Karcher K5 Compact Pressure Washer Review after 2 years ownership!!

this is karcher's key five compact pressure washer I've had it nearly two years now so it's about time I'll let you know what it's all about and how it can be improved for a better user experience all this and more coming up on [Music] two years ago I upgraded to the character K5 machine from my trustee K4 fill control which served me well for around five years at the time I was thinking about some mobile value and then my spare time and the K4 was just too big to fit in the boot along with all my other valet and gear so a more compact machine would definitely be an advantage in this video I'll be mainly covering what I use it for which is car cleaning but I'll also see with this light cleaning some Paving slabs so if you were thinking of buying one I hope this is of interest to you it's not a paid promotion by Karcher I bought this machine myself and the review is based on my own experience using the machine over the last two years so let's get it connected to the water supply and hold here for a second I'm using a Karcher branded hose attachment with aqua stop personally I've never had a problem using one but some pressure washer manufacturers don't recommend them due to the back pressure but the Karcher one is actually recommended for use with the K5 compact on the character website so I'll carry on it is important with any of the compact machines that you connect the hose and the gun attachment before you connect up the water supply or you'll get a face full of water as I've done on quite a few occasions K5 compact comes with a whopping 8 meters of Hose the pity is still the same thermoplastic tape that comes with most of the machines in the home range but at least it's a good length the Quick Connect attachment of the same each end so it's easy to connect the gun with a reassuring click and the yellow button can be pressed to release it again so it's only now that you can connect the hose and pull the trigger to allow the water to clear any air pockets trapped in the hose foreign Pockets can cause excessive pressure and could either damage the water pump in the pressure washer or the actual gun itself the K5 compact comes with two different wash lances which can be stored in the back of the machine when you're not using it this is the one you'll use for cleaning most things like your car or the patio furniture is called the vario Lance you can twist the end for more or less pressure [Music] the hose that comes supplied by the machine although fantastic it being eight meters but it's just too rigid and plasticky it easily Kinks up and becomes a real trip Hazard if you work around your car and the hose gets coiled up and it can also coil up behind you as you walk forward sometimes making contact with the car which could lead to a small scratch as you can see I've never used this hose until now in this demonstration I'll show you an alternative better quality rubber hose later on in the video which for me just works so much better than the supplied one you can either store your power cable around the front or the hose but the space won't accommodate both and I don't usually use the supplied hose so it's nice and neat to have the power cord wrapped around the front I'll just demonstrate the different Power flow options with the machine soft water flow allows you to either add shampoo via the integrated straw with the filter which I'll show you later on in the video or turned all the way to maximum which will pressurize the flow now if you're interested in using the K5 for car cleaning this soft flow will not give you snow foam it could be used for adding a pre-wash chemical to help soften the dirt but if you want snow foam then you'll be better buying a snow foam lens which can easily connect to the character gun I'm not a fan of the plastic Karcher snow foam lenses personally although they do the job there's better tools for that job available and I'll be showing you one a little later on in the video as I said earlier you get two lances with the K5 compact this video nozzle I just demonstrated on the car and also this dirt Blaster lens which uses a very clever cyclonic system to rotate the flow of water which vastly increase the cleaning power but do not use that one on your car thank you can see the water pattern as a conical Cyclone which increases the cleaning power of up to 50 percent and really makes light work of cleaning this pavement slab if you want to use some kind of detergent for cleaning wood decking slabs brickwork or cabin furniture for instance then the integrated pickup tube Works incredibly well and it's just so simple with its built-in filter just pop the straw directly into the detergent bottle and set the lens onto the soft setting and the detergent will be drawn through the machine and out of the lens uh once you've soaked the area you're cleaning turn the lens back to the hard position and although it looks like it's using a lot more detergent it's not drawn any more out of the bottle it's only the chemical that's already been sucked into the pressure washer and will clear in a few seconds a bit like a DIY car wash machine but as you can see even with detergent and the standard video lens it's hardly having any effect cleaning the slabs versus the dirt Blaster ones that didn't use any chemicals cleaning the car is probably where you're going to use the K5 compact most and to help with that you're probably going to want to use snow foam as it's become the trend for so many people since everyone was locked up in their homes during the covered lockdown this is just one of many snowfall lances that you can easily pick up in Halfords or Amazon and I've chosen to show you this one as it's the only lands that I've got with the Karcher adapter I'll come to what I use a little bit later on this lens has a quick connect fitting on it and it won't connect to a Karcher gun without this adapter there are many Brands who make these lances and will supply a Karcher adapter when you order it so you've got lots to choose from but for the purposes of showing you how to use the K5 compact applying snow foam I'm using the auto glim polar Blaster which is a good lens if a little pricey in my opinion but moving along Auto glim polar blast snow foam has been used at a dilution of 100 milliliters of product to 400 milliliters of warm water the warm water just helps the chemical mix better and provide a better foam I always lose that jog every time so that's us now ready to foam this is the bet I realize it's