I don't enjoy pressure washing but could the Kärcher K5 Comfort Premium change my mind? I gave it a try

Spring is when most households start cleaning up their homes ready for summer – but there is one job I tend to strongly dislike, and that is pressure washing.

I've found it often difficult to find all the parts when you first get it out of the garage, before ending up being a job that takes all day, leaves you soaking wet and filthy dirty.

So when I was offered the chance to try a fancy new pressure washer from Kärcher that claimed to be "comfortable", I must admit I was suspicious about whether it really could make this particular task less nasty. But after giving it a good look online, I decided to put it to the test.

The Kärcher K5 Comfort Premium, which was launched in January, certainly looked smart from all the promotional material online. With its black and yellow ergonomic look, five-year warranty and 145 bar of pressure, it seemed to have an edge compared to some of other best pressure washers in a similar high-end price bracket.

Unboxing

The box the pressure washer came in was substantial, but despite being heavy, I was able to move it myself from where the delivery man left it, using the plastic straps.

The bright, yellow box was smart and immediately identifiable as holding a Kärcher pressure washer. This was great in terms of visual appeal, but worth noting to be aware of perhaps not leaving a newly-delivered box unattended outside a property in any crime-prone areas. You wouldn't want your expensive new machine being stolen before having the chance to even use it.

When it came to unboxing, this was straightforward and I was especially impressed that there was very little plastic inside, just one sheet, plus the straps to hold the box together on the exterior. The pressure washer was thoughtfully cushioned with cardboard to avoid any damage in transit instead, with all the different parts wedged together so they didn't move around too much. The instruction manual was on top, and easy to find on opening.

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Ease of setting up

The Kärcher K5 Comfort Premium came with an instruction manual that was reasonably easy-to-follow from the diagrams, although it was a little unclear which part of the pressure washer to start constructing first, possibly because it didn't actually matter in what order it was put together. This took around 30 minutes.

Overall I found the assembly straight forward, with the only slightly fiddly bit being affixing the hose to the trigger gun, which is designed to be removable for storage. I didn't fully understand the need for the yellow pouch on the front, but suspect this might be to do with storing additional features that can be purchased.

I was especially impressed with the way the universal cleaner slotted straight into the machine ready for automatic dispersal through a specific setting on the rotating nozzle on the gun. I was looking forward to giving this a go.

First impressions

Once the Kärcher K5 Comfort Premium was fully constructed, I gave it a good look over before putting it to the test by cleaning my very dirty patio. It didn't fail to impress, being just as slick in person compared to how it looked online.

The build-quality was excellent – made from 25% recycled materials – with no sign of any flimsy parts, or anything that looked weak enough to break. The fixings were well oiled, and all the buttons had a nice firm feel to them as they were pressed. One thing to watch was the grey trigger on the gun did catch my skin once, which nipped a bit.

The product has been well thought out in its design. The grey hose can be removed from the trigger gun (although this took some fiddling around with to work out how), with a reel for tidying it away when not in use. Meanwhile, the trigger gun itself could be broken down into two sections with two holders on the front to slot them into when packed away.

My only slight surprise was how heavy the machine was at 13.8kg, making it rather cumbersome to lift over the gravel and steps in my garden, without bashing it into things accidentally. The handle on the top was useful for lifting, and any flat surfaces were easy to tackle as the K5 had a decent pair of wheels, and the ability to extend the handle to pull it or push it along.

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Ease of use

I had a very dirty patio to test the Kärcher K5 Comfort Premium on, but this pressure washer is suitable for all sorts of things, from cleaning decking, removing weeds from a patio or even washing your car on a lower setting.

You generally aren't advised to use pressure washers on some patios, due to the chance of too much force blowing any crumbling mortar or grout away, or even causing damage to the slabs themselves. However, we only laid this patio last year and it was a robust limestone, so I was fairly confident that the grout and slabs were in good shape.

Despite the slabs being fairly newly-laid, I was surprised by just how dirty they had become over winter, which was in part because we have lots of trees overhanging it, it is fairly low lying, and we have lots of animals unleashing their business on it (the dachshund and chickens being the worst offenders).

