Our second task as Karcher Ambassadors was to test out and review the Karcher K4 Compact Pressure Washer.
With the pressure washer you receive various accessories for cleaning different items. These include a detergent suction hose, perfect for washing the car or using detergent to wash down patios and driveways; a vario power spray lance so that you can control how powerful the water pressure is depending on the item you are cleaning; a dirt blaster for cleaning those really dirty items; and a T-250 'T Racer' for cleaning patios and other paved surfaces (complete with detergent).
The pressure washer is very easy to put together (even I can do it!). The instructions, as with all of these things, aren't that clear, however, it is pretty self explanatory and Big Mr A managed to put it altogether very quickly.
Once you have attached the hose and the lance to the pressure washer you simply turn on your water supply then turn the dial on the washer to the on position. You can then press the trigger on the 'gun' and the washer will start.
The wheels on the washer unit make it very easy to transport and move around and, as it is quite a heavy machine, I found these very useful for manoeuvring.
The electric cable is a good length as are the hose and poles and we had no trouble extending the washer from the back garden around to the front of the house to wash the front windows and door down.
The first thing we decided to try the pressure washer on was Big Mr A's car. It hadn't been washed for quite sometime and was in need of some TLC! We were very impressed how much dirt was shifted in a short time. We washed down the entire car in a matter of minutes and gave the wheels a good blast too. Although not perfect as we need some detergent and car accessories to really get a good clean, the pressure washer was really good at removing the surface dirt and, done regularly, will really help to keep on top of the car cleaning.
Next we decided to try it out on the driveway down by the side of the house where the moss had built up. This is where we really got to see the pressure washer at it's best! The moss was removed really easily with a quick blast and it tidied up the side of the house perfectly. We were incredibly impressed how easy and quick it was to make such a huge difference. I would advise you stand as far back as you can whilst doing this, I got quite a lot of mud splats on myself but I was getting quite carried away!
Next we tried out the T-Racer on an oil patch on the driveway with some of the detergent. To apply the detergent you have to do this using the main vario power lance before attaching the racer to scrub the detergent. Although the oil patch was not completely removed, it certainly gave it a good clean and looks a lot better than it did previously.
We also tried out the pressure washer on the window and door frames as these were looking quite dirty from all of the rain we have had this winter. Because of the long hoses it was easy to reach up to the top window frames and they certainly looked a lot cleaner after a good wash down with very minimal effort.
The job the pressure washer really impressed me with was cleaning the patio/pavement in our back garden. I hadn't realised how dirty they were until I started cleaning them! For this job I used the dirt blaster attachment and the dirt just came away! It was really quite addictive and I will definitely be doing it a lot more regularly now. You can see how well it cleaned the pavement in our short video below!
The last task I set the pressure washer was to clean up a sand/water table that had been sitting out in the garden all winter. I had been tempted to take it to the tip it was so filthy, however, I decided to try a pressure wash first to see if I could get it clean. You will see from the pictures below that it did a great job! It was almost as good as new once I had finished and the table has now been reinstated to the garden, much to Little Miss A's delight!
Overall both Big Mr A and myself are incredibly impressed with the washer. We have had a cheap pressure washer in the past but it was nowhere near as good as this Karcher washer. I am really pleased with how many different jobs you can do with the one machine and it is great to be able to get outside the house really clean with very little effort (and lots of enjoyment!).
To see the pressure washer in action you can check out our short video below...
Stay at Home Mum to two children - Little Mr A born in 2008 and Little Miss A born in 2012. Blogging my way through dirty nappies and school runs!