probably better to fit the character adapter into the character lens and then connect them using the Quick Connect fitting that would make more sense but I got there in the end a snow foam lens will have a dilution dial on the top which either draws more product up meaning a thicker foam or more air meaning a wetter thinner foam I'm going all out for the thickest setting here but this will mean the solution you have in the bottle won't last as long now for the fun bit foam in your car a couple of tips here use a wide fan that's the front nozzle on the snow foam lens and try and avoid layering the snow foam on top of itself you want a nice clean sweep along the side of the car now we start from the bottom half because that's the dirtiest area I went wetting with the foam first [Music] thank you [Music] so while I'm off trying to take full advantage of the 8 meter hose the hose has other ideas and how did they get in this state it really is a nightmare character if you're watching this please for the sake of all our sanity please provide a rubber hose and not this plastic crap foreign off the foam and back with the variable lands on the hard setting I want to take full advantage of the 500 liters per hour flow rate here and flush off as much dirt and debris as the foam has managed to soften is this flow rate that attracted me to the K5 in particular is an increase of around 80 liters per hour from the K4 and this helps rinse Products off quicker with its higher flow rate and that's something of a saving from other brands cost nearly double with the K5 compact course to achieve the same water flow rate and car cleaning is not the maximum bar pressure you need but a much quicker flow rate will help clean the car quicker so how can it be improved first the standard Karcher gun is ideal for pressure washing Garden items but for cleaning cars it's not ideal I've replaced my Karcher hose with a reinforced rubber hose which comes supplied with the Karcher connections so it's a direct Swap and I've also changed my gun for a more professional MTM sgs-35 with a swivel attachment if that doesn't mean anything to you I'll put all the information that you need in the description it's not cheap but with what I believe are thicker pipes and completely stainless steel inside the gun there's less restriction of the water flow meaning you actually get a much better experience using the combination of the two you do also have to have the correct orifice size nozzles if you already have a set you bought a while ago for a lower pressure machine then you'll need to upgrade the nozzles for the correct size I'll put all that information in the description also check that out at your leisure changing the hose in the K5 compact is a lot easier than it was on the K4 fill control no fiddling about with tiny Clips here but you will have to switch off the machine and depressurize it before you can get the old hose off [Music] is simply a case of connecting up the new hose to the capture adapters and reconnecting the water supply leaving the machine switched off for now pull the trigger and let the water run through that just lets any air Escape out of your new hose [Music] one of the reasons I went for the MTM gun was how neat the connections were to including that swivel attachment some awful examples on eBay look horrendous with loads of connectors joined together and just didn't look good to me and I have no doubt it would affect the balance of the gun when it's in operation too now the MTM gun was the one I wanted it's got an easy peel trigger so less fatigue holding it open all stainless steel throughout and the swivel operates perfectly so if you choose to go the same route as me I'll put all those links to all the upgrades and everything used in the video in the description if you want to check them out the biggest benefit we're having a heavier rubber hose is clearly shown here in this split screen the rubber hose unfolds easier stays flatter and less chance of kinking a main consideration with any pressure washer is its reliability and I certainly did have an issue with the machine within the first two years warranty it's ready pulsing now usually this means it's got an airlock and it easily solved by running water through it while it's switched off but this didn't work so I contacted Karcher service and they were quick to email back with a list of things to check one of which was the rubber O-rings on the end of the hose which I never considered especially as it was leaking from underneath surely it's an internal part that's going so I swapped the hose enemy for the original brand new one that came with the machine switched it back on and that was that all it was was the consumable rubber o-ring needing changed and it was okay again and it's been perfect ever since that's about it for this review on the Karcher K5 compact a question I get asked a lot is which would you choose between the K4 and the K5 but I've already done the review on the K4 if you haven't already seen it I'll put that link up above and in the description and it's quite a difficult question both have the same water cooled motor both have the same two years guarantee unless you buy it from Karcher direct then you get an extra year which is a bit unfair in my opinion as buying direct is often the most expensive but my answer really comes down to budget if you see a K5 compact under 200 pounds snap it up but if you've only got 200 pounds to spend then the K4 compact will serve you well you'll never notice the difference if you upgrade the hose in the gun so go in the other way with the new upgrade from the K5 to the K7 compact nope definitely not this K5 suits me fine just now it's perfect for my needs and I hope to get many years use out of it and with that I'll end the video there Please Subscribe if you want to see more videos like this from GM details and there's also a fantastic Facebook detail and discussion group you can join and share your own experiences or lurk around and learn of some of the more experienced members as a group for all levels of ability and you're all welcome to join I'll put that link to the group in the description so until next time cheetah bye [Music] foreign

Channel: GM Details

Views: 63,905

Keywords: Karcher, K5, K5 Compact, domestic pressure washer, Kärcher pressure washer, karcher K5 review, power washer, car cleaning pressure washer, choosing the right karcher, getting started with Karcher, Ava pressure washers, Ava of Norway

Id: wpbVM6aarpk

Length: 15min 20sec (920 seconds)

Published: Fri May 26 2023