12 volt Pressure Washer

Love it or loath it cleaning a bike is the one thing that needs to be done if you want to keep it looking good. Even more so in the winter months with all the salt on the roads, it helps to prevent any rust buildup. There seem to be many ways to clean a bike, pressure washers, hoses, buckets. With the layout of my house I am unable to get any mains water out to the bike. This leaves me with the only other option, the bucket. Not any more!

I have never really liked using pressure washers, it is too easy to get that little too close and take off the paint etc. However I discovered a non-mains 12v pressure washer. This has three benefits over a mains version. Firstly it runs off of 12v, so you can use it to wash your bike anywhere (within reason it is a bit bulky!). Secondly it stores its own water supply so no need for hose pipes. Thirdly, as it is only 12v it can't get anywhere near the pressures of a mains version. This one can get up to 130psi, compare that to over 1000psi for mains. However for washing a vehicle it is more then enough. You can also set the nozzle to go from a jet to a wide, almost misting, spray. The latter giving good volume of water to wash off the soap.

It is able to store 17ltrs of water and consumes about 60watts of power when in use. Given most bikes batteries are around 10Ah that would give you a run time of 2 hours continuous use. It gets through its water in about 6 minutes and most bikes can be rinsed twice (once before washing, once after) on about a tank and a half, assuming it isn't heavily soiled.

Of the few complaints I have the most annoying is the power lead. It is just that little bit too short. True the way I power it isn't the way most would think (see below) but even coming from the bike it makes it a little hard to move it fully out of the way. And that is the other aspect, it only comes with a cigarette/cigar light type power plug. I would have liked to have seen the option of alligator clips to connect directly to the battery, does make it a little tricky to connect to a bike.

Having used it now for a couple of times I can honestly say it is so much better then using the 'throw a bucket of water' method. It is simpler and uses much less water. Plus we have a 12v solar system that I can run it off of so don't even have to worry about using the bikes battery or the power costing me anything.

Good

• Low pressure means unlikely to damage paintwork etc.
• Good flow rate.
• Holds own water supply.
• Able to run it wherever there is a source of 12v.
• Good way to get around a hosepipe ban ;)

Bad

• Although technically portable, not something you can carry on a bike easily.
• Could do with a longer 12v lead.