Buying a vacuum cleaner or powered cleaning gadget is a tricky ordeal even if you narrowed down your preference to just a few brands. Brands who have been making vacuums for years already know that a single product can’t do every single task even if you introduce swappable accessories. We’ve reviewed a lot of vacuums and floor cleaners and in this post we’re checking out the Karcher FC 5 Hard Floor cleaner.
This unique floor cleaning gadget has just arrived for us to test and review. We’ll spend some time with it coming up and provide a full review after testing.
What is the Karcher FC 5 Hard Floor Cleaner?
The Karcher FC 5 aims to be the tool of choice for cleaning any kind of hard floor surface whether it is tile, vinyl, PVC, laminate, sealed wood, waxed wood, or stone. As long as the floor is sealed, hard, and dirty, the FC 5 is up for the task. Karcher FC 5 clearly has its eyes set on customers who are looking at devices like the Tineco Floor One S5, and the Roborock Dyad Pro… both of which we have reviewed here. There appear to be two versions of this cleaner: one model uses AC power and has a cord, and a cordless version too.
The FC 5 is technically a vacuum in the sense that it suctions dirt and other messes but the dual roller arrangement allows the cleaner to do double duty by mopping and polishing the floor on the same pass, eliminating the need to scrub. This type of dual functionality puts the FC 5 into a category we’ve taken to calling hybrid floor cleaners.
What’s in the box?
The Karcher FC 5 floor washer unit comes with the rollers preinstalled and it involves a little bit of assembly before you can set to work. The handle is connected to the unit via a thick wire but you need to attach it by aligning the handle grooves against the body and slowly slide it in until the handle snaps in place.
Also included in the box is what Karcher describes as a “Cleaning and Parking Station” which is basically a plastic base where you rest the floor washer upright. This floor washer cannot stand on its own so you need to place it on this dock when you aren’t using it. Because this stand also serves as a self-cleaning station, you may fill up the dock with a bit of clean water and let the vacuum run to quickly clean the rollers in preparation for the next big hard floor washing task. Finally, you get a small 30 ml sample of Karcher-branded cleaning solution and a thick instruction manual.
Karcher FC 5 Hard Floor Cleaner Components
Knowing the different parts of the FC 5 and how to set up the floor washer is crucial to getting the best first impression. Let’s go over them one by one.
Dual Microfiber Rollers
The Karcher FC 5 harf floor cleaner boasts a powerful 460-watt motor that can spin the dual 300 mm microfiber rollers at high speeds. Both rollers are washing machine safe and you can easily remove them by gently twisting the side of the roller while slowly pulling it out.
Clean and Dirty Water Tanks
Identifying which tank you place the clean water in is quite simple. Just remember that the narrow tank on the front is where you combine the fresh hot or cold water with the cleaning solution. You can tell as soon as you pull out the narrow tank and notice the quick guide in filling the tank along with a black stopper which you can pull out to reveal the hole for filling. The “Max” line clearly indicates the point you don’t want to exceed when filling the tank.
The back of the floor washer houses the wider dirty water tank. Pressing down on the tank’s handle lets you easily pull it out for emptying. From there, you just remove the lid and dump out the dirty liquid. Always make it a habit to empty this tank before filling the clean water tank with water to make sure you don’t accidentally overfill the dirty water tank while cleaning. The lid of the dirty water tank also contains a mesh filter which you can quickly rinse when it gets dirty.
Cord Management Handle
On the back of the handle, you’ll find two hooks for wrapping the power cable around so it doesn’t look so unsightly when you are resting the floor washer. One cool little trick you can do to quickly plug the unit into the wall socket is to twist the bottom hook so it points upward so you can quickly take out the coiled cable.
Using the Karcher FC 5
Operating the Karcher FC 5 is as easy as pressing the power button on the handle. There are no settings or switches to worry about. The rollers will start spinning setting Karcher’s SmartRollers into motion. The microfiber rollers are highly absorbent and remove dirty moisture. For the best cleaning performance, add about 1.7 ounces of fresh water to the storage station, place the floor washer on the stand and let the wheels spin to moisten them up.
Watch for the full review coming soon… Meantime you can check out the price and availability here.
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