Kärcher K 4 Power Control Home high pressure washer: Intelligent app support – the right solution for heavier soiling – incl. home kit
1 CLEVER 2 SUSTAINABLE 3 EFFICIENT 4 COMFORTABLE
Kärcher high-pressure washers: performance classes in comparison
 K 4 Power Control Home |  K 7 Smart Control Home |  K 5 Power Control Home |  K 3 Power Control Home |  K 2 Power Control Home | |
| Pressure | max. 20 – 130 bar | max. 20 – 180 bar | max. 20 – 145 bar | max. 20 – 120 bar | max. 20 – 110 bar |
| Flow rate | 30 m²/h | 60 m²/h | 40 m²/h | 25 m²/h | 20 m²/h |
| Surface performance | max. 420 l/h | max. 550 l/h | max. 500 l/h | max. 380 l/h | max. 360 l/h |
| Max. Inlet temperature | max. 40 °C | max. 60 °C | max. 40 °C | max. 40 °C | max. 40 °C |
| Weight without accessories | 11,5 kg | 17,6 kg | 13 kg | 4,4 kg | 4 kg |
| Dimensions (L x W x H) | 402 x 306 x 588 mm | 458 x 330 x 666 mm | 402 x 306 x 588 mm | 297 x 280 x 677 mm | 246 x 280 x 586 mm |
| High-pressure hose length | 8 m | 10 m | 10 m | 7 m | 5 m |
| Water suction | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Connection capacity | 1,8 kW | 2,8 kW | 2,1 kW | 1,6 kW | 1,4 kW |
| Surface cleaner | T 5 | T 7 | T 5 | T 5 | T 1 |
| Weight: | 11.5 kg |
| Dimensions: | 40.2 x 30.6 x 58.8 cm; 11.48 Kilograms |
| Model: | 1.324-034.0 |
| Part: | 13240340 |
| Colour: | Yellow |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Required: | No |
| Manufacture: | Kärcher |
| Colour: | Yellow |
| Quantity: | 1 |
It cleans grime off my sandstone patio as hoped for / shown, and brick walls, the car, the drive, wheelie bins, windows, and anything you can think of. It works brilliantly. The pressure – 130bar/1880psi – is perfectly adequate. Recommended.
It cleans grime off my sandstone patio as hoped for / shown, and brick walls, the car, the drive, wheelie bins, windows, and anything you can think of. It works brilliantly. The pressure – 130bar/1880psi – is perfectly adequate. Recommended.
I have this and a battery operated one from a different manufacturer.
The battery one by comparison is weaker but easier to hold and far more portable.
However when it comes to function, its hard to beat the Karcher.
I can clean the driveway, wash the car and clean the patio in half the time.
As a result its hard to beat the Karcher, at least in my limited experience.
Robust design with improved and easier foam delivery. Higher flow rate than my earlier model (which did do the job reasonably well). Repair costs are high so best to replace if you’ve had satisfactory, hard use over a number of years.
Fantastic pressure washer for all purpose, my main use is to was my car on the weekend. Does fantastic job!
I’ve had this for about a month now and must say that I’m very impressed. I have used it to clean 2 cars, and pressure wash our patio both with excellent results. The Karcher foam cannon also works very well for cleaning the cars as a pre wash.
This power washer cleans better than any previous machine I’ve owned.
Brought my decking back to life without damaging the wood and cleaned
my fencing back to ‘as new’ condition (and It’s 10 years old!)
This power washer cleans better than any previous machine I’ve owned.
Brought my decking back to life without damaging the wood and cleaned
my fencing back to ‘as new’ condition (and It’s 10 years old!)
This was to replace older model seems powerful enough time will tell as it gets used how good it is
Great product, does what it says on the tin. Only criticism that I have is that the hose becomes tangled very quickly. Although in fairness I dont think there is a hose that simply rolls out and stays untangled.
