Genesis 59 blower dead

[Jack May]

One end of the blower ran dry and it has seized the whole blower. The mechanic has removed it and called to say it's buggered

I will drop in today and check it out myself, but if that's the case, what options do I have?

He hasn't heard back from the Australasian Roots distributor in Aussie yet, but an alternative blower is $7300+tax before fitting so I'm looking at a $10k bill to keep cleaning.

I don't need the full performance/power of the 59 blower as we bought this at the time we were working with encap and learning its capabilities but before we bought our Cimex 10 years ago but were still doing our large commercial jobs full HWE and running dual 4-6 lengths at a time.

So do I replace it with another 59 roots DSL?
Can you buy reconditioned units cheaper?
Do I put in a smaller blower say the blower out of the SS570 that still has good performance for our needs, but will the blower savings only offset the retro fitting costs and not end up saving me any in the long run?

John

 

[Desk Jockey]

I replaced a blower on one of our Butlers this winter and it was around $3,200.00

Can you get one from the states shipped to you or are you still taxed on it where its not worth doing?

 

[Jack May]

Anything over $400USD is still subject to customs duty, tax and all manner of charges. Possibly still work out cheaper but exploring all options at this stage.

John

 

[Desk Jockey]

I wondered but I didn't think it could total to local rates.

We've bought a re-manufactured one before and it worked fine but you got less of a warranty and didn't really save that much.

Did you check with Lockhart? How about Ebay?

 

[dealtimeman]

I have one let me know but mine is a normal grease on shaft side, oil on gear side.

 

[John Olson]

We can send you one for way less then what your quoted. Michaels will work on that machine and Im sure he will hook you up

 

[Jack May]

Thanks Michael and John.

Assembling options at this stage (Friday midday here) and will sit on them over the weekend and make a decision for early next week.

I'd also like an engineer to look at the current unit and confirm the mechanic's assessment that it is past reconditioning.

John

 

[dealtimeman]

How many hours?


I would say if ran dry and then run hot, might not be rebuild able.

Hope they find you a cheap solution though, I hate being down.

 

[Jack May]

4200 hours so only just run in.

Thankfully, a mate 3 hours west has loaned me a Spitfire 3.2 to keep moving. We were only down just less than the week but we do heaps more than carpet cleaning so I was able to keep my tech busy with repairs and such like and then he decided to take an annual leave day too.

John

 

[Goldenboy]

10 G's? Just quit.

Golden Boy

 

[bob vawter]

john..if you call Detroit Air Compressor
ask for Dennis......give him yor numbers
and mention my name he'll give you close to cost but the shipping will kill you

i move a lot of blowers for him

 

[Jack May]

Waldo, that Genesis cost me $50k 10 years ago.

A SS570 will cost me $34k, not sure what it costs in the US.

So everything costs a lot more by the time I get it down under.

$10k is a lot to get it going again, but the value is there. Having said that, I'm weighing up all options and just may bite the bullet on a new machine and then restore this one at a lower cost by buying secondhand components and then either selling it or keeping it as a backup unit/stationary unit for rug cleaning in my shop.

Thanks Bawb.

 

[Desk Jockey]

$10k is a lot to get it going again, but the value is there. Having said that, I'm weighing up all options and just may bite the bullet on a new machine and then restore this one at a lower cost by buying secondhand components and then either selling it or keeping it as a backup unit/stationary unit for rug cleaning in my shop.

I think if you can afford the new one that's the best bet. Then as you said repair the other and sell it (sounds like their is a good market for used) to recoup money to your savings account.

Plus I'd bet that 570 is a better machine and a sizable savings over the Powerclean.

 

[Goldenboy]

Even if it was only 500 bucks to fix. Not worth it to stay in this industry. Find another business where you can make decent money. Just not worth it.


Golden Boy

 

[Desk Jockey]

Cut your hair hippie!

 

[FB7777]

Even if it was only 500 bucks to fix. Not worth it to stay in this industry. Find another business where you can make decent money. Just not worth it.


Golden Boy

Sound advice from the dope that had to file Chapter11 when his Little Giant had a boo boo

 

[Willy P]

http://www.hnw.com.au/product-range...ion/blowers/positive-displacement-roots-style


http://www.gardnerdenver.com.au/
Try mining supply places as the blowers are used in the mining industry.

 

[Jack May]

Waldo with that sort of a comment I really have to wonder. Either you're against PwerClean machines or you need psychological help.

I'm not even going to dignify it further by trying to reason it out!

Of all the phone calls and emails sent off Friday morning, I'm really disappointed in the general apathy in business!

My local cleaning supply shop got a blower quote through from SS and the Gardner Denver rep got back to me but no one else. Nothing from anyone associated with Roots. No one from either of the equipment finance companies. Nothing from the engineers and the list goes on.

John

 

[Doug Cox]

I think if you can afford the new one that's the best bet. Then as you said repair the other and sell it (sounds like their is a good market for used) to recoup money to your savings account.

Plus I'd bet that 570 is a better machine and a sizable savings over the Powerclean.

