How about this idea

[kevinj6121]

This is what i'm thinking of doing, already have a mytee ltd5, I'm thinking of adding a mytee 7303 Air Hog and a
NorthStar Gas-Powered Hot Water Pressure Washer

leave the ltd 5 in the van and run off a generator for the vac motors only, don't need the pump due to the northstar unit, 50ft of vac hose or less get's me to the door 95% of all my jobs, then connect the air hog at the door from the ltd5 another 50ft of vac hose from the air hog to my wand, plenty of suction and great heat. what are your thoughts and opinions on this

 

[dgardner]

I'm a confirmed fabricator/experimenter/tinkerer - mine will be the most positive response you will get - and I think it's a really, really bad idea - that is if you actually want to make a living at this.

 

[kevinj6121]

thanks dan, Tell me why you think its a bad idea

 

[dgardner]

Sure.

• You will have a porty, an Air Hog, a pressure washer, and a generator. You will have two gasoline engines to maintain and fuel, and you still need an extension cord! And you still have to buy kerosene/diesel fuel in addition to gasoline!
• Your pressure washer is rated at 2.5 gpm. You won't run anywhere near this if you hope to recover anywhere near a reasonable percentage with the vac you have. When run at reduced flow, these type of units usually have to be modified to fire properly. The unloader may have to be tinkered with. Temp control could be an issue as well at the lower flow. Forget the warranty.
• Your vacuum (and recovery) will be poorer than the most basic TM.
• You will have to figure out how to vent three different things that produce carbon monoxide without killing anyone.
• Your setup times for each and every job will make you less efficient (and less profitable) than most of your competition.
• You will appear less professional than many of your competitors.

By my calculations, you will spend around $4200 between the pressure washer, air hog, and a cheap generator. For this money you can buy a very nice used TM. One engine, one package (instead of 4) to operate and maintain.

Many have tried your approach. Pretty much all of them realized it just wasn't worth the trouble and expense and ended up with a real TM.

Be a porty guy or be a TM guy. There isn't really a reasonable middle ground.

 

[dgardner]

Oops - forgot.

• The PW needs to be pressure-fed. This means hooking up to the customer's water. If you want to carry your own water you will have to rig up a pressure demand pump.
• Your porty has a very small recovery tank. You will have to APO and/or add a separate waste tank.

 

[Scott S.]

I started with a porty, then got a high performance porty, then skipped to a entry level truck mount, and i was making a ton more money even with the payments. So much more efficent on setup, tear down. and people were impressed with the heat that the tm had that the porty didnt have.

 

[Scott S.]

Look at a entry level RAGE tm, comes with hose, solution line, wand, 100 gallon waste tank, can clean carpet, tile, upholstery. Call Jim Pemberton at 1-800-342-2297 and have a chat with him. hes not a sales man, but he can hook you up with some insight on what you can expect.

 

[Scott S.]

https://sapphirescientific.com/Content_003.aspx?cid=1257

 

[Nate The Great]

I started with a porty, then got a high performance porty, then skipped to a entry level truck mount, and i was making a ton more money even with the payments. So much more efficent on setup, tear down. and people were impressed with the heat that the tm had that the porty didnt have.

My porty is hotter than an entry level TM... Granted I use a Little Giant Heater.......

@kevinj6121 That setup in theory would work, but it wouldn't be an ideal setup given the money/time you'd get/save using a TM... What's your target market? I too was looking into a Northstar burner for my TM setup, but I'm used to propane Little Giant Heaters and found a good great deal on one...

Don't let us stop you, the seasoned guys will give you the guidance but it's up to you to take it... I sometimes need to learn the hard way before getting it....

 

[Scott S.]

My porty is hotter than an entry level TM... Granted I use a Little Giant Heater.......

@kevinj6121 That setup in theory would work, but it wouldn't be an ideal setup given the money/time you'd get/save using a TM... What's your target market? I too was looking into a Northstar burner for my TM setup, but I'm used to propane Little Giant Heaters and found a good great deal on one...

Don't let us stop you, the seasoned guys will give you the guidance but it's up to you to take it... I sometimes need to learn the hard way before getting it....

high heat is great, but it can cause alot of problems too, But honestly i like just putting fuel in 1 tank and driving off to the next job instead of trying to make it to the next ace hardware, or tractor supply hoping to get a tank refilled.
on top of that, some states have restrictions on carrying propane inside a vehicle, and especially in tunnels (im not quite sure why the tunnel thing).

free heat from the heat exchanger on the rage.

