175 eye opener..

[Mikey P]

Do you remember the first time you really pre scrubbed a carpet?
I'm not talking with your shoe or a lame Grandi Groomer, I mean with a 175 floor machine or maybe a Cimex or CRB?

What was your reaction?

I did this back in my POG/Millers days but when I went to Coitus I sold the 175 off thinking a TM wouldn't need prescrubing.


Boy was I wrong.


I got by for many year without scrubbing by using way too much pre spray, heavy rinse agents and too many wand passes.

When I hit the streets myself I got a 175 for a song at a used tool joint.
These days I would go home and sulk if I didn't have my 175 broke down on me.



Oh and the Post Padding, don't get me started on the Posting...

Got to love it.

 

[Dolly Llama]

Do you remember the first time you really pre scrubbed a carpet?


quote]

yep.
shortly after i started in biz.
The TM and various equipment I bought when i started included a 1.5hp 175 w/tank.
The first time I used it was on hotel restaurant.
I used the shampoo brush.

Shortly after that i tried some bonnet cleaning.
i discovered I preferred pre-scrubbing with green striped bonnets over the shampoo brush.

What we roto scrub most, is soiled CGD.
just makes everything better and easier


..L.T.A.

 

[Guest]

So tell us again, Why do you need a 175 AND a vortex??

 

[Mikey P]

Heat, Flow and Suck does not remove everything Plumber boy. Makes for a great rinser but you still have to use some tact.


I prefer A over TCT.


Your ignert rookieness is showing.

 

[Guest]

I mean do ya really need a kajillion CFMs and 800 degrees of heat?

Couldn't ya do it with a measly 400 CFMs and 200 degrees?

Ha, you called me boy!! At least I don't cross my legs like a girl.

 

[Mikey P]

Sure I could but I couldn't do it two at a time.

That's the whole point.

 

[Chads]

I did my first scrub with a 13'' slow speed buffer the other day and I could tell the difference in the cleaning.
It was one of my apartment complex.I would like to see what the difference would be with a 17'' 175 buffer and also
what type of pads to use I had a nylon bristled pad driver the bristles are about 2 inches long.

 

[Guest]

I've only used a rex for scrubbing.

As soon as I can find a low rpm machine at a price I can afford, I'll be much happier.

 

[Guest]

What's a V go for, about ninety grand?


Why not buy THREE TM's in regular vans instead of ONE VORteX?


Or buy two TM's and put the rest in your retirement fund.

Until I found the boards and heard you talk about the V, I thought Butler had the Cadillac of TMs.

 

[Mikey P]

Mine was 72.

 

[Jim Morrison]

I got tired of hearing you, Dobs, and Charlie Brown preach the benefits of a rotary over on ICS a couple years ago. So I went out and bought a Minuteman rotary.

First time out put it on a carpet similar to the one Chad posted above. Lack of prespray and experience had the unit jumping all over the room till it tripped the breaker. I don't use it a lot, but it gets used on restaurants and occasionally on other cgd. Would like to do more experimenting with post padding on burber and offer more commercial pad capping.

 

[Kevin B]

How could you even clean without a rotary? I don't bring it in on all jobs, but it comes in on about 20% of jobs I would say.

 

[steve frasier]

mine was $84,000.

I have added 2 accounts that make up half the payment and expanding residential shouldn't be that hard if I try.

I can't fit the tools I want to carry in a extended cargo van without over loading it. Or you have to pull everything out of the back and put it in the front, waste of time.

We do a lot of building where we will clean the carpet, VCT/sheet vinyl, windows, etc all on the same visit. Was taking 2 vehicles to a lot of jobs.

By the time I buy a box truck and above average TM, a Vortex isn't that much more money for twice the TM and vehicle

We are a 2 person company, being able to dual wand and do it right should make most jobs go faster. Won't have to figure out where I am going to dump dirty water or where I am going to hook up a water hose

Is it worth $84,000. It is if you can afford it. If you want one then you better buy it soon before it becomes more money. I also looked at it as an investment. It should hold value better then the normal van and TM.

If it don't work out then I can sell it later

I very rarely do a job any more without some type of dual method

 

[Jimmy L]

I keep my 175/300 rotary on my truck but seldom switch to 175.

300 will buzz over real quick.

Also use the synthetic bonnets.

 

[jerry ACC]

IICRC CCT class did not cover rotary tool work. Is this used primarily on real nasty carpet and commercial ? How can you possibly justify the time involved in pre-vac, rotary agitation, then HWE and post grooming ? Wouldn't this take forever ? I do all of the steps except rotary is switched with Pre-Spray and agitating with a grandi. Would the Rotary just be used on a smaller percentage of jobs ?

 

[Goldenboy]

My Host machine does a better job of pre-scrubbin.

