Karcher HD6/13C Plus Professional Pressure Washer 240V

I purchased a Karcher HD 6/13c machine 5 years ago. Unfortunately during the very cold 2010 winter it froze and split the outlet pipe. The local Karcher dealer who sold it to me quoted approx. £400 to repair it so I purchased a new one for £447 !!! 2 years later and this one stopped working suddenly in the middle of use. A burning smell suggested another big bill. This time not my fault apparently just bad luck and sure enough my dealer wants £100 to fit a £5 capacitor - although I said I had the first unit which could be used for spares, he didn't want to do that saying not worth it as the part was cheap, it was mainly labour. Dealer also said it's common problem with these machines (didn't tell me that when I bought it). As I felt my local dealer was robbing me blind I found another dealer a bit further out. Guess what. He said just swap capacitors, told me how to do it - no tools required and took just 2 minutes. All now fine and machine working again. This dealer complimented Karcher's hot water machines but was not complimentary about their cold water machines.Other minor issues are the plastic wand holder is useless and the wand is forever falling out. The sliding handle is always falling down -irritating. The tube for feeding detergent regularly comes detached which is very fiddly to re-attach - oh and trying to get it to unravel to go into a detergent container is almost impossible. The knob for adjusting the pressure is too small and very difficult to turn and finally the power cable tidy hook is useless as it falls off as soon as you move the machine. From a design perspective it's a really poor product. I don't think anyone at Karcher could have ever tried using it.In summary, an expensive item described on Karcher site as for daily use in a commercial environment. For me it's proved to be more than expensive, frustrating to use and not reliable. Oh and it only gets used for light duty - 3 or 4 times a week for 20 mins at a time!