Buying a Breaker for the first time

[eyedee]

I've decided to finally pull my finger out this spring and renew the front drive with block paving. The drive is about 25 square meters in size. The job involves demolishing the existing tarmac and concrete drive which I'm planning to do with a breaker.

I've had an eye on Breakers for sale for a few months and yesterday I looked into hiring one from a local tool shop. As the drive will have to be done in stages I'll probably need the tool for a week which costs £70, but I have seen electric breakers that are not too far off that price for sale.

I always like to own tools rather than rent them, wherever sensible, and I like the idea of owning one of these. I've never owned or used a breaker before so I'm not entirely sure what I should be looking for so I would appreciate advice on which is best out of the one's I've seen for sale through the links below...

http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-pdh900d-5-5kg-breaker-900w-240v/47703

http://www.discounttradetools.co/route=product/product&product_id=4990

http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb280drh-14kg-breaker-230v/67819

http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erb150-18kg-breaker-230v/22968

Price is an issue, but usability is equally important. Thanks

 

[mcluma]

forget get it

the breaker you are looking for to break up concrete of about 20cm to 30 cm thick is arround the 400 mark - cheaper is crap (I followed about 10 to 20 ebay auctions)

rent the hydraulic one for the weekend will cost you not more the n£50,- (did it last weekend) and you will be done in a day, hence the two days to give you a bit of a rest

i took out 8 by 10 meters in 4 hours - concrete was 30 cm to 35 cm thick

Yes it is heavy work but goes very good

You can also rent the large electronic ones, (had them before) but the hydraulic one is so much better. yes the leads are a hassle

 

[eyedee]

Cheers for your thoughts.

The concrete I'm going through is about 15cm deep. I've mostly only heard fantastic things about some of the cheaper electric breakers. Its clear that they are nowhere as near as good as beaver breakers but I'm not after breaking a road, just a driveway, the odd path, concrete fence posts etc. From what I've read some of these £200 breakers are more than up to the job.

I've been looking into them all day and have learnt that it's important to buy a breaker with a standard sized hex shank. Some of the cheaper breakers have 1 1/4" (32mm) hex shanks which seem hard to find replacements for and are expensive because of it. 21mm, 1 1/8 and 1 1/4 seem to be the most common sizes. I reckon 21mm is a bit small/weak so I'm discounting any breakers with that size bit connector. At the moment I still can't decide between these three:

http://www.discounttradetools.co/route=product/product&product_id=4990

http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb280drh-14kg-breaker-230v/67819

http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erb150-18kg-breaker-230v/22968

The last one get's mostly fantastic reviews.

 

[merlin50]

screwfix take most of the bad reviews off

 

[eyedee]

It wasn't just screwfix customers that had provided good reviews, but I never knew that.

Where did you hear that from then???

 

[eyedee]

Just an update for any future prospective electric breaker purchasers...

I ended up buying the Erbauer breaker for just shy of £200 from screwfix. It has a standard 1 1/8" hex shank, comes with a flat and pointed chisel, carry case and Allen key (for opening engine casing cover). It's a uk 230v breaker with a standard uk plug and it's powerful producing up to 45j. Basically it's fantastic. I went through a 20 meter square and 20 cm thick load of concrete in 4-5 hours and it's still like new with a sharp point to the chisel! It made light work of the wall foundations surrounding the property too, allowing me to break up and remove 4 layers of buried reinforced brick pillars that would gave taken a day without it! I am so impressed with it and so pleased I bought it! If it lasts just 4 jobs it's paid for itself in full! And from what I've seen so far it'll last a lot longer than that! On yeah, and it requires zero maintenance. Just plug it in and you're away. Excellent.