 

[Cleanworks]

If you have 4-5000 to spend on all the misc gear you need to make this work, take it and make a down payment on something like a sapphire 370 or prochem legend. You will be so far ahead of the game with warranties and nice equipment that will last you years with proper maintenance. You already have a good portable for back up. Sounds like you already have the truck. Take the plunge, you won't regret it

 

[jcooper]

If you have 4-5000 to spend on all the misc gear you need to make this work, take it and make a down payment on something like a sapphire 370 or prochem legend. You will be so far ahead of the game with warranties and nice equipment that will last you years with proper maintenance. You already have a good portable for back up. Sounds like you already have the truck. Take the plunge, you won't regret it

It's true... Wish I would have listened sooner(porty user for 4-5 years). 350-400 bucks a month you can have a very nice tm/set up.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I can save you half of the expense.

Yep just send me half of the money and I'll tell it didn't work and you'll save!!!

 

[Goomer]

Been there, done that............Thought I was smarter than everyone else being well ahead of ETM curve, when it was mostly just a concept, before everyone else jumped on the ETM bandwagon ................gave up on it a long time ago.

Overcomplicated

Overkill

Overpriced

Set-up and break-down nightmare.

Plagued with pump/out problems and system gremlins.

Constant diesel/kero/gasoline stank.

Burner exhaust is ridiculously hot and stanky.

Cluttered bulky components with little room for troubleshooting access.

Vehicle GPM down the shitter.

Multiple fuel/fume/ignition sources in one vehicle increases go boom risk.

I can go on if you'd like.............

 

[Desk Jockey]

Frank I didn't think you were able to use a TM much with your clients. If you are able to use one, why don't you just buy one?

You made a sizable investment with all those components, did you just Craigslist them afterwards?

 

[kevinj6121]

Well, so much for that idea, lol--thats what happens when you spend too much time on the internet looking at sheet, guess i'll continue to use my Mytee ltd5 for what it is, "A Portable" or in my case a porch mount, when doing so it's not that often that I need more then 50 ft of 2inch vac hose, as far as heat goes i do use my mytee hot turbo heater which keeps up very good with a 2jet wand, i'll do like two or three wet strokes then immediately go back and do some dry strokes etc etc etc..... and the heat seems to keep up fine, that little thing believe it or not does get the water pretty hot. On another note I would like to get a TM one day but I only have a 2006 dodge grand caravan so not sure there would be any sort of TM I could put in that

 

[JS41035]

Dad says a prochem 405 will fit in a Toyota Sienna.

 

[Goomer]

Frank I didn't think you were able to use a TM much with your clients. If you are able to use one, why don't you just buy one?

You made a sizable investment with all those components, did you just Craigslist them afterwards?

That was my initial set up from 5 years ago that was conceived during the prior year+ after dicking around the boards, and without any experience, but a fair amount of research.

By using quick connects and arranging everything a certain way, I kept the porty "grab-n-go"ready as needed, and also ready to run from the van by just connecting the hoses and cords.

One set-up, versatile enough to do porty jobs, ETM work, and also be a kickass hot-water pressure washing rig.

Ready to rock.........

The assumptions that I made that came back to bite me in the ass, was that I would have a fair enough amount of commercial PW work to justify the full-sized PW components that were slightly overkill for carpet cleaning, and that a larger majority of my jobs would even be accessible from a van mounted unit.

I didn't think that the percentage of my gigs that would be porty-only accessible, or porty-practical, would be so damn high.

The final holdout was a few monthly Applebees I was whoring myself out to where I would run from my van and work on getting everything to run right without issues.

Since I was never able to get the system to be reliable enough to warrant the effort, and without the steady PW work, I saw no need to torture myself any further, and drive all over with so much additional heavy equipment.

Even if I did get it tuned in right, I think it's days were numbered anyway as it's set-up/break-down/maintenance was just too much work, it would have never be without it's limitations, and I have now learned how to get the results I want with just my porty without the additional stress.

I dumped the genny, but still have most of the PW equipment for when I need it.

I plan on getting a TM when my commercial carpet and TG volume warrants it, which should hopefully be soon, but residentially, and for a fair amount of commercial work, hacking with my porty will always be my bread-n-butta.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I thought you'd said most of your work a porty worked best for you. Just surprised when you put together a tm.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Dad says a prochem 405 will fit in a Toyota Sienna.

...and it DID with .0030" to spare!

 

[Goomer]

I thought you'd said most of your work a porty worked best for you. Just surprised when you put together a tm.

I had zero experience and did not fully understand my market when I put that contraption together.

Boy-Oh-Boy, did I get it wrong.

I had to go through the motions first to realize that my salvation would be in my ability to effectively hack with ONLY the porty.

My early dreams of this business involved me driving around with 350,000 BTU's of Dragon heat in my pimped-out van, reigning fire and steam down across the city and filling my pockets with gold while blasting AC/DC.

My reality has become a never-ending search for parking, and rolling around a big ugly portable and it's accessories, while praying that I don't have a problem hooking up to a sink, and that I can find at least one readily accessible 20A circuit.

A very humbling mind-fook to say the least.