Hard surface blues

[Bryce C]

I almost gave up cleaning hard surfaces before I started cleaning hard surfaces. Even with the world's greatest hard surface wand my sauceless portable was leaving small puddles of water on the floor. It has two 3 stage vac motors and I'm only using 15 feet of 1.5" hose. Even under 200 psi it would still leave puddles on the floor at the beginning or end of my pass. Checked the jets, nothing obstructed.

Seems like I'm losing too much air out of the bristles and in the larger volume of the vacuum shoe compared to a carpet cleaning wand. Thought maybe some electrical tape might help for now since it costs a bit less than a truck mount.

It worked well enough. I had to trim the tape up because it was scream whistling with air rushing between it and the floor. Once that was remedied at pretty low psi I was able to effectively rinse an LVP floor after scrubbing it with a crb and some soft white brushes. Happy client, happy cleaner.

 

[Bryce C]

I'm wondering, if slow rinsing at 200 psi is all I'm able to do at the moment... can I make up for all that with chems, time, and scrubbing with either a 175 or crb and still do good work on vinyl and tile? Considering my current equipment, would a vacuum booster be a helpful and inexpensive addition to get before I attempt more hard surface cleaning?

 

[Living The Dream]

I'm wondering, if slow rinsing at 200 psi is all I'm able to do at the moment... can I make up for all that with chems, time, and scrubbing with either a 175 or crb and still do good work on vinyl and tile? Considering my current equipment, would a vacuum booster be a helpful and inexpensive addition to get before I attempt more hard surface cleaning?

Have you looked into the squeegee head vs the brushes? I think a booster would be a good investment if you're going to continue to use a portable. You can probably pick up a Mytee or Rotovac pretty cheap on the FB classifieds.

 

[Bryce C]

Have you looked into the squeegee head vs the brushes? I think a booster would be a good investment if you're going to continue to use a portable. You can probably pick up a Mytee or Rotovac pretty cheap on the FB classifieds.

Mike mentioned that to me, but that Westpac is coming out with one for my wand. Since the head is removeable though can I get affix some other make to it to get squeegee'n? Seems like that would probably help a ton.

Yea I may go ahead an grab a vac booster. I don't see us buying a truckmount for at least another 6 months or longer. Good call I'll look for a used one!

 

[Mikey P]

There's a 14" and a 6" squeegee head available

Cant see the 14" working with your liftless porty

 

[Bryce C]

There's a 14" and a 6" squeegee head available

Cant see the 14" working with your liftless porty

I'm thinking my current setup with a vac booster and a 25 foot hose as to not reassemble too often might be the ticket for now.

 

[Kenny Hayes]

Ok, here’s the same machine you have I believe using a pos wand Mikey sold me (that I just hooked for the first time). It’s sucking up at 500psi. Maybe the floor is high low or something. It shouldn’t be the machine.

 

[Mikey P]

If that piece of junk is working with the same machine that Bryce you're missing something crucial that's probably also affecting your carpet drying times I'm going to suggest you open up your machine and make sure there's not a hose that's been dislodged or plugged

 

[Bryce C]

Ok, here’s the same machine you have I believe using a pos wand Mikey sold me (that I just hooked for the first time). It’s sucking up at 500psi. Maybe the floor is high low or something. It shouldn’t be the machine.

Wut!

Thanks Kenny. Appreciate the test run. I have some troubleshooting to do then. We tested our setup on unfinished concrete and and two different lvp floors in different homes and got the same results until I adjusted my pressures lower and used electical tape around the bristles. Didn't even think about the level of the floor though. Could be part of what's happening. I noticed I had to hold the wand dead level even after modified to not leave any puddles behind.

 

[Bryce C]

If that piece of junk is working with the same machine that Bryce you're missing something crucial that's probably also affecting your carpet drying times I'm going to suggest you open up your machine and make sure there's not a hose that's been dislodged or plugged

We'll dang I'll do that right away.

 

[Kenny Hayes]

I guess I’ll start using that piece crap now.

 

[Kenny Hayes]

We'll dang I'll do that right away.

I don’t want to assume anything, but you do have both both pump switches on, right.? You can run just one pump on that machine.

 

[Bryce C]

I don’t want to assume anything, but you do have both both pump switches on, right.? You can run just one pump on that machine.

Good call. Yes I always run both pumps unless I've been working on some scary delicate/worn upholstery.

 

[Mikey P]

Good call. Yes I always run both pumps unless I've been working on some scary delicate/worn upholstery.

Open the machine up, you may have a kinked hose, or worse

 

[Bryce C]

Open the machine up, you may have a kinked hose, or worse

I have my biggest job yet tomorrow. I'll get up extra early and see if there's something simple I can spot wrong with it inside.

If I've been doing the work I have with a stunted vacuum that would be funny. Seems like it's performing the same as when I started using it 3 months ago. But it's my only frame of reference.

 

[hogjowl]

Bless your heart

 

[Bryce C]

Open the machine up, you may have a kinked hose, or worse

Couldn't spot anything. And compared to my other almost identical portable I ran a bit today the PEX has better suck. Maybe my technique is just blazingly retarded. I'll find my way, someday.

 

[hogjowl]

That retarded word will get you corrected by Jim Pemberton.
But the rest of us can identify.

 

[Bryce C]

There's a lot of correction going on in my world lately. Well, that's comforting.