Cordless Pressure Washer with Tank UK (2026)

A cordless pressure washer with tank is for the job where there is no outdoor tap. A paved front garden that only has a kitchen mixer. A car park. A campervan pitch. An allotment standpipe that is a walk away. You fill the machine indoors, roll it to the work, and you are not dragging a hose through the house.

It is a narrower buy than a handheld battery gun. The cordless pressure washer guide already covers Worx, Ryobi and Greenworks, which siphon from a bucket. Those are lighter and usually stronger. They are the wrong tool if you refuse to carry water separately. This page is only the machines that bring the water with them: a trolley tank, or a case that fills as a tank.

Three UK-stocked models do that job in August 2026. Bosch Fontus Gen II, 15 litres. Kärcher OC 6-18 Premium, 12 litres. Makita DHW080ZK, a 50 litre case. Everything else with a jug on it is a rinser or thin-stock trade tool.

Water is heavy. One litre is one kilogram. A Fontus on a full tank is around 22 to 25 kg on its wheels. The Kärcher is a bit lighter. The Makita case at 50 litres is not something you lift. You fill it where you will use it. If that sentence puts you off, buy a siphon gun and a jerry can instead.

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Quick picks

Comparison table

Model	Tank	Pressure	Weight empty	Weight full (approx.)	Runtime (claimed)	Typical UK price (Aug 2026)
Bosch Fontus Gen II	15 L trolley, or a tap	20 bar	Bosch lists 6.4 kg without battery. Wickes lists 9.43 kg as sold	About 22 to 25 kg	Up to 60 min on 2.5Ah. The tank empties first	Kits £228 Howe, £269 Machine Mart, £275 Wickes. Bosch DIY lists the kit at £305
Kärcher OC 6-18 Premium	12 L trolley, or a tap. Suction hose extra	24 bar	5.7 kg without accessories	About 18 to 20 kg	12 min on 2.5Ah, 24 min on 5.0Ah	Trafalgar Battery Set £229. Comparison sites £240 to £300. SW Cleaning £299
Makita DHW080ZK	50 L case, self-prime, or a tap	55 bar working, 80 bar max	7.1 to 7.9 kg with batteries, tank empty	Do not lift it. 50 kg of water plus the case	15 min high / 34 min low on 2 × 6.0Ah	From £339 at Alan Wadkins. Howe Tools £396. Amazon buy-box not captured

Prices checked 16 August 2026. Kits and bare tools are different SKUs. Always confirm whether a battery and charger are in the box. Full-tank weights are arithmetic (1 L = 1 kg) added to the published empty figures, not a weighed test on this site.

Bosch Fontus Gen II

Best cordless pressure washer with tank for most UK homes

• Buy: Howe Tools kit £228 (was £240), 2.5Ah battery and charger in the box · Wickes £275 · Machine Mart kit £269, bare unit £209 · Bosch DIY lists the kit at £305 and the bare tool at £251
• Part numbers: kit 06008B6171, bare 06008B6102
• Pressure: 20 bar, low / medium / turbo
• Flow: about 1.5 to 3.1 L/min (90 to 186 L/h)
• Battery: 18V Power For All. Most street kits include a 2.5Ah pack and charger. Bosch recommends 2.0Ah or larger
• Water: 15 L built-in tank, or a garden tap. 4 m PVC hose
• Weight: 6.4 kg without battery on the Bosch DIY sheet. Wickes prints 9.43 kg for the unit they sell. Add 15 kg when the tank is full
• Runtime: Bosch claims up to 60 minutes on the 2.5Ah pack. That is battery time, not tank time
• In the box (typical kit): trolley, tank, gun, SmartBrush, 2.5Ah pack, charger
• Who it is for: a house with no outdoor tap, a caravan, an allotment, or anyone who wants to fill once at the kitchen sink and roll the machine to the car

This is the default tank trolley. Fifteen litres is enough for bikes, furniture, boots and a careful rinse of a small car. It is not enough for a dirty family hatchback on one fill. Plan on a refill, or clip the inlet to a tap if one is there.

Twenty bar is modest. Bosch positions the Fontus for cars, bikes, furniture, windows and boots, not for a mossy patio. Four spray patterns sit on the gun: pencil, 15° fan, 50° fan, shower. The SmartBrush is in the box because pressure alone will not shift everything. Use it on wheels and window frames. Leave the pencil jet off paint.

