Karcher Wet/Dry Vacuums - Opinions...

[danorob1]

Hello All -
I want to get a new Wet/Dry garage vacuum - I have looked at Kubota, Stanley, Shop-Vac, Rigid, and Craftsman -
They all seem like the same cheep junky filer clogging Vacuums - Some take bags, but most are single ply paper and look like a lunch bag or a grocery bag -
Since it will be used for general garage clean up, and car cleaning, it will be dry use 99.5% of the time -
I came across Karcher Vacuums while on Amazon searching - The thing I like best about them is you can use them with these HUGE Cloth Bags that actually have plastic Mounting collars -
Does Anyone have, or has seen, and WD4 or WD5 Models ?
They look nice and when used with the bags, I assume the filter will stay clean for a longtime -
Looking for opinions if anyone has one -
Thanks-
Dan

 

[danorob1]

Hi Guys - Since no one replied, I assume no one had one, or had seen one -
I took a chance I purchased one last night - The reviews I could find were all good - The videos I could find made it seem like it was a good machine - Since the entire thing in built with a Nylon Reinforced Resin, I am hoping it is fairly durable - And if it turns out to be no good, I can send it back to Amazon...
The thing I like the best are the huge cloth bags, and the fact the filter is NOT in the tank itself -
Here are a few pictures from the web - I'll post some real pictures once it shows up in the next few days -
Dan

 

[gsheen]

Here in SA you get wap and karcher, I have a shopvac that was imported and I will take it any day over either the Karcher or wap.
I am sorry I didnt see this earlier to reply

Karchers look nice but the pipes are too small, one small piece of wood chip and it cloggs , Dont be fooled either the motors arent special they are just standard run of the mill motors found in all the workshop vacs from Europe.
I think my biggest issue is the hoses, I always wonder why you cant get decent 2" wide pipes on these things,

Allot of people here use them for home use as most homes are tiled, also the cleaning staff take longer to destroy these than normal household vacuums.

 

[danorob1]

Hi Gareth -
Thank you for the Feedback - I will see how it goes when it gets here -
It has to be better built then most of the under $150.00 wet/dry vacs in the states - I looked at at least 10-different ones and they were all cheep feeling - Again - for me the biggest plus is the way the filter mounts - As far as the hose diameter that is really not an issue for me - the most it will pick up is some occasional fine sawdust - dirt from the car, and dust and general dirt in the garage - it will never see the kind of use that someone with a wood working shop would see - I actually prefer the smaller diameter hoses - the 2" seems cumbersome except for large bulk item pickups -
I really just wanted something that could pick up water as well in case the need ever arose - It has not yet, but one never knows - The one for the states are made in Italy, so I am curious If Lindhaus's Rotofil division supplies the motors to Karcher -

 

[n0oxy]

hose diameter

I also prefer the smaller hose diameter, the standard 1.25 size which takes any standard vacuum attachment, or the 1.5 inch hose size, allows for good air flow, and you can use an adapter in order to use standard attachments. The 2 inch hose is too bulky and hard to deal with. When you get your Karcher, let us know what you think.
Mike

 

[electroluxxxx]

When I worked in the custodial field we got the Karcher upright machines labeled under the tornado brand. I liked them... the suction at the hose was good, bags seemed to filter well and seemed to be packed when needing to be changed. The machine also felt quite durable. Hoping that this machine is the same because I might think about investing in one of these as well!

 

[gsheen]

Hi Dan

I use mine for inside and outside the garage, like cleaning our patio area with leaves and stuff. I always prefer the extra airflow that a 2' hose gives but yes they can be cumbersome. I find the 38 mm hose to be the best compromise.
Most EU wet&dry vacs are made in Italy because this is the biggest market for them,

You will find that commercial brands like Soteco and Ghibli have huge manufacturing plants their, I know most of our small Karchers come from their too whith the larger heavy duty ones been made in Germany. Soteco is a huge vacuum company that makes many private lable single , twin and even tripple motor vacuums, You have probably seen them at your car wash. If a company wants a big commercial vacuum under their own brand soteco will do that for you in the colour of your choice.

 

[danorob1]

Well - My new Garage Vac came today, and I have to tell you i'm impressed -
Very well Built - Massive Suction - Huge Bag - Not overly noisy - Sounds more like a house vacuum then a shop vacuum -
Love the filter outside of the tank - Should stay very clean using the cloth bags -
And best of all, I have a ton of attachments that fit the hose end -
Let me know if anyone has any questions -
Dan

 

[tolivac]

Nice little vacuum-it could be used as either a shop vacuum-for finer less bulky material or a suction only home vacuum.I could see drywall sander guys liking this machine.Where do you get these?An interesting alternative to the Shop Vac,Rigid,and Sears shop vacuums.Now I wouldn't expect this machine to clean up after a large machine such as a table saw or planer-but small sanding should be fine.Or perhaps used with a small bandsaw or scrollsaw.The top mounted filter is nice-out of the drum so it won't get clogged.