Great product, does what it says on the tin. Only criticism that I have is that the hose becomes tangled very quickly. Although in fairness I dont think there is a hose that simply rolls out and stays untangled.
Good item just a bit less powerful than you’ll expect for an item this expensive
Good item just a bit less powerful than you’ll expect for an item this expensive
it is a great item and best value for money.
Recommended washer, good quality from karcher and easy to use
Recommended washer, good quality from karcher and easy to use
Easy to use, it’s not that light but stops it tipping over. Highly recommended
Easy to use, it’s not that light but stops it tipping over. Highly recommended
Did the job two large patios and paths
Hard to control pressure seemed full on or stop. Replaced a similar model that stopped working 11yrs old New model much more pressure
I used it on the slabs at back of my house and on the car love it.
I used it on the slabs at back of my house and on the car love it.
For me pressure washing is a necessary evil. I really hate doing it, I always end up cold, wet and splattered with dirt. This Karcher K4 model however is in a class of its own and really elevates the experience compared to my old clapped out machine (also a Karcher). There are a few design elements that make this one much more pleasant to use.
First of all, it’s really quiet (for a pressure washer). Second, the hose is really long at 8 metres. It means I don’t need to keep moving the machine about so much. In fact I can do virtually all my patio area not move the machine at all. This is a huge bonus as I always end up with the hose pipe, the mains water hose pipe and the electricity cable all tangled up. Third, the handle is really comfortable to use and allows the user to select various pressures. Fourthly, there are a selection of heads supplied for different tasks including a beefy rotating spray for cleaning paving, which cuts down the amount of spray and dirt thrown around. It’s much more heavy duty than my old one.
WIth a 1.8kW motor, this is a powerful machine. It’s noticeable that my paving isn’t as wet and flooded as it used to be with my old one – I put that down to the power being greater so it doesn’t need as many passes to get clean, hence using less water overall.
There’s a receptacle on the main machine for detergent, a patio cleaner is supplied with the unit and a car cleaner is available separately.
The app support mentioned is basically a glorified instruction manual, this isn’t a smart item that links to the app in any way. It’s useful to have though.
The only draw back with the long hose is that it’s a pain to store. The pipe has mind of its own and doesn’t willingly coil back up to rest neatly on the little holder built into the machine. The cord storage pouch isn’t that great either. So it does look a bit of an untidy mess after each use.
This is a heavy item, with a retractable handle to drag it around like a suitcase. Not an issue for short trips but if you have a lot of steps in your garden, or you travel with it and lift in your car a lot you’ll notice the weight.
In summary this is really useful and powerful washer. For anyone who is maddened by less powerful jet washers like me it really is worth the extra power, hose length and general build quality.
So easy to use and assemble. So easy to clean my car and clean the decking as well
So easy to use and assemble. So easy to clean my car and clean the decking as well
So easy to use and assemble. So easy to clean my car and clean the decking as well
Great power washer. Instructions clear to set up and the app is great too. Garden all cleaned ready for Spring. I also used the car part and works great to clean my car.
Great power washer. Instructions clear to set up and the app is great too. Garden all cleaned ready for Spring. I also used the car part and works great to clean my car.
works well. it could do with a anti tangle lance
This Karcher is one of the best I have ever had fantastic value for money & quality so easy to put together with the extra tools and patio cleaner make this a perfect all round cleaner the app is more a help and on line manual but that said is registration so easy to use see photos for true item full five stars
Wanted a pressure washer for some time and went for this one as it’s compact and powerful at a decent price, so would recommend.
Great machine, only 2 ways to improve it. 1. Replace hose with longer and more flexible one. 2. Use screws thru plastic body and into both handle shafts, to stop it sliding shut when leant on. (Nearly fell over twice before locking it with screws.) Use Gardena stop valve click fitting, close when changing fittings or releasing hose otherwise water pressure makes it nigh on impossible, even with tap off!
