Buying guides
Which one, for what you actually clean
A hub compares everything in a family. A guide answers one question — a budget, a surface, a garage that also holds a car — with a ranked shortlist and a reason for the order.
- Start here
Your first pressure washer
A ranked shortlist for a first pressure washer, chosen on working pressure and flow rate rather than on the number printed on the box.
- The number that trips everyone
Bar or liters per hour
Why the bar figure on a pressure washer box is the least useful number on it, and how to compare machines on the pair that matters.
- Which machine
Steam or pressure
Two machines that look like alternatives and solve different problems: which one belongs indoors, which one outdoors, and what neither of them does.
- Budget
The best machines under €150
Four machines under €150 that do their one job properly, and the categories where that budget buys a disappointment.
- Workshop
Choosing a wet and dry vacuum
Filter class, airflow, suction and the power take-off socket: the four things that decide whether a workshop vacuum suits your job.
- Steam
Choosing a steam cleaner
Boiler pressure, heat-up time and how the tank refills: the three specifications that decide whether a steam cleaner gets used or stored.
- Windows
Choosing a window vacuum
Blade width, tank capacity and battery life decide how many windows you finish in one go. Only one of the three is printed on the box in big letters.
- Fabrics
Choosing a spray extraction cleaner
Spray extraction puts water into a fabric and pulls it back out. How much comes back is the whole specification, and almost nobody prints it.
- Yards and drives
Choosing a push sweeper
Working width, brush arrangement and hopper size — and the one question that decides everything: what surface are you sweeping?
- Floors
Choosing a steam mop
Heat-up time, pad system and whether the top half detaches. Three questions that separate a machine you use weekly from one in a cupboard.
- Terrace and drive
Choosing a surface cleaner
The first accessory worth buying for any pressure washer — and the one specification that decides whether the wide one is faster or slower.
- Consumables
Choosing a detergent
Which detergent goes in a pressure washer, which one must never go in one, and the dwell time that does more than any amount of pressure.
- Consumables
Choosing a nozzle
Fan angle, rotary nozzles and what a smaller orifice actually does. The cheapest part on the machine, and the one that decides whether a surface survives.
- Consumables
Choosing a filter and bag
The consumable that decides whether a wet and dry vacuum keeps its suction, survives plaster dust, and can be used indoors at all.
- Small spaces
Cleaning machines for a flat
What still works without an outside tap, a drain or anywhere to store a machine — and which categories to ignore entirely.
- Hard floors
Choosing a floor washer
Roller wash temperature, drying cycle, lying height and edge cleaning: the four specifications that decide whether a floor washer stays in use.
- Maintenance
Machines that clean themselves
Self-cleaning docks, hot roller washes and filter-clearing buttons. Which of these change the outcome, and which are a marketing line.
- Households with animals
Cleaning machines for pet owners
Hair wraps rollers, mud goes into the pile and the smell comes back after a week. Which machines are built for that, and which get worse.
- Robots
Choosing a robot vacuum mop
Anti-tangle brushes, mop lifting, extending edges and the running cost nobody quotes: what actually separates robots that stay in use.
- Fireplaces
Choosing an ash vacuum
Metal drum, metal hose, filter arrangement and the twenty-four hour rule: what makes an ash vacuum an ash vacuum rather than a workshop one.
- Terraces
A terrace kit that will not mark the stone
The machine, the surface cleaner and the detergent that clean a terrace evenly — and the nozzle that ruins one in two seconds.
- Vehicles
Washing a car without adding swirl marks
The machine, the foam and the order of operations that keep grit off the paint — and the two accessories that put it there.
- Which power
Petrol or electric
Petrol buys independence from a socket and brings maintenance, fumes and pressure most properties cannot use. When it is the right answer, and when it is not.
- The compatibility page
What fits what: pressure washer fittings
Kärcher bayonet, Nilfisk Click&Clean, Bosch and M22: four incompatible systems, which adapters bridge them, and the 14 vs 15 mm (0.59 in) insert trap.
Prices quoted in these summaries are dated readings. The live price is shown next to each product.