Customer Reviews

Factory-Reconditioned Karcher K3.91MR 1,700 PSI 1.5 GPM Electric Pressure Washer

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

DO NOT BUY ANY KARCHER UNIT!!! YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CONTACT KARCHER DIRECTLY IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM. THE SERVICE CENTERS CAN CHARGE YOU WHAT EVER THEY WANT....EVEN IF THE UNIT IS UNDER WARRANTY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!

I want to second the opinion of another user. This washer is unmitigated JUNK! Purchased new mine lasted no more a half dozen uses.
First the pressure seal went, next the capacitor died. Those parts were ordered at some expense and replaced.

Then a broken plastic pin related to the pressure shut off when you release the trigger. Karcher doesn't
sell this part. Unit would run full pressure all the time without it. That wouldn't do. Relatively handy with tools I broke down the washer
once again thinking I could finesse something. Nope!

While working on it, the main control knob snapped off. No surprise... That big black ON-OFF knob turns a thin plastic shaft
just made to break with a little too much twist. The design is a disaster. Since many essential parts are plastic and clearly not meant to
be replaced even if they were available you will soon enough be dead in the water with this unit.

A call to Karcher service was useless since all they can suggest is sending it in for a repair costing as much as the unit itself.

Pox on Karcher. Karcher knows darn well they are making junk and should be embarrassed to sell such crap. I'll never again buy one of their products
since I can't believe this unit is somehow just a fluke rather than an intentional scam on the part of this company.

The first Karcher unit I purchased 3 years ago gave up the ghost a few days ago and trying to find anyone to repair it in St. Louis, MO is just plain difficult. Two of the "repair" shops I contacted told me to bite the bullet and buy another unit as it probably did not make economic sense to service it. I am currently searching Craigslist to see if I can find some local talent.

I purchased this unit from SAMS for $149 plus tax and a SAMS warrenty for two years ($20) beyond the normal 12 month Karcher warrenty. The SAM warrenty extension will repair or REPLACE the unit. Normally I never purchase an extended warrenty (except for laptops) but this seemed to fall into an unreliable category.

I already broke the plastic tab on the side which holds the wand holder. If you press too hard when you snap down the holder it snaps off. It is not as well made it seems as my similar first unit. The first unit also had a holder for the cord (seems missing here.)

A couple of notes:

The instructions (Ha) are extremely incomplete (a few pages of pictures and limited text).

The most challenging part came with assembling the wand to the gun handle. It shows a picture to insert the wand into the chamber and explains you should remove the locking ring. USE YOUR SCREWDRIVER to push the tab on the right side firmed to push out the PLASTIC retaining ring to the other side. Next, Insert the brass compression fitting into the hole and push the locking retaining ring back into the slot. NOTE: IF YOU CANNOT PUSH THE RING AROUND THE COMPRESSION FITTING YOU MAY HAVE TO PULL IT OUT AND USE A SCREW DRIVER TO PUSH THE RUBBER BACK SO THERE IS SUFFICIENT ROOM FOR THE RING - (No place in the instructions does it suggest this remedy.)

If the unit does not power up when you turn the black power switch ON first check and make sure you have pressed the TEST button on the plug in and if not hit the RESET button on the same plug.

If anyone knows of a better unit please post. Unfortunately, I have not seen any other units with better ratings for home use under $200. I would only give it a life expectancy of 2-4 years at BEST.