This was an upgrade for my existing K2 which I have had for 5 years and so I will be making some comparisons between the two models during this review.
The K4 in this variant (with Home kit) comes in a big and heavy box. The weight is due to the main body of the washer which definitely needs its wheels. The K4 is significantly heavier than the K2 which, in comparison, is easy to move around by just picking it up and the wheels aren’t really needed.
The large size of the shipping box seems solely to make room for Surface cleaner attachment and the extra packaging put around that item. All the rest of the parts included, of which there were many, were just left loose floating round the internals of the box. A few items had marks from where they bashed against each other, and the internal polystyrene had taken a significant beating from multiple internal impacts.
I’m not sure why so little care was taken to secure the internal parts within the box, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this resulted in some parts arriving damaged for some customers.
NB: It wasn’t that they came loose, it seems they were all just thrown in there to roll around loose by design.
The power cable comes pre-attached to the main body of the washer, as you would expect. You will find the 8m hose is also pre-attached, despite the box photo which might make you think otherwise. Please note this included hose, is to attach tools to. You still need your own (not included) hose to hook the K4 up to your mains water supply. You don’t have to worry about the filter mentioned on the box, this comes already fitted inside the connection where you hook your own hose pipe up to.
If you were expecting to just unpack the K4 and start using it, you will be disappointed to find that you need to attach several parts to the main body yourself with the provided 3 types of screws. I found attaching some of the parts to be fiddly and by the end of the assembly I was left puzzled why the customer had been tasked with doing this at all. Usually, these self-assembly tasks are to allow the shipping boxes to be smaller. But only one of the parts seemed to alter the size of the main body in any significant way. I felt like maybe Krcher did it to give me something fun to do, because people that like to use pressure washers probably also have fun building stuff? I didn’t find it fun; it was just annoying. Especially screwing in the handle grip over the already existing handle grip — why can’t this be done in the factory?
The assembly process isn’t helped by the sometimes-confusing instructions. I appreciated the diagrams depicting how to put things together, but the repeated choice to try to cram two steps into one picture almost made me go wrong a couple of times and use the wrong screw type.
One of the last things you may do is plug the included hose into the bottom of the gun. According to the instructions, I’m supposed to line it up with a tab, but I couldn’t see any tab on my hose or gun. The hose will only go in if lined up correctly and the only way I could do it was looking down the hole in the gun and trying to work out myself how it should be lined up.
The K4 uses a water-cooled pump, and the K2 uses an air-cooled pump. I had wondered beforehand if this would make any significant difference in the noise when running. The K4 wasn’t significantly quieter than the K2 but I felt it was quieter overall.
I tested the K4 out cleaning sections of driveway, path and patio which I had done many times previously with my K2. Despite the K4’s apparently small on-paper step up in power from the K2 (110bar on the K2 vs 130 bar on the K4), I found the K4 to be a significantly more powerful machine and makes the K2 feel like a toy in comparison. Where I had cleared my block drive with my K2 and cleaned the surface up pretty well, the K4 did that and also blasted clean all the gaps between the blocks and was able to cut through embedded weeds with little trouble.
The only downside to all this power is that a lot of the dirt blasted clear ended up on me or sprayed elsewhere which I then had to clear up afterwards. Whereas the surface cleaner attachment is a bit of a gimmick on the K2 and you can do much the same with the lance, you really need the extra attachment for the K4 unless you want to spray what you are blasting all over the shop.
Specifically, about the K4 surface cleaner attachment: I found it quite difficult to attach the extension arm compared to the other attachments. It does fit eventually but required a lot more force than the others. The power control dial on the top of the surface cleaning is a nice touch, but all it really does is raise or lower the jet compared to the surface. Be careful when used on full power, because it may catch on any uneven slabs as the nozzles are spinning really close to the surface at that setting. One downside I found to using the surface clear in comparison to the normal lances is that it seems to put down a massive amount of water in comparison. I cleaned two sections of drive as a comparison and the section cleaned with the surface cleaner started to build up a pool of water very quickly as my drainage isn’t that great. It is the better way to clean and quicker, just be aware you need good drainage to support its use.