The 18V pack is the Power For All battery used across Bosch DIY garden tools, and across other brands in that alliance. If you already own those packs, buy the bare tool. If you do not, the Howe Tools kit at £228 is the cleanest complete price on this check. Wickes at £275 is the high-street option. Confirm the battery is in the Wickes box before you pay the extra. Bosch’s own £305 list is not the price to pay.

A full tank is the catch. Empty, the Fontus is a manageable trolley. Full, it is 15 kg of water plus the plastic. The wheels exist for that reason. Drain it before the boot.

The 60 minute claim is the battery, not the tank. At the higher flow the water is gone in well under ten minutes of trigger time. Foam first, rinse with purpose.

Skip it if you always have a tap and you want more punch. A handheld from the cordless guide is lighter and stronger. Skip it if you already live on Makita LXT and you will use 55 bar. Skip it if 6 litres for a bike is all you need. That is the Fontus 18V-6, under what we left out.

Kärcher OC 6-18 Premium

Best tank trolley if you already run Kärcher 18V

• Buy: Kärcher Centre Trafalgar Battery Set £229 inc VAT · Kärcher UK product page (no live list price captured) · comparison sites typically £240 to £300 · South West Cleaning Equipment £299
• Part number: 1.328-522.0 (Battery Set). Trafalgar code K1328522
• Pressure: 24 bar, medium-pressure. Not a K 2
• Flow: 200 L/h
• Battery: 18V Kärcher Battery Power. The Battery Set includes a 2.5Ah pack and the standard charger. Trafalgar’s own copy also says the battery is sold separately. Treat the £229 SKU as the set with the pack in the box, and confirm before you pay
• Water: 12 L trolley tank, or a tap. Optional suction hose sold separately
• Weight: 5.7 kg without accessories. About 18 to 20 kg with a full tank and the 2.5Ah pack
• Runtime: up to 12 minutes on 2.5Ah, 24 minutes on 5.0Ah
• Size: 349 × 321 × 586 mm
• Who it is for: Kärcher 18V owners, and anyone who wants a branded trolley for bikes, toys, camping kit and garden furniture

Kärcher does not currently push a widely stocked high-pressure battery K-series washer in the UK. The OC 6-18 is the cordless trolley you can actually buy here. It is a medium-pressure cleaner, not a mains K4 from the Kärcher hub. Twenty-four bar sits a little above the Fontus and a long way below a mains K4. Kärcher says the 12 litre tank is enough for three to five dirty bikes on one fill. That is a manufacturer claim, not a count from this site. It is a believable bike figure. It is tight for a car.

The trolley is the product. Large wheels, telescopic handle, gun and lance clip on for the walk from the tap to the pitch. If a tap is there, you can run it without the tank. The suction hose that would let you draw from a bucket is extra. That is a poor omission if you wanted both a tank and a fallback.

Runtime on the included 2.5Ah pack is short. Twelve minutes is enough for furniture or a couple of bikes. It is not enough for a leisurely car wash. If you already own a 5.0Ah 18V Kärcher battery, use that. Trafalgar sells the 5.0Ah pack at £100. Foam jet and wash brush are extras too.

Do not mix this up with the OC 3 family. The current UK rinser is the OC 3 Foldable, an 8 litre foldable jug at about 5 bar. The older OC 3 Plus was a 7 litre version of the same idea. Fine for muddy boots and a dog after a walk. They are not pressure washers in the sense this page means, and they are not in the cards above.

Trafalgar at £229 including VAT is the clearest specialist figure on this check. Comparison sites sit around £240 to £300. A live Amazon buy-box was not captured. South West Cleaning at £299 is the price you pay if you do not shop around.

Skip it if you are not already on Kärcher 18V. The Fontus has a bigger tank and a cheaper complete kit. Skip it if you want 40 bar-plus in a gun you can throw in the boot. That is still the handhelds on the cordless page.

