Pressure washers probably aren't at the top of anyone's Amazon Prime Day shopping list, but this year I just had to get one to tackle my inner-city apartment's (frankly filthy) balcony, that's been months overdue for cleaning. It's been an eyesore ever since I went away on holiday and came back to find all my potted plants had died, there were cobwebs everywhere and a very thick layer of dust on every surface.
I've been considering buying (even renting) a pressure washer for a couple of years now, as cleaning a balcony that has no water source of its own is a real pain, but I've always hesitated. I'd never used a pressure washer before and I found the thought intimidating, and moreover, where would I store one? They often take up a lot of space, which is at a premium in little apartments, and you don't want another thing to be saddled with when renting. Finally, pressure washers cost a lot — I really didn't want to spend a couple of hundred dollars on one if I wasn't going to use it regularly.
Importantly, with no tap or faucet in my balcony, where'd I source the water from?
And then I saw the Bosch EasyAquatak 100 on Amazon AU. Not only did it have decent user reviews, I was sold on the photos in the listing. It looked small, portable and, better yet, could pump water from a container instead of a tap.
Originally listed at AU$115, for Prime Day it's down to just AU$80.50. I did have to spend a little extra, though, as it needs a separate self-priming kit — basically a hose that pulls water from a bucket or any other container (the nearest tap to my balcony is the kitchen sink). Thankfully, the Bosch Self-Priming Kit is discounted to AU$29.40 during Prime Day too.
Dirt, begone!
It arrived in a day but it took me the better part of two hours to wrap my head around how to use the EasyAquatak 100. The manual isn't particularly helpful and you have to make a few guesses on how to get the self-priming kit to attach to the washer itself.
Once I had it all set up — the self-priming kit (pipe?) dipped into a 10L watering can — and figured out how to operate the machine itself... oh wow!
I wish I had the foresight to take before and after photos to prove how effective it was in cleaning my balcony. You'll just have to take my word for it.
The EasyAquatak is light enough to walk around with while holding the nozzle, although it is remarkably loud for something this compact. There's 1,100W of power (or 1,450psi of pressure) which is more than enough to wash away a lot of caked-in dust. I learnt that if the pressure washer hose was attached to a tap, the water pressure would have been a lot better because of the constant flow, but some of us don't have the luxury of an outdoor tap.
Still, what force I did get easily broke up cobwebs and washed away months of dirt build-up. I did end up doing a little bit of light scrubbing to loosen the fine dust out of the grooves in the rough tiles, but that's only because I really had given up on my balcony for months.
Now the pressure washer is stowed away in a small outdoor bench that doubles up as a storage space too.
I may have used the pressure washer just the once, but I already know this was perhaps the best Prime Day purchase I've made this year. Using it felt therapeutic too, strangely enough, and I think it's going to become a monthly ritual.
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