Beware the power! I found the K4 was actually taking some splinters out of softwood when I used it with the dirt blaster lance. Whereas when using the K2, I was always thinking I could do with just a bit more power, with the K4 I found myself thinking I should really turn it down a little before I break something.
I’m sure for some the move up to the more powerful model above the K4 might be useful, but for me I can’t see a need to go any more powerful than this for home use.
I’m awarding the K4 4-stars. It has more power than I know what to do with and I particularly loved the dirt blaster lance. I’ve dropped one star for the badly designed packaging and seemingly needless and sometimes badly documented self-assembly.
The K4 power control with a great price, easy to assemble, easy to use, a reliable brand
The K4 power control with a great price, easy to assemble, easy to use, a reliable brand
Very high-quality product. Easy to assembly and removal. Mighty water pressure. The online manual helps me to find suitable water pressure under different circumstances. Recommend.
This has to be the most powerful of the pressure washers I’ve tried. Beautiful cleaning action and comes with a stone and patio cleaner. Very powerful. If it was a bit warmer I’d wash the car, too. Easy to assemble and very easy to use.
I have a smaller Karcher power washer and prior to that, I’ve used another brand model for some years. Both worked well; the Karcher I bought to replace a heavier and more bulky cleaner I’d been using for some 15 years. I love the Karcher. It’s lightweight, easy to operate and effective. It cost me less than 100 ( as a lightning deal) so I wondered how or whether this K4 smart washer would compare.
I’m blown away! It takes power hose cleaning to a different level. Firstly, with the App, it miraculously understands the surface to be cleaned and adjusts the strength accordingly. I don’t have to mess around adjusting nozzles or spray width to remove the gunk. But the cleaner tool is incredible. Instead of being splashed by residual spray, this dedicated cleaning head contains all the water and directs it to the area to be tackled. There’s no wet feet or legs from backsplash and it sweeps across paving slabs and concrete, bringing both to crisp new fresh state. If required, a bottle with cleaning solution can be attached quickly. I’ve only used cold tap water and it’s worked very well.
This cleaner is more costly. Is it worth the extra? I’d have to say yes because it takes away much of the manual effort of the smaller and lower powered version. Given the brand, I’m confident that I’ll get year# of use from the cleaner and can add a wide range of accessories I I wish. It’s an all round winner.
A really good pressure washer set coming with the K4 pressure washer that is suitable for cleaning patios, drives, cars bike etc.
Assembly was more tricky than I expected primarily down to the clarity of the instructions but once I got used to the notation it became more straightforward.
The home kit in this review comes with the great Karcher vario-lance, dirt blaster lance, extension lance and the surface cleaner. It also comes with a bottle of patio detergent that plugs into the the top of the unit.
This is a little disappointing as personally I’d rather have had the foaming adaptor rather than a bottle of detergent that I likely will not use.
The trigger gun is the major change from the last Karcher I owned. This comes with a gauge that indicates to you the type of cleaning that the vario-lance is set for. Its a little gimmicy to me but at least it takes away the worry that you are using too high pressure for cleaning your car.
A big thing is made of the app too. Apart from making registration of your product much easier its really nothing more than an electronic manual showing the how to use the vario lance for your home kit set up and then the “ideal set up” which basically is a selling tool offering add-ons to put into a basket for you to buy direct from Karcher
The mix in with the app and the touchscreen style appearance of the trigger gun did at first confuse me into thinking this K4 is a fully connected “smart” pressure washer but it isn’t – worth noting.
The niggles about this product are small but to me significant.
1) Hose coiling – the design has a hole through which the hose is supposed to go through – this implied to me that the hose could be at least uncoiled from the hook at the back – the reality is not the same it just jams – not a big issue really as most pressure washers have the issue with hose coiling. Just having this design element left me feeling a little let down by its implementation.