Wheeling out the Kärcher K5 for the pressure washing

I used an outdoor plug socket to plug in the K5, and was relieved to find that the cable had enough length (five metres) to not need a series of extension leads, as I have found with cheaper models in the past. The cable tidy on the machine was also well designed, enough to be able to undo just enough length for what I needed, rather than having to pull the whole lot off. This made it much easier to use.

I struggled to attach the trigger gun to the grey hose until I turned the electric supply off, which I don't know if that was a safety feature, or just me failing to put it together. I then connected my yellow garden hose water supply to the black hose pipe connector on the machine and turned the tap on. This is where I have ended up making myself soaking wet with cheap pressure washers in the past, and was thrilled to see that the connection held perfectly with the K5 Comfort Premium. My garden hose didn't ping off, or come loose to squirt water in my face.

Making a start on washing the patio

Finally, I was ready to give the pressure washer a go on the dirty patio.

I started with the lowest pressure washer setting – the "reduced pressure flat jet", selected by turning the nozzle on the end of the trigger gun. This wetted the patio but didn't really cut through the grime, not the fault of the pressure washer I might add, but it did show just how tough the dirt on the patio was going to be to remove.

Next, I gave the "rotary nozzle" a go, which is like a circle of water and I guess the best setting to use when you have a patio cleaning accessory brush attached, that can be purchased separately. This was a little more powerful than the previous setting, but again not quite powerful enough to lift the sludge and algae off.

Deploying the detergent

The next symbol on the nozzle had bubbles on it and was the detergent setting. After twisting it to the bubbles and hitting the trigger, the product automatically flowed out in a flat jet that wasn't too powerful, or too gentle.

This enabled me to easily and quickly cover the already wet patio slabs with the universal detergent, which I could tell worked well as you could smell the detergent.

It's worth noting that this universal detergent is included with the K5 Comfort Premium, but you can also buy specific detergents that fix to the pressure washer for stone, wood, and cars.

Using the high pressure setting

When I finally got to it, the high-power setting really was a beast, pumping out an impressive 145 bar of pressure in a flat jet, and whipping any dirt, algae and other nasties right off the stone. The grime came off quickly too, leaving a clear line between the cleaned and uncleaned areas. Afterwards, I switched to a lower pressure setting to wash the dirty water off the slabs and finish the job.

The hose pipe connector on the pressure washer held firm throughout, and I didn't get squirted in the face with water once throughout the job, which was a win.

I did have a bit of difficulty when I fully uncoiled the grey pressure washer hose from the reel, as it was a little stiff, making it tricky to straighten out. This meant it did tangle with my yellow garden hose water supply a little. That said, I have yet to find a pressure washer that doesn't do this. Importantly, the hose was very robust and well-made with a rubber-like texture, and therefore unlikely to ever split with normal use.

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Final thoughts

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My patio is fairly large, and cleaning it with the K5 Comfort Premium pressure washer was actually very speedy, taking an hour maximum to do the whole thing. It was sparkling clean too, with no damage – plus even the dog decided it was so clean she went off to the grass to do her business there instead.

As someone who does not enjoy pressure washing, I did find it surprisingly satisfying blasting the jet at the patio and making nice clean lines in the dirt as I went. And while you will still get a mild arm ache at holding the trigger gun, I did not get soaking wet and dirty for once (whoop), plus it was easy to pack away afterwards. I gave the K5 unit a clean by spraying it over on a low pressure setting, before reeling up the grey hose, tidying the electric cable away, and wheeling it back to the garage.

It was much faster to clean the patio with the Kärcher K5 Comfort Premium compared to the faffing around with models I've used in the past. This meant the body ache I usually feel was hugely reduced, and I saved far more time in setting it up, carrying out the job and also packing it away.

For me, this absolutely justified how the machine gets its name as the "comfort premium", because getting any pressure washing job done swiftly is a lot more comfortable (both physically and mentally) than spending hours and hours trying to finish the job, and clean yourself up afterwards.