pulsating pressure washer

[hogster]

My pressure washer(Karcher) has started acting up,when it is connected to both water and electric but not actually pumping i.e resting but still "on", the pump keeps giving little pulsating bursts about every 10 secs,also when it is pumping the actual pressure is down quite a bit.
Mains house pressure etc is all ok and I've checked the inlet filter and the nozzle for blockages...nothing there,it's only about 2 years old and although it's had a fair amount of use I thought it would last longer than that....anyone come across this before?

 

[wotan]

Most domestic pressure washers are only good for so many hours, typically 100 hrs on the cheaper ones.
To get a pressure washer that lasts you have to spend some serious money.

Wotan

 

[gman76]

The same thing happened to one I was using, eventually the outlet fitting expoded firing water all over me - I think it had been stored somewhere where frost had got at it.

 

[dave.m]

It sounds as if through high usage, the pump seals are wearing out. That will allow water to leak back from the discharge side of the pump and thus the pump is surging to try and maintain the desired pressure. It will also cause a drop in working pressure when you are using it.

I could not find a Spare Parts section on Kersher's web site but you could contact Customer Support to see if they do sell spare pumps and how much they are. Odds are that it will be cheaper to buy a new washer from one of the discount places (Argos or one of the sheds).
http://www.karcher.co.uk/customerservice.php
dave