Karcher WD5: tackles jobs with ease too dirty for other vacuums

Karcher WD5

Karcher is a German company that produces cleaning equipment, such as pressure washers, vacuum cleaners and steam cleaners. The brand stands out from the crowd thanks to its iconic colour scheme of yellow and black. I’ve been testing their new WD 5 Wet/Dry Vacuum

Design

The WD 5 is larger than your standard house vac and it feels surprisingly light (8.2kg) and is easy to move around. Even all of the accessories feel light and not unwieldy as I remember from my old wired vacuum. Despite its size, the WD5 is also easy to move around thanks to the five almost frictionless rotating casters on the base. This really helps to make using the vac much easier.

The hose attaches to the top of the unit rather than closer to the base and this makes it much easier to use and switch between the suck and blower functions. There’s a large dial near the top to switch the motor on and off so there aren’t different power settings.

The top is also where you’ll find the press-release button to access the compartment with the large rectangular filter.

Installing the fleece filter bag requires opening the top of the vacuum with a quick-release button and moving the large handle that connects to opposite sides down to the front. The top half pops up with ease providing access to the slot where the fleece filter bag slides into place with no mess or fuss.

Features

I made the mistake of not installing the dust bin bag on my first use and then proceeded to clean out the ashes of my cold stove. It didn’t take long to realise my mistake and I now had a filter full of ash. The filter is easy to remove but WD5 has a brilliant button on the top that you can press when the vacuum is on that clears the filter by pushing air in the opposite direction back into the dust bin.

The blower mode is a useful feature for all sorts of things including blowing dust and debris out from hard-to-reach places. Of course, you can also use it as a leaf blower but there are more powerful and portable solutions dedicated to that purpose.

I found the WD5 invaluable during a weekend of doing DIY jobs at home. I was able to connect it to my pull-mitre saw to capture the dust coming out from the back to prevent dust from going everywhere. The WD5 is fantastic for those cleanup jobs where you need lots of suction power and don’t want to worry about the kind of rubbish you’re sucking up. This can include wet or dry dirt thanks to the filtration system - the WD5's revolutionary filter removal technology, the filter may be removed with ease by sliding it out of its housing. Users can replace the filter without coming into contact with the vacuumed debris because of its positioning, which keeps it apart from the canister.

Attachments

The cable does not automatically retract and wind itself back into the body of the vacuum. Instead, it has integrated cable hooks to store the cord neatly away. There’s also a place for each of the attachments onboard. Included in the Kit: Floor nozzle, Crevice tool, Extension wand, Cartridge filter and Fleece filter bag.

Performance

The WD5 uses a powerful 1100-watt motor with 220 air watts of suction power. It made light work of any of the tasks I put its way including cleaning paths to sucking up the debris from my woodworking jobs. Unlike stick vacuums, the WD5 doesn’t use a motorised brush head, so it depends on pure suction power to get the job done. Unfortunately, all this power comes at the cost of noise and the WD5 is far from quiet. While this isn’t a dealbreaker it’s worth mentioning, especially if you use it indoors.

Verdict

The WD5 has a pragmatic approach to design that works well and is less likely to break even with heavy use on wet or dry dirt. I found it great as a dust extractor for some of my power tools and the extra features such as easy access to the filter, blower function and clever storage of accessories, cable and hose all make the WD5 a little easier to use.

The WD5 is designed to do the jobs too dirty for your indoor vacuum and is well worth the investment.

The Karcher WD5 comes with a two-year guarantee and cost €229 from  Karcher

Spares: Fleece Filter Bags 4PC €14.99. Pleated filter €19.99.