Hydramaster 4.8 issue cost me $408 bucks

[TomKing]

Being new to this industry we just keep learning the hard way.

Wednesday get a call from my tech tells me coolant is all over the drive and the rear of the truck.

$138 to have it towed to the dealership.

local dealer gets it fixed next day thank you very much.

total cost repairs and tow $408.39

Mechanic tells me Hydramaster puts plastic fittings on the heat exchangers instead of brass.

He told me I have mentioned it to them while I was out there.

$408 and our time for about $15 dollars worth of fittings.

Might be something to think about having replaced on your next routine maintenance.

Does any one have any other nifty tricks to save us some time and money?
We have 3 of these.

I am glad we have a back up and multiple trucks to cover. What if you where solo and one truck that would really suck. Might take a guys whole days earnings.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ruff]

Thank you Tom

Which brings us to the question:
What kind of a dufus CEO or was it the CFO at above mentioned company, made that decision of wisdom? Save a couple of bucks in production and potentially lose your customers for life.

I thought stupidity was limited to us O/O.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

I'd have fixed it in 10 minutes Tom.

 

[dealtimeman]

400 the dealer gouged you for sure.

 

[Russ T.]

I ran those Hydramasters for years in CO and they were usually very solid. Very few problems. Get those fittings (all of them, I'd hunt for them a little) replaced and you should be good to go.

Like Ofer said, seems incredibly silly they would use plastic.


The Clean Machine of Iowa
www.thegreatcleanmachine.com

 

[hogjowl]

I bet Tom accomplished more in the day and a half that van was down than Stockwell did in the ten minutes he spent fixing it himself!

And, the day and a half it took him to get up off the garage floor.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

You'd be hard pressed to keep up...

 

[Russ T.]

Oooooh snap!


The Clean Machine of Iowa
www.thegreatcleanmachine.com

 

[dealtimeman]

Is it covered under warranty?

 

[hogjowl]

You'd be hard pressed to keep up...

Remember, I saw the video.

 

[Art Kelley]

I'd have fixed it in 10 minutes Tom.

Sometimes it pays to be an O/O looking at his own truck and finding that the coolant leak was from a cracked plastic fitting. The polite thing would have been for the dealer to have sent Tom some flowers in the morning after the rutting he gave him.

 

[TomKing]

Mike
$270 for the repair was not bad. I want to earn $100 hour.

I had fluid all over my truck. I am sure changing the fittings was quick but the whole system had to be bleed.

This is a 2008 unit. We have had fits with it.

I will probably have the fitting on my 2013 units changed next year sometime just to be safe.

400 the dealer gouged you for sure.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

My advice to any owner of multiple units:

1. Standardize on ONE model, and become very familiar with it.

2. Print out the complete pdf manual on that unit. Feel free to mark on it, notate questions, and note mfg upgrades or changes on it.

3. Go into "red alert" at the 1st drop of any leak, find and fix it.

 

[Russ T.]

Mike
$270 for the repair was not bad. I want to earn $100 hour.

I had fluid all over my truck. I am sure changing the fittings was quick but the whole system had to be bleed.

This is a 2008 unit. We have had fits with it.

I will probably have the fitting on my 2013 units changed next year sometime just to be safe.

Tom,
Are you happy with the HydraMasters? Will you stick with them in the future? What made you choose HM for your CDS? Thanks.


The Clean Machine of Iowa
www.thegreatcleanmachine.com

 

[TomKing]

Yes they are awesome, great for employees set the brake. Turn off the air and start the unit. Some other simple stuff but that's the basics.
I bought my 2008 unit in 2010 as a repossession from a lease company.
I bought 2 new 2013'a last year. Jon Don built them for me.
We run a Prochem Blazer unit in a short van as a back up and over flow it only has 60 gallon tanks. The girls have to be very conscious of its limitations when scheduling.

The CDS units rock and roll all day. Once in a great while they need to dump or more water.

I chose the CDS 4.8 over the butlers for one simple reason they have tons of room in the back for restoration equipment and encapsulation equipment for our night teams.

Butlers are great I talked it over with Ken S because they run the Butlers.

CDS4.8 won out because I hate doing the NASCAR thing and working on them. We take our trucks to our local distributor.
Hogopian has a full time mechanic we do not have that luxury.

Both units are equally strong. IMO comes down to what you want in the back of the CDS unit. Tanks or space.

I only looked at Hydramaster, Prochem Sapphire and Butlers. IMO these are the top manufactures and they hold probably 70-80% of the market share.

My local shop works on all but the butlers. Butlers fault not theirs. They used to be a Butler dealer back in the day and could work on them they just do not stock parts so the delay became an issue.

We ran for 18 months 3 trucks daily with only 2 trucks. 2 during the day 1 at night. That was a challenging time. Nice to have a back up.

Again it is a waste of my time to be working on truck mounts. If I want to put a wrench to something I much rather it be my Harley that's a hobby.

There is a rule of leadership and management. If you can pay someone for a service or task for less than you can produce in an hour don't do it hire it out.

This is why so many of our clients hire so many services. They can work 5-6 hours extra a week and produce the income it takes to pay for all those services. What's easier work for a few more hours on something I am very good at or trying to do a task I rarely if ever do?

I can go out and sell in 3-5 hours 3 times what a repair will cost me. That sale will also many times be a monthly job earning many 10 times the repair.

Tom,
Are you happy with the HydraMasters? Will you stick with them in the future? What made you choose HM for your CDS? Thanks.


The Clean Machine of Iowa
www.thegreatcleanmachine.com

 

[Russ T.]

Thanks Tom.
I favor the PTO's also. Piece of cake to maintain and they work all day. When it's time for another van, I'd look at all the big PTO's too. I'd actually look at Butler first because I enjoy doing repairs (very occasionally) and am always most comfortable knowing I fixed something right.

I think the shop who does the install is very important. There are some little things about my Cleanco that I intend to correct. They are all install related.


The Clean Machine of Iowa
www.thegreatcleanmachine.com

 

[ruff]

I'd actually look at Butler first because I enjoy doing repairs ...............

That is quite an endorsement there, Russ.
I am sure Butler will be delighted.

Coming to think of it, there are a few truck mount outfits in Texas and the other lowlands, whose machines may give you even more of that "enjoyment."

 

[Russ T.]

Yeah, I guess maybe that didn't come out right. I like all the PTO's due to their ease of maintenance. All of them will require maintenance and repair. Butler designs their units to be repaired by the owner/operator. Granted, their proprietary parts are far from cheap.

Best warrantee too, with Cleanco and Sapphire behind them.


The Clean Machine of Iowa
www.thegreatcleanmachine.com

 

[Ron Werner]

I've found over the years that swivel joints tend to corrode and leak. When reinstalling the unit I endeavoured to use as much brass or stainless as possible. Instead of swivel joints I'm using the smaller quick connects that you see on hydroforces. Easier to get off and on, easy swivel, and no corrosion.