Makita DHW080ZK

Best tank machine if you need real pressure

• Buy: Alan Wadkins Toolstore £339 · Power Tool World about £340 (live page blocked this check) · Howe Tools £396 · Amazon.co.uk listing exists, buy-box not captured
• Pressure: 30 to 55 bar working, 80 bar max. High and low modes
• Flow: about 330 L/h on high, 240 L/h rated. Some UK shops print 380 L/h max
• Battery: two 18V LXT packs in series (36V). None in the box. Makita wants 5.0Ah or 6.0Ah
• Water: storage case doubles as a 50 L tank. Self-priming up to 1 m. 5.5 m high-pressure hose. Or a tap
• Weight: 7.1 to 7.7 kg for the unit, about 8.0 to 8.3 kg with batteries, tank empty. The full case is a water-butt on wheels. Fill it in place
• Runtime: 15 minutes high / 34 minutes low with 2 × 6.0Ah
• Who it is for: trades and homeowners already deep in Makita LXT who need to wash a van, plant or a dirty car away from a 13A socket

This is the only pick that behaves like a small pressure washer rather than a powered hose. Self-prime, two pressure modes, a real high-pressure hose, and a 50 litre case you can fill from a tap or a water butt. IPX5 wet-guard if the battery cover is closed. Fifty litres is a different conversation from 12 or 15. You can do a proper wash without walking back to the kitchen.

It is also the expensive one. Body-only from about £339, then two decent LXT batteries and a charger if you do not already own them. That can push a first-time buy well past £500. For that money a mains Kärcher K4 or K5 will clean a driveway faster, if you have a tap and a socket.

Buy it if the batteries are already on the shelf and the job is away from both. Do not buy it as a casual patio toy, and do not buy it if you thought “tank” meant a 10 kg trolley you lift into a Fiesta. The case has wheels. Use them. Fifty kilograms of water plus plastic is a two-person lift and a strained back if you ignore that.

Alan Wadkins at £339 is the clean live specialist price on this check. Howe Tools at £396 is the same body-only SKU for more money. Amazon third-party listings have sat higher. A £328 figure from another tool shop appeared in search and was not re-fetched, so treat it as unverified.

Skip it if you are starting from zero on batteries. The Fontus kit does the no-tap household jobs at half the outlay. Skip it if the car lives on a drive with a tap. That is a mains washer from the cars page.

How to choose

Tank litres versus the job

Litres are the first number, not bar.

• Under 8 litres. Bike, boots, a dog, a barbecue. The OC 3 Foldable and the compact Fontus 18V-6 live here. They are rinsers. They do not belong in the cards above.
• 12 to 15 litres. The useful household tank. Furniture, a couple of bikes, a careful car rinse with a refill. Fontus and OC 6-18.
• 50 litres. A real wash of a van or a dirty car without walking back inside. Makita only, in this UK set.

A dirty family car drinks water. Snow foam, mitt, rinse. Fifteen litres will get you through the rinse if you are disciplined. It will not get you through foam and rinse and a second pass on the wheels. Either refill, or plug the trolley into a tap when you are on the drive.

When a siphon gun is better

A tank trolley is slower to fetch and heavier to store. Buy a handheld from the cordless guide instead if any of these are true:

• You have a water butt, a bucket or a tap within a hose length of the job.
• You want the machine to live in the boot, not the shed.
• You want 40 bar or more on a car.
• You already own Worx 20V or Ryobi 18V batteries and you do not want a third family.

The tank wins when the water is the problem, not the pressure. No outdoor tap. A pitch. A car park. A front garden where a hose through the hall is the thing you are trying to stop.

Battery platform

The washer is often cheaper than the batteries. Start with the packs you already own.

• Bosch 18V Power For All: Fontus. Bare tool if you have packs, kit if you do not.
• Kärcher 18V Battery Power: OC 6-18. The 2.5Ah pack in the Battery Set is short. A 5.0Ah pack is the one that makes a car rinse less stop-start.
• Makita 18V LXT: DHW080ZK. Two packs. 5.0Ah or 6.0Ah. Do not turn up with 2.0Ah slides.

A 2Ah pack is a bike-and-boots battery on every one of these pumps. Capacity matters more than the voltage printed on the rail.

Tap fallback

All three picks can run from a garden tap. You buy the tank for the days there is no tap. You clip a hose on for the days there is.

If you always have a tap, you do not need this page. You need a mains machine for cars or a handheld cordless for convenience.