2) Trigger gun – maybe its just this unit but the hose was fiddly to attach in and difficult to detach when i realised I needed get rid of a kink in the hose preventing it coming through the slot mentioned in point 1.
3) The app/unit interaction is overplayed and so the reality feels a let down compared to the blurb
4) Electric cord tidy – the cord at the moment is pretty stiff meaning is not so easy to coil up the wire and push in through the opening above the elasticated cargo style net – I resorted to partially removing the net to store it.
While these are small niggles for the price of the unit and the quality I’ve come to expect of karcher I can’t quite give it 5 stars
I had a K4 full control before but it had the plastic connection for the hose which continually popped off when the water tap was turned on. This is the newer model with metal connections and now no issues, much better hose connections stay on. Make sure you get a newer model with metal hose connection. Also this is the Full Control
Model and NOT the smaller Compact K4. All works brilliantly. Would highly recommend.Karcher provide a water cooled motor which allows the unit to be used for a longer period of time without cutting off due to excess heat.
I had used it for every task under the sun ,Boats ,cars.patios,roofs and the block paving drive at the front of the house.
Only fault is that the hose needs to be less plastic and more rubber. Apart from that excellent product. Power great, even gets the 20 year moss off with minimal effort.
My previous, smaller, Karcher power washer developed a leak inside the sealed unit which I assumed would be irreparable. I note in the instruction booklet that an ‘aqua-lock’ connection must NOT be use on the hose connector to the device – could this have led to the ‘leak’ issues on my old model? My only concern now is that my new K4 is very heavy to lift, which must be done sometimes. Time will tell how reliable the K4 is!
Relatively easy to assemble and simple to use. This is my second K4, after a few years of use I replaced it for the same model. Its used for car cleaning and patio cleaning it certainly works well.
Relatively easy to assemble and simple to use. This is my second K4, after a few years of use I replaced it for the same model. Its used for car cleaning and patio cleaning it certainly works well.
Relatively easy to assemble and simple to use. This is my second K4, after a few years of use I replaced it for the same model. Its used for car cleaning and patio cleaning it certainly works well.
Reason for 4* is the crappy hose, but that isn’t the end of the world, performed brilliantly while cleaning both company vehicles, so overall its a worthwhile purchase
Good news for anyone thinking of purchasing this pressure washer, I received this on time with no damage to the box or anything inside of the box as seen with some of the other reviews ! The pressure washer works flawlessly and is ideal for the car detailing I intend to use it for. over all I have had a very good experience and would not hesitate to buy another one.
Works really well as a power washer, however, I purchased the soap bottle dispenser separately and tried using it to wash my car as directed. Absolutely rubbish, it used half of the soap bottle in 1 wash. Avoid purchasing the soap bottle as at 6 per bottle it’s not fit for purpose.
Does the job well, with a lot less noise than our previous (non Karcher) model.
Does the job well, with a lot less noise than our previous (non Karcher) model.
Does the job well, with a lot less noise than our previous (non Karcher) model.
here is nothing I dislike about the Karcher,I found it easy to assemble and is easy to use
here is nothing I dislike about the Karcher,I found it easy to assemble and is easy to use
here is nothing I dislike about the Karcher,I found it easy to assemble and is easy to use
Great product, went for this model as had an older version before, did find the instructions a little confusing and very small illustrations other than that Happy with product and price.
I bought this to replace a diesel powered Karcher which no longer fitted my requirements.
Even though this one does not have a hot function, it fits my needs very very adequately
Good Value and recommended and a replacement to my very old one
Good Value and recommended and a replacement to my very old one
Good Value and recommended and a replacement to my very old one
Love the washer apart from the hose that kinks so easily, difficult to find a replacement.
