Karcher SC3 Steam Cleaner Red Light Flashing Repair 

For the problem when the Red Water light stays continuously on (implying there is no water), when there is water in the machine and it warms up, I found the problem was the floating water sensor had gotten stuck (probably because it hadn't been used for several months, and as the machine had dried out, the floating plastic had just gotten stuck at the bottom). The solution was a) turn the machine off; b) pullout the descaler c) look inside where the water goes (put some water in if you haven't already) - at the back/bottom of the tank you'll see a round gray piece of plastic about 2cm in diameter. This is meant to float upwards when there's water in the tank. d) use a clean stick (I used a chopstick) to prod the gray plastic - it doesn't take much, but once free, you'll see it float upwards 1 cm etc, and when you push down on it, it will float back up. That's all that's required - once the plastic is freely moving/floating up and down, put the descaler back in, turn the machine on, and the red water light will no longer be on (as it will now register as having water in the tank). Hope this works....

Ich hatte das gleiche Problem, allerdings brachte die Lösung wie im Video gezeigt keine Besserung. Lösung bei mir war die Filterkartusche raus zu nehmen und das Granulat in der Kartusche zu lockern (leichtes auf den Boden klopfen). Anscheinend hatte sich das Granulat in der Kartusche über die Standzeit so verdichtet, dass kein Wasser mehr durchfließen konnte. Danke auf jeden Fall für das tolle Video 👍🏻

Worked perfectly. Thank you.

Thank you for this tip. It did the trick. Back in business.

Danke für das Video. Bei mir hatte der Kärcher auch nach einer sehr langen Standzeit einfach den Dienst verweigert. Rote Lampe leuchtet obwohl es voll mit wasser war. Es hat in dem Zustand überhaupt gar nicht versucht Wasser überhaupt anzusaugen. Mit diesem Trick ging es sofort auf anhieb wieder. Dass dies weder in der Betriebsanleitung noch auf der Kärcher Website erwähnt wird ist auch sehr fragwürdig.

Do you find that the SC3 drops pressure and builds up again mine does it all the time and its frustrating !

Thank you sooooooo much ❤❤ This worked first time ❤❤❤

Kärcher service advised me to rinse the descaling cartridge with warm weater (or replace) and it fixed the problem. I also filled the steamer with warm water.

Thank you so much! Good fix!

You saved my life thank you so much 🌹

many thanks this solved my problem

Thank you for sharing super video

Another superb video.. Greattt review dear..

Boom!! I'm back in business...... thanks 👍🏻

A day saver video 😊

That trick about the float worked perfectly - thank you very much!

The best video 😊

Hi beautiful cool thank you for sharing

merci rester sur reset , et marche ensuite ça ma bien aidé 👍👍👍👍 j'ai mis un peu de vinaigre blanc dans l'eau !! en espérant que c'est pas néfaste

Smart J ^^

Thank you

I'm afraid this didn't help the issue in my machine. I saw some grey substance (dirt?) at the mouth of descaler and scrubbed it off, then shook it to get some water off inside it and put it back in. I started hearing moving water sound like it was filling up the descaler (what should happen right?) and got hopeful but after longer time than usual it started flashing again. It's probably clogged inside the descaler as is it yellow-ish inside.

اشكرك🌹🌹🌹

Thanks

thanks👍👍👍👍👏

How can I solve this

Danke

So you have reset the descaler setting to Very hard water. By pressing the RESET button again while it is flashing you can change the setting to softer water (it will go for longer before requiring a filter cartridge change). You then need to hold the RESET button down for 3 seconds to save the setting. It's in the manual but not very clear.

The steam is lukewarm instead of hot is this normal?

OMG mine is new and I hate it! I can’t even turn it on?

le voyant rouge reste allumé est ce grave?

Mine still flashes red. Water is full :(

had exactly the same issue. my best mate slash flatmate and i had a huge fight over this, she ended up buying a garment steamer for my birthday (it wasnt even my birthday yet) if only i saw this video first! but good to have a working steamer now!

that pomp is broken :)) i cant see steam coming out :))

Didn't work for me. Still won't start up. This is first time use. 🤷‍♀️

Why does my sc3 steam cut out

throw that garbage and buy a heavy duty chief steamer