Pimp My 47: Which upgrades first?

[Johnny]

I run a PowerClean 25/47. RX every HWE job.

I realize all these individual upgrades have been discussed to death, but which will have the greatest effect on performance? I'm a BDCC and probably can't do them all at once:

Replace / supplement RX with Greenhorn wand? Will the Greenhorn and prescrub where necessary (I have a Brute) be faster than the RX? Will this combination be rougher on the back and energy level?

Bayco/Kunkle? (14 or 15 hg?)

2.5 vac hose?

Cool Cuffs?

Anything else?

Much obliged!

 

[TimP]

Some of Greenie's parker solution hose would be a good idea too. I just bought the pad driver for my RX and I'll let you know how that works for aggitation. I have no idea how well the brute works.

 

[Shane T]

I run the Victory 47(31/47). If your not using a Greenhorn or at least a glided 2" wand start there. Next replace the stock relief valve, it has a constant leak which is wasting vacuum before you even get the wand to the floor. After that I would try 4 to the door and see how you like it. I use 50' of 2 1/2" and can tell a big difference.
Powerclean really chokes these units down in the blower plumbing. They do it to make the blower HX hotter but I don't think its necessary especially if you use a Bayco/Kunkle. Its a lot of work but I took a lot of mine apart and redid the plumbing(including the waste tank) to take full advantage of the 3" ports on the 47 blower. I have only done the inlet side to this point and have already seen an increased idle rpm of 300 which tells me its breathing a lot better.
I almost never use my RX20, have great results and very low dry times(without air movers)

 

[Johnny]

Tim: I've been using Greenie's KMA solution line for a couple years. Good stuff. I have the pad driver for the RX and have used it for prescrub, but I think the Brute works better. My Brute doesn't have the tank, so it's fairly manuverable. But it's still easier to change the RX heads than haul in the Brute.

Shane: My machine is a Freedom (25 hp wc Kohler). The blower plumbing appears to reduce to 2.75 to the waste tank and 2.75 or 2.5 to the silencer. Thanks for the tip, I'll check it. What did you do to your waste tank? Did opening it up from 2.75 to 3" to the tank gain you 300 rpms?

 

[Greenie]

Dollar for dollar, a 2.5" set up has the most bang. Either an elbow off the waste tank or a Y as long as it's 2.5. then a section or two of the 2.5 hose and related connectors.
Turning up the rpms will help with some units, and it's Free.
Then a better relief valve set at 15"hg, there is a reason most ALL of the PowerClean Machines at Connections had Kunkles.

Since you are RXing all your HWE jobs, I won't mention the wand for your scenario, but for some it's the last bottle neck, it's also the most expensive element.

As a rule I always glide a guys existing wand, as that does wonders, as long as he's running 2" all the way to the wand he will at least be getting what he can from the tool he already owns.

 

[Larry Cobb]

John;

Since you are using a Low Lift #47 Blower, the best improvement you can make is raising the vac level of your relief valve...

Dollar for dollar, increasing the relief spring tension up about 2" hg. would give you the best return. You should be able to do this for under $50.

The #47 blower airflow should work well with a glided RX-20.

2.5" hose to the door would be my next step.

Larry Cobb

 

[Jerry]

I have the same machine,Freedom 47. I have a glided 2" wand, 2.5 hose off of a white magic filterbox, kunkle valve, run wide open(thanks greenie) and I am going to 8 flow from 06 flow. I have good vac, mostly about 12-13 hg with the glide on the carpet. My biggest problem is getting higher heat even with the 06 flow. I let it warm up for 10-15 minutes and start cleaning. I am only geting about 180 degrees out of it ATM with parker hose. With the vac port fully capped it will run up to 19 hg without the kunkle popping? I have the thermostat turned all the way to 240 degrees and it hase been calibrated. Does anyone have any suggestions?
The machine cleans well, but does'nt have enough heat for restaurants, or the colder weather coming up...

Thanks for any help!
Jerry

 

[Matt King]

What heat exchangers are on that Jerry? For the original question, everyone else pretty much summed it up. Parker lines, larger vac hose, 2" tubed wand w/a glide is my preference over an RX.. ( I haven't tried the Greenhorn). I'd do a test with the Kunkle/Bayco before running it full time. I have one you can use if you'd like to try it. The only reason I say that is 25hp isn't much to run a 47 real hard. You're real borderline there IMO. A Kunkle might stress the motor a little more than desirable If you're spinning it at higher rpm's.. If you're going to run a higher flow set up you might consider a nice 2ht heater. On when you need it, off when you don't... Someone mentioned reduced plumbing for higher heat on the blower exchanger. You bet it is. I've played with this so much over the last few months I'm sick of heat exchangers. A half dozen custom units and another 3-4 units from other sources have been on and off my 47 with several variations of plumbing and/or Internal heat exchanger restriction. Do they make heat? Yep. I can get 300 degree discharge temps coming out of the blower within seconds. And I still don't think they're a good idea... Without any blower restriction other than my silencer, my discharge temps @2700rpms set at 15hg max range from the 140-200 degree range. The largest variation comes from how tight the wand is locked to the carpet. That's not enough heat to boost anything but it sure is nice to see those cool temps on the air discharge gauge. It makes me wonder about engine backpressure on different engine exhaust HX'er designs. I remember Shawn Forsythe always said there's "No such thing as free heat". I never thought much about it until recently..

 

[Shane T]

John, Take off the hose between the blower and tank. Look up into the tank, on mine the opening up inside was sort of an oblong shape and not the complete inside diameter of the pipe. Also look at the fitting on top of the blower, I believe it will only measure 2 1/2' ID. Now look inside this pipe and the hole will be even more restricted. It was alot of work but I was able to get inside the tank fitting with a die grinder and open it up. With the blower fitting, I cut the neck off, opened the hole, fitted and welded piece of 3" thin wall exhaust pipe on. Now I have 3'' from the blower to the tank. Yes, this increased the rpms by almost 300.

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[Johnny]

Thanks y'all for the good advise.

Shane, thanks for the pics. How about replacing the blower fitting with a 3" electrical conduit elbow and weld the lube fittings to it? The more gradual angle might help airflow a little.

 

[Shane T]

John, The conduit might work, the pump bracket doesn't give you much room on top of the blower. I bought a 3" steel close nipple and a sweeping 90 exhaust elbow from Summit Racing. The elbow slides right into the nipple and when welded should make a nice piece. This is what I'm going to use on the discharge side when I get around to replacing the silencer and moving it under the van.

 

[Shane T]

If your going to try 4 to the door this is what I made and used before I got the 2 1/2". 2" PVC Y and a piece of 2"X 12" exhaust pipe(cut in 3 equal pieces) from Auto Zone. Cost about $5 and gave me a good idea what improvement I could expect. If you don't use cool cuffs the nylon cuffs fit nicely over the exhaust pipe.

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[Johnny]

Thanks again, Shane. I'll be implementing your suggestions as soon as I get a break in my schedule.