 

[danorob1]

Hi Rex -

I was searching for a Wet/Dry vacuum for the garage and car, when I stunmbled across them on the BJ's Wholesale Club Website, which led me to finding them on many websites -
I ended up getting a great price on Amazon- $86.39 with Free Shipping...It as the same $86.39 on Target which tells me that Amazon was trying to match target which I noticed they do often...
It was on sale for $119.00 at BJ's, which goes to show that BJ's, Costco, or Sam's Club are not always the cheapest-

Designed and Engineered in Germany, and Built in Italy - It is a very well built machine - The Suction is amazing -
The bags are cloth and actually made in Germany which is strange... They have a very heavy plastic plastic mounting collar so there seems to be no chance of ripping like a paper collar could on the paper bags version that most companies use on their shop vacs - And they are Huge & Reasonably prices - $14.00 for 4-Huge Bags...

Like I said - For what i'm going to use it for, I know it will be fine - Garage and car dirt - and possibly the occasional water pick up - There are two other versions they sell - Mine is the WD4 then there is the WD5, and WD5/P - The 5 is a little larger - The 5P is the same as a 5, but has an outlet that you plug a sander or tool into, and it automatically turns on the vacuum when you activate the power tool -

Again - To me, in my opinion, Better built then any of the typical Shop-Vacs, Rigid Vac, or Craftsman Vacuums and at a great price...

I'll post more after I give it a good run this afternoon

 

[tolivac]

For home car and garage use that machine should be perfect-not bulky,clumsy,as other shop vacuums are.The price on the Karcher is very reasonable for what you are getting.Now for folks with LOTS of sawdust,shavings,chips to pick up the bulky vacuums would be better for them.

 

[n0oxy]

good quality wet dry vacs

I was wondering if any good quality wet dry vacs still existed, I have 8 of them, but they are all from ridgid, shop vac, craftsman and vacmaster, I think vacmaster is made by the same company that makes the craftsman models. They all work well, some are louder than others, have not had any problems with them but I'm sure the quality could probably be better. I guess for really good quality units you would need to look at powr-flite or other commercial vacuum companies. It would be really interesting to pair one of these Karcher machines with the volt power nozzle and see how it would clean a carpet.
Mike

 

[tolivac]

I am sure the Karcher vacuum and the Volt powernozzle would be good friends!Just that if you want a TOP quality Wet-Dry,shop type vacuum you should consider a commercial machine.I have 2 so far.

 

[danorob1]

KARCHER WD4 UPDATE

Hi All - This is a comment on great customer service...
When I was throwing the carton for the Karcher away, I found a piece of broken black plastic about 1-inch long - maybe 1/4 inch wide -
I searched for 10-minutes before I found where it had broken off the vacuum -
I found it under the cord storage hook - The hook protrudes out, and was not very far from the corner of the carton - I super glued it into place, and was fine with that -
Here is a picture of the broken piece, showing it glued back into place -

The rest of the story will follow in the next posting -

 

[danorob1]

KARCHER WD4 UPDATE 2

So... I decided to write Karcher Customer Service to let them know that my unit arrived damaged and that they really needed improve the packing that they use, especially since they are shipping from Italy around the world...

The next day, I receive an e-mail from a customer service manager at Karcher telling me how sorry they were that I had an issue and that they would make it right - They asked me to e-mail them the pictures of the damage, which I did - I figured that it was minor damage, and that they would really do nothing which was fine by me - I was simply trying to show them that they needed in improve their packaging..

I received a link to fill out a secure form, and they told me that they would replace the unit - The kicker is when I read the form, I had to take the serial number label off of the vacuum, and affix it to the form, with a copy of the receipt from Amazon.Com... This seemed odd to me as I assumed the two year warranty would be void since the serial number label had been removed from the vacuum...

After I e-mailed the info back to Karcher, they sent me another form the next day telling me that my unit could not be repaired as that part of the motor housing was not available as a service part, and that they were sending me an entire new vacuum, and that I should dispose of or destroy the old one -

The new vacuum was on my porch today when I came home - They shipped it in one day - (But it would have been in one day anyway since Karcher has an office and warehouse in NJ) -

That is what I call very good customer service !!!!

Here is the one I found on the porch this afternoon... Thats German Customer Service for you !!!

 

[gsheen]

And now you have two

 

[tolivac]

KEEP the first one and enjoy the second one,too-who cares if it doesn't have a serial#!I can't see destroying-discarding a vacuum just because part of the cord wind hook is broken.

 

[danorob1]

Rex & Gareth -

I would never destroy the original vacuum because of a 1" piece of plastic - I glued it back and it is fine - I most likely could have left it out and it would not have made any difference -

I just thought that it was very good customer service to replace the original unit with a new one without me even asking - Like I said before, I was not looking for anything other then to let them know that they needed to come up with a better packaging that protected the unit better in shipping-

I will simply leave the new one in the carton as a spare - I did open it up, and this one arrived perfect with no damage -
Dan