Intro:

How I came to own a Kärcher
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For anyone like myself, who likes to get jobs done with the minimum of effort, I can thoroughly recommend the Kärcher Window Vac to make the job of cleaning windows a breeze.

Recently, either Morocco, or Africa has been sending over, via wind-mail, lots of very fine Sahara sand, most of which seems to have landed on my front windows giving them the appearance of glass covered by grubby, grey net curtains.

Previously, I would clean my windows by spraying with an appropriate window cleaning solution and rubbing vigorously to remove smears. However, when I cleaned the windows from the outside, they were never completely free from smears, simply because those dastardly smears seemed visible only from the inside. To reduce this problem and to save time, cleaning the outsides involved me leaning precariously out of the window to reach the outer edges, whilst clinging on for dear life with the other hand, but at least I did not have to keep traipsing in and out of the house to check for and remove smears.

I was always relieved when finished, at having managed to remain uninjured, apart from a knuckle scrape or two from the walls and occasional bruised elbow, when squeezing my arm through a narrow gap to clean the smaller opening window.

Just as I was beginning to explore the possibility of getting a professional window cleaner to do the outside windows for me, a friend introduced me to their Kärcher window vac, impressed, I bought my own.

The Kärcher Window Vac. Model WV50
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I might add here that there are two models the WV50 and the WV50-plus. The only difference between to the two models is that the WV50 does not come with a spray bottle with wiper accessory.

As usual, I trawled the internet, having found there were no shops locally stocking the Kärcher window cleaner. Amazon came up trumps yet again and I ordered one on line. The cost to me was £46-95 with super saver free delivery. Within three days it arrived by Royal Mail, parcel delivery.

Specifications:
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Weight with attachment in place: 681g (1.5 lbs)
Total length: 35.5cm (14-inches)
Li-ion battery: 3.6V
Rated power: 12W
Sound level: 54dB
Operating time on full charge: 20 mins
Battery charger output : 5.5V
The package contents included the charger, and a 115-page instruction manual in 28 languages. Five pages of which are in English.

Description
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The Kärcher Window Vac, comes in two parts, the attachment fitted with black, rubber blades called lips, both of which are replaceable , and a bright yellow body, housing the motor in the centre and battery at the end; an opaque water collection tank, with a rubber bung covering a drainage hole is fixed permanently under the main body. The tank is marked to indicate the maximum volume (100ml) of water it can hold before it needs emptying.

At the rear end of the body is a black base on which to stand the unit in an upright position when not in use or when charging the battery, the charging socket is recessed into the back of the stand.
A little light above the socket will blink when the unit is charging and remains illuminated once charging is complete.
Under the handle is the on/off button.

Spare parts can be bought for all Kärcher appliances from www.käercher.com. At the back of the manual, there is a pictorial illustration of the different parts of the whole unit and their positions relative to each other. Each have a catalogue number should a replacement be required. I have not tried to take it apart to see how easy or difficult it might be.

Use and opinion:
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It arrived neatly packaged in its colourful box, and all I had to do was clip the attachment onto the main body and charge the battery for a little over an hour, it normally takes about 2 hours to fully charge but it had arrived already partially charged.

I sponged the frames and each windowpane with ordinary soapy water, to loosen any grime; there was plenty of that on the frames, including a few cobwebs. What did not reach the intended destination, flowed freely down my arm.

I then pulled the lips of the Kärcher vac straight down and across the glass. All the water and suds, were sucked into the tank, usually leaving a dry, smear free pane, although it did leave a slight smear once in a while where the soapy water had dried before it had been vacuumed off. I found it better to wash and vacuum one pane before moving on the next. For larger windowpanes, I was more successful cleaning and drying one-half at a time.

I also liked the fact that it also was useful in drying the frames preventing droplets falling onto the glass after cleaning. What is more, I did not have any grubby chamois leathers to rinse afterwards.

Of course, the usefulness of the Kärcher Vac does not stop at windows, it can be used for cleaning other surfaces, such as tiles or worktops and even cleaning up minor spills of none corrosive liquids from floors. It would be ideal for drying tiles in wet rooms or small shower rooms. I used it once to dry my car windows before driving off, after it has rained. The tank is simple to empty, by pulling out the rubber bung and tipping the unit. To clean any grime it is simple enough to carefully pour water into the tank and swill any bits out.

I did try dipping the lips into a bowl of water to suck up water to clean the tank, at the time, it did seem the logical way of filling it with clean water... Not to be recommended; water sprayed everywhere, fortunately, no damage was done.

I am not so sure it saved me a lot of time because I had to fetch and use a stepladder, but the actual process of cleaning the windows was quicker and less finicky than the methods I had used previously to do the same task.

Because of the mess washing the windows down with soapy water would create indoors, I do not use the Kärcher to clean the insides of my windows, but continue there with my previous spray and elbow grease method.