except that it uses a
200hp GAS engine to power 'lectric vac motors and heat water
I'm sorry John, but i just don't get it..
..L.T.A.
We understand, Larry. It's ok.
Larry - I see where you are coming from, and think needing 4 or more separate circuits for an ETM, is needing too much power for the cleaning task at hand in the first place. You might as well have a good gasoline truckmount that can give you good production rates, and a good portable for those hard-to-reach jobs.
Having to run a gasoline generator to get that power is also defeating the purpose of using an all electric truckmount/machine. 10 years ago I felt differently.
Having to pull out appliances to source house power for an ETM, especially with these new gigantic washers and dryers, is not very professional, and could be a liability against you if it caused a claim with your insurance carrier.
When I designed my first ETM about 25 years ago, I was on a quest for as much vacuum as I could squeeze out of a machine, but needing too many circuits is just too much to hassle with when trying to do several setups and tear-downs a day. So I stayed with 2 large case electric vacuum motors. It did a great job (used 3-HT LG for heat), giving me production cleaning and good dry times. However, I still needed my portable when a truckmount just wouldn't reach inside or up (high-rise). Any regular TM user knows that a job needing their portable was not something to look forward to.
One day we were using our gasoline truckmount, and had a job that was a few hundred feet inside and up. I did not have enough vac hose to reach, but I did have a portable in the van. So I used the portable for only the vacuum (kept it 50' from the wand), and ran the pressure line from the van so I had good pressure and LP heat. Except for the bucket brigade in dumping the waste water inside the facility, it worked great.
The only other ETM's that I had seen were the Workmaster, and the Bane. Both of these units made an attempt to make them mobile (carts), but moving them out of the van and into the job, and inside around the job, was not an easy task by any means.
I had my ETM, but could not see a way to make it "portable". So I used it as a truck mounted unit only for several years. It was extremely reliable and powerful (LP heat and Cat 290 pump). I also used 2 gasoline generators for power (2 gennys on a double-stack rack, with fuel line and fuel pump/filter going to the van gas tank).
Then one day I decided to make an ETM that had separate modules - the vacuum module, the high pressure module, and the LP heater module. I made the vacuum tank module as small as it could possibly be without sucking up foam into the blower (10" X 12" X 34" tall). The vacuum module alone could conquer the distance from van to inside, by using it in the van on jobs up to 150' along with the vacuum booster unit either in the van or downline, or taking just the single main vacuum module (42 lbs.) closer on jobs over 150'. The main vacuum module was small, but had a very reliable and large volume APO (30 GPM). It ran on a 15 amp circuit, drawing 13 amps for motor and APO together. The entire ETM has 600 PSI, and uses only 2 -15 amp circuits, and only 1 -15 amp circuit up to 80'.
I discovered using a sight tube to monitor water recovery from the carpet wand. It showed me that 1 or 2 vacuum motors (depending on distance), were more than sufficient to do any cleaning job that we might encounter, by this ETM's ability to perform with separate working modules (only in jobs over 150' away do you need to separate the modules — We usually use 100' on the average when cleaning). We do only a single dry pass after cleaning the carpet as many passes as necessary to get it clean, because the second dry pass shows no more water in the clear tube.
In designing an ETM I found that trying to make it like a gasoline truckmount was not the answer. Make it work within it's own parameters of design/production and ease of use.