I don't know how John takes care of his Genesis, but I know I take care of mine ('05) and I would definitely rather spend 10k on my machine rather buy a new machine. I actually just replaced my blower last spring with over 8k hours and afterwards found out it wasn't the blower, but the bushing on the pulley that was shot. That cost me 3 grand and for 8 years of use was a good deal. I like my machine now that I fixed all the issues with it. It's a very reliable machine. Afterall, if I paid 50k on a Genesis, I might want to dump it too.

 

[Doug Cox]

If my used blower will help out give me a ring. Someone charging that much to swap a blower is taking advantage (my opinion).

 

[Willy P]

Waldo with that sort of a comment I really have to wonder. Either you're against PwerClean machines or you need psychological help.

I'm not even going to dignify it further by trying to reason it out!

Of all the phone calls and emails sent off Friday morning, I'm really disappointed in the general apathy in business!

My local cleaning supply shop got a blower quote through from SS and the Gardner Denver rep got back to me but no one else. Nothing from anyone associated with Roots. No one from either of the equipment finance companies. Nothing from the engineers and the list goes on.

John

Don't let Waldo get under your skin. Black humour. I feel your issue with customer service - if I pulled that with my customers, I'd be dead in the water. Seriously, try mining supply companies. They use blowers in the mining process and you might strike , um , gold.

 

[phcmatthew]

I am not sure if you have done anything yet but I have recently had the same problem (last year). After a ton of research and a lot of looking around I finally decided on rebuilding it. The rebuild kit was appx $385. I took the blower to the local machine shop with the rebuild kit and we figured it out togethor. All of the specs are on the website that you would use to buy your rebuild kit and blower oil. Look at http://www.pdblowers.com. The person at the machine shop or your supplier should be able to tell you whether or not it can be rebuilt. You will need to have the machine shop check and make sure that the blower shaft is straight. If you need gears you can also find them on the same website. After having used a 5/9 blower for as long as you have you will not be happy with the performance of anything less. Stick with the 5-9 and rebuild it.

 

[Jack May]

Thanks phcmatthew.

Well, the Root's is rooted!! I had the entire thing pulled apart and they were unable to get the one dry end off intact. Obviously, anything can be rebuilt, but it comes down to cost.

SO I have three options.

1. There's a premium second hand unit for sale taht I can get, but I'm still waiting on shipping and import costs from DHL. 3 emails and over a week is appalling customer service.
2. I can fit a brand new 59DSL Roots.
3. I can fit a brand new Gardner Denver trilobe blower, model number yet to be supplied.

While I'm doing all this work, I'm going to get a few changes made to the machine.

1. the chemical feed has never worked reliably so I'll add a last step chemical pump instead of the old venturi.
2. the auto pumpout has also never worked reliably so they are going to look into that and recommend the best fix. (It would do the first pump, but then it got air in somehow and was never able to start the next pump out against the vacuum. I replaced numerous diaphragms to no avail)
3. I'm not happy with the belts and short life I get out of them and then the SIGNIFICANT job it is to replace belts on it. The motor pulley is munted anyway, and so I'll get it machined up to a micro V belt used in racing and they can tweak the alignment so ensure that works. Also, I've asked them to fix mount the blower and have an adjuster with reverse side tensioner to make belt replacement a 15 minute job but also to further reduce vibration.

wheels turn slowly and I'm starting to get frustrated!! Hopefully after a couple of emails today I should see some real numbers and can make a firm decision and move forwards.

John

 

[floorguy]

yea, its amazing how shitty CS is out there in other industries....makes me wonder how they stay in business sometimes....

i feel for you in that sense...

 

[Doug Cox]

Yep- Dealt with all the same issues. Eliminated the Jabsco POS and replaced with a macerator pump which I have yet to use. Replaced the chemical flow with a different one from Dultmeier in the same place. The pulleys I replaced. Went from a 3 groove 5" pulley to a 2 groove 8 inch pulley on blower and motor. As I've said before, I'm betting these pulleys won't be available long. Mine is for a Prochem Everest. Once you fix these issues, the machines are awesome. The biggest flaw is the ECU location.

 

[Jack May]

3.5 months! Finally get got to clean our first carpet with the refurbished Genesis today.

So thankful for a friend that allowed us to use an old 3.2 hydramaster to keep my business going. If I'd known how long at the beginning, I'd have chosen a different route, but once committed, I had to keep going.

John

 

[Nate The Great]

3.5 months! Finally get got to clean our first carpet with the refurbished Genesis today.

So thankful for a friend that allowed us to use an old 3.2 hydramaster to keep my business going. If I'd known how long at the beginning, I'd have chosen a different route, but once committed, I had to keep going.

John

Good to hear... I blew my TM Engine and I couldn't find anyone with a replacement... Finally back up and running 2 weeks later...

 

[dealtimeman]

Good to hear y'all are both back up and running.

 

[Doug Cox]

John- What else did you do in addition to the blower. Hope it's running well. What was your total cost on that blower replacement. You could have just flown me over and I could've swapped out the blower in a day.