My hubby said best power washer he’s ever had easy to assemble and to use and for how it performs great value for money
My hubby said best power washer he’s ever had easy to assemble and to use and for how it performs great value for money
My hubby said best power washer he’s ever had easy to assemble and to use and for how it performs great value for money
Takes a bit of getting used to if your new to power washing, but great when you’re up to speed. Used mine to wash motorhome.
Takes a bit of getting used to if your new to power washing, but great when you’re up to speed. Used mine to wash motorhome.
Takes a bit of getting used to if your new to power washing, but great when you’re up to speed. Used mine to wash motorhome.
Takes a bit of getting used to if your new to power washing, but great when you’re up to speed. Used mine to wash motorhome.
Takes a bit of getting used to if your new to power washing, but great when you’re up to speed. Used mine to wash motorhome.
Takes a bit of getting used to if your new to power washing, but great when you’re up to speed. Used mine to wash motorhome.
Had to send the first one back, due to missing parts.
Quite complicated to assemble, if you are a novice.
Powerful device.
Had to send the first one back, due to missing parts.
Quite complicated to assemble, if you are a novice.
Powerful device.
Had to send the first one back, due to missing parts.
Quite complicated to assemble, if you are a novice.
Powerful device.
It’s tricky to install and ours has a lump out if the wheel where someone tried before us. It’s also scuffed and dinted on the side. Again where some one tried and failed to install it. Would NOT recommend this seller! Not sending it back as the damage isn’t detrimental BUT very disappointed.
This product is as good as is possible have used it a few times and think it is a good produc
This product is as good as is possible have used it a few times and think it is a good produc
This product is as good as is possible have used it a few times and think it is a good produc
Have used 4 times now and must admit i’m impressed with the ability of this Karcher, Excellent on cleaning paving and must recommend the patio cleaner (saves so much time) So far very pleased.
Had one of these Karcher washers about 7 years ago which was good but unfortunately it started to leak so decided on a new on. Absolutely brilliant washed my block paving come up like new.
It’s powerful and a great tool to remove dirt and moss from the patio.
It’s powerful and a great tool to remove dirt and moss from the patio.
It’s powerful and a great tool to remove dirt and moss from the patio.
Very expensive and poorly packaged in the box, but a great product.
Very expensive and poorly packaged in the box, but a great product.
Very expensive and poorly packaged in the box, but a great product.
Very expensive and poorly packaged in the box, but a great product.
High pressure water pipe very difficult to “roll” up. Foam dispenser, excellent accessory for car washing
High pressure water pipe very difficult to “roll” up. Foam dispenser, excellent accessory for car washing
Brilliant product – and a blessing when it comes to jet washing the patio and car – simply a great product. I have also purchased additional accessories
This is a good pressure washer particularly for patio paving and general washing of furniture. It is quite cumbersome and very heavy. I don’t know why the wheels are so small as to be barely functional especially for those of above average height.
This is a good pressure washer particularly for patio paving and general washing of furniture. It is quite cumbersome and very heavy. I don’t know why the wheels are so small as to be barely functional especially for those of above average height.
Love this Karcher. Downloaded the app and followed the assembly on the app.
So far so good with the use +++++
The difference of power settings work for all types of jobs
The difference of power settings work for all types of jobs
Will clean everything.
from stained patio to dirty car. Very good pressure. Happy with it. Don’t buy anything cheaper or higher than the K4 as this is the perfect pressure for all kinds. You will not be disappointed!
Easy to build, instructions are great. Will try it over the weekend.
Easy to build, instructions are great. Will try it over the weekend.
Easy to build, instructions are great. Will try it over the weekend.
Instructions not that clear on assembly but able to work out. Works very well and a good choice.
Easy to build, instructions are great. Will try it over the weekend.
Instructions not that clear on assembly but able to work out. Works very well and a good choice.
Instructions not that clear on assembly but able to work out. Works very well and a good choice.
Instructions not that clear on assembly but able to work out. Works very well and a good choice.
This washer is a dream to use better than my old one by fa