few baht a bag. Wet the area first, sprinkled on a liberal amount of soda, worked it in with a long handled scrubbing brush and then used my 145 bar FASA power washer.

Mouldy concrete tank stands and walls I filled an empty Duck Toilet cleaner bottle (has a fine nozzle) with Haiter Bleach and water, once again very cheap. Squirted the Haiter on by squeezing the Duck bottle and let it run down the walls. After the mould was gone I never bothered to wash the walls because I figured the bleach would help prevent the mould coming back. Usually only had to do every 12 months.

[jpeg]

For Me its just ,"Another Good Idea at the Time". All i do is trip over the dam thing in the Garage.Used it once or twice,and got soaked from leaks.

I feel ya. Just do what I did after just three months, everything back to black. I'm growing a moss garden. Life far too short and all that.

[Guderian]

Thanks for the helpful replies.

It sounds like the small Karcher will do the job. I'll pop out to Home Works and see if it's still on offer. I think the price was around 2500 Baht.

As mentioned above a small unit also has the advantage that it's easier to store and handle. The Imperial Airman I tried out was quite heavy and bulky, and getting it into the far corners of the garden to clean the walls behind trees and bushes was a bit of a pain.

I was surprised to see how much they charge for the attachments in the Karcher catalogue. You can easily spend as much again as the washer cost. I'll stick with whatever comes with the machine and see if I need anything else.

[transam]

Thanks for the helpful replies.

It sounds like the small Karcher will do the job. I'll pop out to Home Works and see if it's still on offer. I think the price was around 2500 Baht.

As mentioned above a small unit also has the advantage that it's easier to store and handle. The Imperial Airman I tried out was quite heavy and bulky, and getting it into the far corners of the garden to clean the walls behind trees and bushes was a bit of a pain.

I was surprised to see how much they charge for the attachments in the Karcher catalogue. You can easily spend as much again as the washer cost. I'll stick with whatever comes with the machine and see if I need anything else.

I bought one of those and the ''wand'' split and blew my hat off.