Pressure washer from a bucket? Any experience?

langdang

Hi guys,
Moving house soon, won't have access to an outside tap but will have access to mains electricity. While I wouldn't be the type to frequent the detailing thread, I do like to hand wash and wax my own car.

So, has anyone used a Karcher or whatever from a bucket?
Does it work OK?
How big a bucket would you need for average car with average Irish country road dirt?

Any recommendations of a budget power washer that can work from a bucket?Had considered a one of the Nomad mobile 12V yokes but seeing as I do have access to mains, a normal power washer might be a better long term option.

MugMugs

Is running a hose from your abode out a window and to to the karcher an option ? You'd need a large barrel without having to keep refilling it all the time. I've to run a hose from the kitchen through the house and out the letter box

langdang

MugMugs wrote: »

Is running a hose from your abode out a window and to to the karcher an option ? You'd need a large barrel without having to keep refilling it all the time. I've to run a hose from the kitchen through the house and out the letter box

It's an option, if there was tiles or laminate floor or lino in the hall I could go that route, but it's carpet and it's not my carpet.
Also, I'm not a great fan of the connection you get to domestic indoors taps and as it's a rental I rather avoid tapping off an existing pipe to add a garden type tap with a screw in hose attachment. How do you attach your hose to the tap in the kitchen?

Randy longhorn is gonna be around any minute now isn't he?

Owen

Hozelock do a kitchen tap fitting. I have and use one, it's brilliant. Got mine in Halfords. This one :

http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_166421_langId_-1_categoryId_212611

MugMugs

I suppose I'm blessed with respect to my flooring being tiled. In saying that, a plastic cover under the hose could work.

I use a hozelock kitchen sink attachment. Never had any issues with it and its never come loose. In saying that, discharge the pressure from the hose before releasing the attachment when finished.

langdang

Cool, thanks. Things have advanced so! All I could think of was the leaky jubilee clip yokes from my childhood. Always had the potential to drop off, or separate from the hose as soon as you were at the other end of the garden...

Maybe a few offcuts of carpet so to kept the landlords carpet clean...

Wossack

Owen wrote: »

Hozelock do a kitchen tap fitting. I have and use one, it's brilliant. Got mine in Halfords. This one :

http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_166421_langId_-1_categoryId_212611

yea Ive one, but it doesnt make a great connection to my tap unfortunately, YMMV though

MugMugs

Wossack wrote: »

yea Ive one, but it doesnt make a great connection to my tap unfortunately, YMMV though

They come with an abundance of washers to suit different types of taps.

Owen

There's 3 different washers included with it to make sure it has a watertight seal to your tap. And the washers are uni directional, I've seen people put them in backwards and wonder why the water isn't working.

Wossack

MugMugs wrote: »

They come with an abundance of washers to suit different types of taps.

yea even still, fair bit of leaking. I think its the top of the tap not being flat (curved, and sloped), causing there not to be a positive seal on the outlet side

worked around it anyway, by putting a short coil in the sink before connecting it to the hose reel. Any dribbles from the connector just go down the sink then, instead of running along the hose, onto the floor.