Golden Boy

 

[Mikey P]

IICRC CCT class did not cover rotary tool work. Is this used primarily on real nasty carpet and commercial ? How can you possibly justify the time involved in pre-vac, rotary agitation, then HWE and post grooming ? Wouldn't this take forever ? I do all of the steps except rotary is switched with Pre-Spray and agitating with a grandi. Would the Rotary just be used on a smaller percentage of jobs ?

Rotary scrubbing a 1000 ft job could take up to 15 minutes.

But it will save me 20 to 30 by only needing one pass to rinse.

 

[Jim Nazarian]

Rotary scrubbing a 1000 ft job could take up to 15 minutes.

But it will save me 20 to 30 by only needing one pass to rinse.

Many times I try to skip the scrub & end up kicking myself for being lazy, I end up spending more time & energy rinsing as well, nasties & heavily soiled always get scrubbed with the HOS/Vento its the border line soil that ends up taking forever to rinse.

 

[John Buxton]

It makes all the difference on restaurant carpets. Saves a heck of a lot of back work. I scrub with hog hair pads, and post with cotton bonnets.

I may try my Cimex on the next nasty CGD, but then I coiuldn't post bonnet unless I buy those 8" bonnets. Anyone done that?

 

[Eric Valentine]

My Host machine does a better job of pre-scrubbin.

Golden Boy

Gotta love that it is only about 40 pounds too. Hard to beat a good CRB to sre-scrub with. It also works well when pre-vacuuming to runit before to pile lift and bring the crap to the surface for the vacuum.

 

[rhyde]

i think Steve nailed the biggest point. beyond the power & performance issues it's a platform for everything a cleaner does in a home or business. How many of you guys have needed run back to the shop to pick up tools or drop stuff off or pick up something you forgot that's generally not keep on the truck because it takes up too much space?


I had a good one I cleaned carpet at remodel about a month ago added an addition to the home owner was having a party Saturday( this was Friday morning) . The plumber's where there working and the water was shut off to the home and would be for awhile the client was freaking until i told her we carry our own water she gave us a 50.00 tip....basically for carrying our own water?


as for a 175 it's something i started after reading this board

 

[Mikey P]

I have a GLS that weighs more then the HOST and find it can't compare with scrubbing loose greasy soils.

 

[Rescue]

This was awesome! It was very beneficial for me since I don't have a floor machine. I have heard GLS, Host and Cimex.....any others? I know what the Cimex is but what about the other two. Are they the names of the equipment or just abbreviation's. I am going to buy one next week just need a little input on the differences. Money is not a worry as long as it is under 3K. Do any of you uses these machine to scrub tile/grout?

Joe

 

[Dolly Llama]

This was awesome! It was very beneficial for me since I don't have a floor machine. I have heard GLS, Host and Cimex.....any others? I know what the Cimex is but what about the other two. Are they the names of the equipment or just abbreviation's. I am going to buy one next week just need a little input on the differences. Money is not a worry as long as it is under 3K. Do any of you uses these machine to scrub tile/grout?

Joe

Host and GLS are both counter rotating cylinder brush machines, Joe.

I've nevere used a GLS in the real world, only demos.
I did own and used a Host machine.
A rotary kicks it butt as far as scrubbing goes
(that's on carpet, i know little to nothing about tile and grout)


..L.T.A.

 

[RandyHilburn]

I've occasionally used our 175 on commercial jobs, but can't remember the last time I brought it into a residential. Recently, I've considered buying a pile lifter vacuum, but was wondering if they are worth the money? Anybody have an opinion about the value of such a purchase? - Thanks

 

[Mikey P]

The CRB machines ( GLS, HOST, ProCaps etc) work great on tile and grout.

Unlike standard floor machines (175 rpms refers to it's speed) or a Cimex which both splatter the juice and mud around too much.

CRBs make decent shampooers and are great at pre scrubbing matted and pet hair infested wall to walls as well.

 

[hogjowl]

I have owned a GLS for somewhere around 5 or 6 years now and love it for certain things, but I agree with Mikey that for prescrubbing prior to hwe you just can't beat a 175. Especially if you have a brush on it instead of a pad or bonnet.

 

[Rescue]

Mikey-

Thanks for the info. I think I am going to buy the pro-cap, and a 175 (I don't which one). Does anyone have any favorite 175 machines? Also, you said the GLS/procap works great for scrubbing tile/grout. I have been scrubbing manually and it seems time consuming. I prefer to do the grout lines manually but it would nice to have a scrubber like you have. Is it messy and then do you rinse with a turbo hybrid afterwards?

Great info...thanks again!!

Joe

 

[hogjowl]

The CRB is less messy than a rotary when using it to srub tile, and it does a better job of scrubbing the grout. You won't need a grout brush except for the edges.

 

[Mikey P]

The key to using a CRB on grout is getting the apex of the brush roll('s) to sit in the grout line for a second or so.


I would suggest a Advance floor machine.