Portable Question

[TConway]

Do you think a # 3 blower would be enough power if you made a semi portable unit around it? I am just asking, and if so why has it not been done?

 

[Larry Cobb]

Tom;

1. It has been done (Bane-Clene, we did a couple in vans, etc.)

2. The limitation is the size of the electric motor required.
( 5 HP would be a good size)

3. New Vac motors are more efficient.

 

[TConway]

Thanks Larry
I know about bane clean, but I was talking more about like the size of the dwell pro units. I was just looking around on line today and I noticed a few number 3 blowers that were ran by 5hp electric motors and just got me thinking is all.
I thought I had seen a unit on here somewhere but it had a e;ectric motor on it also, and I was wondering why a electric motor too? Would a 5hp motor be enough to power it and get enough suction?

I know this is kinda crazy but amtex makes a small unit that runs a #3 blower, the blower also pumps waste water through it and discharges through a 2.0 hose to a drain, so no need for pump out or waste tank.
So one cord for blower, and one cord for a high pressure pump, if this was done would it not have better performance than a electric unit or still be about the same?

To me it seems it may be possible to make a somewhat compact unit that would possibly have a real type blower? I don't know if the blower noise would be muffeled enough with hose and waste water to bring db's down of the blower?
Just thinking is all?

 

[Nate The Great]

I was also looking into setting up a "townhouse" unit on a utility golf cart or Kawasaki Mule.. A small bare bones TM with propane heater or if a heat exchanger can keep a constant temp without over heating would be cool... Reason for it is I'm not into dragging the portable or running 300+ feet to do a small 3bd, lv, hall... But to make the setup work, we'd need to market and get at least 2-3 jobs in the area to make it worth our time...

Everything you need and drive a golf cart from the parking lot to the door.. Most townhouses maintenance men use them and I doubt they'd squawk about a golf cart on the grass.. When finished, drive in on the back of a full size truck.. I think it'd be cool...

 

[Desk Jockey]

Our big ATV has pretty aggressive tires for mud and it doesn't bother the grass unless you are turning sharp and gas it.

I've thought about it before and I think a cart setup would be best. I was thinking there might be a marketing for selling cleaning carts to property management companies.

I was thinking small TM with submount fresh, pumpout, small reels. It could be pulled by golf cart or ATV which most large properties already have.

My mind wanders and thinks of shit like this.

 

[Erik]

Nate

 

[Desk Jockey]

Erik my nephew was bragging today he took the truck home to clean his carpet. Zippered it and by the time he brought the truck back, his carpet was dry. He says he thinks a moisture sensor would have read dry.

He loves the Zipper!

 

[Erik]

Thanks for the feedback Richard.

 

[dgardner]

So one cord for blower, and one cord for a high pressure pump,

Tom, the biggest electric motor you can run on a single 120V 20A circuit is about 2hp - not really big enough for your proposed setup. Power is always the issue for these kind of ideas - goodness knows I've spent enough time thinking about similar setups...

Edit - I looked up a couple 5hp motors and you're looking at 230V 23A or so, basically you would have to plug into the electric dryer recep. (if they have one).

And to answer your other question - a 3M (36) blower driven by a 5hp motor would have better performance than any portable I know of.

 

[dgardner]

And to answer your other question - a 3M (36) blower driven by a 5hp motor would have better performance than any portable I know of.

To give you an idea of the relative performance - here are the numbers:

A Sutorbilt 3M blower running at 2770 RPM:

• requires 4.7hp
• loaded (wand on carpet) could run as high as 117 CFM at 163 inches of water (12" hg)
• generates 2238 airwatts of vacuum (0.117354 X 117 X 163 = 2238).
• Uses about 5300 watts of electric power to generate the vacuum.

A fancy Ametek 8.4" tapered fan vac:

• loaded (wand on carpet - equivalent orifice of 0.75") runs 65 CFM at 85 inches of water (6.2" hg)
• generates 648 airwatts of vacuum
• uses 1548 watts of electricity to generate the vacuum.

I did approximate calcs for 4 of the Ameteks in series-parallel:

• loaded runs about 110 CFM at 136 inches of water
• generates about 1900 airwatts
• uses about 5300 watts of electricity

Interestingly - 4 of the Ameteks have almost identical performance compared to the 3M with wand on carpet, and uses nearly identical electric power (you would still need the dryer outlet).

 

[Nate The Great]

NateView attachment 10069

It looks pretty heavy though.... I'd only need 50' for the majority of the work.... Maybe 75' on a rare occasion with that setup.... I was even looking into electric with a generator setup.... But you'll never beat the suction on a PD blower....

 

[rick imby]

The classic problem is always getting enough horsepower from electricity in the US. Two circuits or directly to 220 is pretty simple especially in a new development. But you are still just in the 4 horsepower range. And then you need horsepower for heat which takes a lot more power.

The 15 gallon CFX setup on the back of the golf cart would be really simple. You could add a tool box booster and a generator for 4 vac motor power. It would be cool if the motor in the golf cart could be converted to be a generator also. Maybe add the $8k generator Mytee put in their van to run their Escape.

Let us see how complicated and expensively we can do the job.---

A simple CFX or Goliath with a rotary extractor mounted to the back of a cart could do great work.

 

[rick imby]

It looks pretty heavy though.... I'd only need 50' for the majority of the work.... Maybe 75' on a rare occasion with that setup.... I was even looking into electric with a generator setup.... But you'll never beat the suction on a PD blower....

If you are using two 110 circuits a couple of good vac motors are a lot lighter and smaller and cheaper than a PD blower...

 

[Mikey P]

is a 3 blower on a cart really going to be "portable"

 

[dgardner]

No kidding. the weight of just the motor and blower is in the neighborhood of 200 lbs....

 

[Cleanworks]

Why not do a small tm like a blazer or similar on a self propelled trailer. Just detach from the van and bring it where you need to go. 12 volt electric trailer.

 

[Ed Valentine]

Cross-American introduced the CA4000 XPS in 1977 to this industry. It had the #3 sutorbilt with the Ametek . At that particular time in the development of this Industry, it was a great system. However, as more and more innovation and refinements were to be accomplished, the #3 stage was dropped from the design for a very good reason. The conclusion was that this system, although would be considered "portable", it was on the heavy side ( as Mikey mentioned above) because the that iron sutorbilt pump, along with the larger drive electric motor required. This system was fiberglas (4o gallon solution tank/ 42 gallon recovery). It took a lot of energy to run too.

Thanks Larry for mentioning that.

Merry Christmas to all;
Ed Valentine
cross-American corp.

 

[TConway]

Thanks for all the input, I was just thinking about it, and thought the concept of using blower to just suck and pump out water was kinda cool, I know it would have to be filtered very well prior to going through the blower, but because the blower was doing two jobs it would cut down on some of the power load, noise and size of the overall machine.
I was also not really meaning it to be for apartment use but more for larger areas of carpet.