Weight when full

Add one kilogram per litre to the empty weight. A full Fontus is roughly 22 to 25 kg on its wheels. The OC 6-18 is a bit less. The Makita case is 50 kg of water plus the box, so you fill it where it will sit. If you cannot roll a 25 kg trolley over a gravel strip, the Fontus is the wrong shape for your front garden, however good the tank looks on paper.

What we left out

Handheld siphon models. Worx Nitro HydroShot, Ryobi RY18PWX41A, Greenworks G24PW. They do not carry water. If that is what you actually want, use the parent cordless guide. They are not picks here.

Bosch Fontus 18V-6 Bike Cleaner. Official UK page, 6 litre tank, 20 bar, 4.4 kg, 13 minutes claimed on a 2.0Ah pack. Bosch DIY lists the solo tool at £161.05. Street bare tools have sat around £130 to £143. It is a genuine tank, and it is the right size for a muddy bike at a trailhead. It is not a household trolley. Six litres will not wash a car.

Kärcher OC 3 family. Low pressure, about 5 bar. The current UK model is the OC 3 Foldable, an 8 litre foldable jug. Argos has been at £110 (was £140). Comparison sites from about £110. B&Q has listed £109.99; that page was down on this check. The older 7 litre OC 3 Plus no longer has a clean Kärcher UK URL, and some Amazon Plus listings look like US stock. A rinser, not a washer.

Kärcher OC 4 Multijet. Official UK page, 8 litre tank, low pressure. A live UK street price was not captured. Same job as the OC 3. Not a pick.

HiKOKI AW18DBLW4Z. 8 litre tank, 20 bar, body only, about £290 to £330. Smaller tank than the Fontus for more money. Only if you already live on HiKOKI slides.

Parkside (Lidl), Titan (Screwfix own-brand) and Ferrex (Aldi). Widely sold when the promotion calendar says so. We do not recommend them here.

Generic no-name 21V Amazon guns with a plastic bottle clipped on. Spares and safety marking are a lottery. Stick to a brand that still sells batteries in five years.

FAQ

What is the best cordless pressure washer with tank in the UK right now?

The Bosch Fontus Gen II for most homes. Fifteen litres, wheels, a complete kit from £228, and it will clip to a tap when you have one. Buy the Kärcher OC 6-18 instead if you already own Kärcher 18V batteries. Buy the Makita if you already own LXT packs and you need 55 bar and 50 litres.

Do I need a tank, or will a bucket do?

A bucket does, if you are willing to fill it and park it next to the car. That is how the handhelds work. You need a tank when there is no tap, no butt and no appetite for carrying water as a second object. The tank is convenience, not magic.

How long does the water last?

At the higher flow, 12 to 15 litres is a few minutes of trigger time, not an hour. Bosch’s 60 minute claim is the battery. Kärcher’s 12 minutes on 2.5Ah is the battery, and the 12 litre tank will not outlast a long wash either. Fifty litres on the Makita is the first tank on this page that feels like a full car wash. Refill is normal. Foam first, rinse second, do not hold the trigger while you stand and look.

Can a tank machine wash a car?

Yes, as a wash, not as a blast. Shampoo or foam, mitt, then rinse. The Fontus and the OC 6-18 will rinse a small car if you refill. The Makita has the pressure and the volume for a dirtier job. None of them replace a tap-fed mains washer for a weekly family-fleet clean. That is the cars page. Paint distance and foam order sit on the how to use a pressure washer page.

How much does a full tank weigh?

Add one kilogram per litre to the empty weight. Fontus, roughly 22 to 25 kg. OC 6-18, roughly 18 to 20 kg. Makita case, 50 kg of water plus the box. Roll the trolleys. Fill the Makita where it will sit. Drain before you lift anything into a car.

Is the Kärcher OC 3 a pressure washer?

No. It is a low-pressure rinser with a small tank. The current UK version is the OC 3 Foldable at about £110. Useful for boots, a bike and a dog. Not useful for road film on a car, and not a substitute for the OC 6-18.

Which battery should I buy?

The one you already own, if it fits. Otherwise: Fontus kit with the 2.5Ah pack, then a spare if you wash a car. OC 6-18 Battery Set, then a 5.0Ah if you already have Kärcher tools. Makita, two 5.0Ah or 6.0Ah LXT packs, never the tiny ones.