Mikey P
Administrator
Drink a thirstytwoouncer of Concord grape juice and all hate will be exorcized.
It is interesting to talk about portables on this board. Mikey, Marty and Richard have violent negative reactions against them, yet haven't used them in decades and blast anyone who uses them. Modern portables like what Ed and John L make are far superior to the primitive machines from the 70s and 80s that those boys grew to loath. I've been using my Mytee portable in conjunction with the 360i on hundreds of jobs this past year and a half and love it's efficiency and economy. Thanks Ed for continuing to improve your machines, and I'm certain you will see exponential business growth as fuel powered truck mounts become less and less cost effective to operate compared to electric machines
Welcome, Ed,
You can't have enought thick skin and a sense of humor to post here.
Having had a larger gas TM with a 59 blower, a Fox, and smaller ones ranging from a 45-56 frame blowers, I'm suprisingly happy with the performance of my early Savage 1 ETM.
I had the opportunity last week while cleaning my wife's classroom at her school to measure the airflow on the district's Prochem Legend with 100' hose. The janitors had about 200' of hose out and were soaking one classroom when I went over after OP ing my wife's classroom. I brought the Exteck anenometer with me. Running wide open, and with a clean waste tank, that Legend pulled 178-182 cfm using the standard 4" reducing cone. My Savage pulls between 195-198 cfm at the same distance. The Legend is a popular machine and widely sold. I thought it would have better performance but the exteck and standard measuring protocol doesn't lie.
A lot of cleaners have built successful businesses with a Prochem Legend.
I'm finding that the move to a energy conserving hybrid cleaning system, electric power/propane heater has had a positive marketing response from the Prius crowd in Sonoma County. The green Biodiesel sticker on my Sprinter quietly assents to this ethos.
This model may not work for someone trying to build a large company with a lot of trucks, employees and, hopefully, revenue, but it has worked well for me.
There's a lot of places where alternate ( to a gas TM) cleaning machines are the best choice of tools. Ed has contributed greatly to this market.
I brought the Exteck anenometer with me. Running wide open, and with a clean waste tank, that Legend pulled 178-182 cfm using the standard 4" reducing cone. My Savage pulls between 195-198 cfm at the same distance. The Legend is a popular machine and widely sold. I thought it would have better performance but the exteck and standard measuring protocol doesn't lie.
Both of my units may be up for sale soon
save your pennies.
Obsessed in what way?
Lee,
At Duane's opening several years ago I tested several machines with the Exteck at 100'. Jeff Ellis brought his 18 /36 homemade machine, homemade was not a slur...beautifully executed is more like it, another fellow had his older butler with a 45 blower, and Tom Cermak had his Vortex. Jeff's machine had a small recovery tank, curved polished 3" tubing plumbing the blower and running at its top rpm pulled 243 cfm at 100'. The Butler with a 45 blower managed 247 cfm, Tom Cermak's Vortex 421 cfm at 100'.
Recently, I measured the airflow on the smaller Prochem Everest belonging to a friend that does equipment repair at the local Prochem dealer. I didn't have the opportunity to check his waste tank basket, but that machine pulled 252 cfm at 100' running wide open. The filtration design as well as plumbing of the recovery tank has a huge bearing on airflow through the machine.
The Legend I tested at my wife's school had just been serviced before the summer classroom cleaning season and I didn't notice anything awry, but a leaky gasket would affect airflow.
"As run" performance is what i'm checking. I've seen a lot of equipment that has been run hard and hung up wet.....a big blower will let you get away with that for a while....but 252 cfm from a Prochem Everest is pathetic!
System performance ought to be something we need to be aware of daily. Since I moved to a less powerful system, I'm more conscious to see that I'm maximizing the system potential on every job....that's part of the fun. The price point that I clean at gives me the leisure to be profitable spending a little more time in setup. The performance in the home is close to what I got with the Fox when I add the in line booster..around 350 cfm.
I'd have to tie them up and gag them. That is where it all starts! They don't want to clean with portables, they say they feel like we are ripping people off. Hard for me to defend that statement because I basically feel the same way.Richard,Richard,Richard. Belittling is so gauche. If you'd like, send some of your techs and I'll teach them how to do it well as its obvious they're incapable or they have shitty machinery to work with. What kind of portables do you give them- rug doctors
I'd have to tie them up and gag them. That is where it all starts! They don't want to clean with portables, they say they feel like we are ripping people off. Hard for me to defend that statement because I basically feel the same way.
I don't include ETM's in the portable group an electric truck mount is just that, a TM powered by electricity not gas or propane.
"A portable" strapped or bolted down does not make a truck mount. You may fool yourself into thinking that but you're not fooling your peers or your clients. It's a portable, use it, make some money and then buy a TM when you've built up your business.
Most of us have used portables at some point in our careers and as I said we still use ours when forced to. I think eventually we will buy an ETM on a cart so we can have an alternative when cleaning with HWE. At this point I prefer low moisture rather than using a portables.
Oh and Willy this is what we are using, state of the art portables.
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They were state of the art...in 1983. Better than a few now. All aluminum with cast head, full 2" airflow thruout, 3x 11002 jets, 3/8" plumbing. Back side of the airslot was wide and ramped for the forward stroke. I carried both straight and curved on the truck. No wand I've used since is as versatile working in tight spaces as the straight one.Lee,
What do you think of the Bane wands as compared to the latest hooha ones?
Three Cheyenne's HP & heat (3) cords if you use the heat. One Comanche, low pressure heat. It the upholstery. Large Cleanmaster, have the maroon Ninja and a White US products Cobra with heat too. Have a few older Kleenrite and a pair of Exclaburs. Most just are not used unless we have no other option. We use more for upholstery on commercial work than anything.Hmmmmm -How am I "ripping my customers off"? So can you show how much filth you remove with your magic bean juice and spinning brush? Or is just rearranging it good enough? What kind of portables do you use? When was the last time you upgraded them? Not wanting a fight but if you shit on my doorstep I wanna see how clean yours is.![]()