Portable Extractors VS Truckmounts

[Mike S]

I wonder, has there ever been a comparison showdown at a trade show between a good portable and a truckmount? If you end up having a portable and a truck mount with the same specs, same operator, same wand, same chemicals, etc, etc, wouldn't the results be the same?

Maybe I am mixed up a bit in my early research of the carpet cleaning business??? I thought the bottom line was, the more suction power you have, the more dirty water you remove from the carpet? With that said, if a portable can create powerful LIFT, wouldn't that work?

Everybody seems to want to boast about CFM. CFM seems to be the thing listed the most in companies that sell truckmounts, and even some portables. Why don't they list the water lift of the machine? Why isn't that the selling point? Is it because the truckmounts will be running lengthy amounts of hose and they need super strong CFM?

CFM and LIFT seem to have their purpose in cleaning carpets, but I don't think CFM pulls water out of the carpet. From what I understand - CFM is the measurement of air sucking into the vacuum motor. When the vacuum is on, air is sucked into a vacuum hose. The blower or vacuum motor is trying to create an absence of air. When you place a wand onto a wet carpet, you create a seal. The vacuum motor continues to suck the air out of the vacuum hose to try and create a true vacuum. When air is removed from the vacuum hose, the only thing that can now be "pulled" is the water in the carpet; so the pull is the LIFT. Hence, LIFT pulls the dirty water out of carpets, not CFM. So, the more LIFT you have, whether from a truckmount or portable, the more dirty water you pull out of the carpet which produces cleaner results. Am I understanding that correctly?

Some companies are trying to sell me that a strong CFM would help dry the carpet. From what I have found, I don't think their point is valid. Airflow does dry carpet. That is why some people use an air mover or fan on the carpet after cleaning, because it helps dry the carpet. Airflow moving through a wand can't possibly dry a carpet faster, can it?..... If you are only moving the wand over a certain section of a carpet for a few seconds, the airflow coming thru the wand for such a short time cannot do anything to dry the carpet, right? The only thing to do is to remove more water from the carpet while cleaning it, hence, LIFT seems to be most important, with possibly the addition of an air mover after cleaning.

Again, I am new, and could possibly have my facts completely messed up, or am I on the right track??

Can anybody make sense of this, or is this just one of the "battles" within the industry that I should just get used to? Or did I stumble across an industry filled with the mindset that bigger is better?

GO SEAHAWKS. Oh wait, it's a bye week for them.

 

[Rex Tyus]

My eyes glazed over about half way through. I will say we have debated this topic as much if not more than any other on the boards. The short answer in my opinion is lift is what enables cfms to be forced through the fiber. I am sure you will get great responses to your question. I will sit the rest of this one out. My attention span ain't what it used to be.

 

[Mikey P]

You cant have a portable and a Truckmount with the same "specs".

 

[B&BGaryC]

You cant have a portable and a Truckmount with the same "specs".

You aughta see AMERICLEAN'S Truckmount....

 

[TimP]

You cant have a portable and a Truckmount with the same "specs".

I couldn't agree more......no way to get enough power from a home.


Odin has done a good job at making a strong electric TM.....however notice how they wont give specs and it is the closest an electric machine is gonna get unless hooked to 220 will come to competing with a real TM. Yet it's not a true TM.....just a big portable if you ask me.

A portable has to be light and able to be moved.....sure you can clean as well but time is a huge factor and you're gonna loose every time in production compared to a TM. Although I'd have to say that energy is the biggest factor in a portable....next to filling and dumping constantly.

 

[B&BGaryC]

Can you make a portable that will pull almost as good on a 25 ft run as a truckmount will on a 150 ft run?

(This has nothing to do with ODIN's truckmount)

 

[John LaBarbera]

Hi Mike,

In my opinion, Jim Martin nailed it. A good operator can get the carpets clean using a TM or a porty. A TM is faster but at a cost. A porty is some what slower, thus a cost. Many guys started out with a porty, little or no debt and built their business and can now afford a TM. (some are very expensive, but the guys who buy them feel it's a good investment, and reading their comments we can see their point of view)

I've often have ask myself the question when is enough, enough. How much power do you need to clean a carpet. The longer the hose run, multiple wands, the more power is needed.

To try and answer your question about cfm and suction (water lift) here's my thoughts. Use a water pump for example. Pressure like water lift is important, but if you have an extreme psi and no flow (cfm) you wont clean anything. Now if your pump has no pressure but only flow your cleaning is also limited. So it is better to have a balance of both than extreme on one end and a deficiency on the other. That being said, the more lift and the more CFM you can get in balance the better. Portys are limited for obvious reasons. There's only so much power in a wall plug, but they still can clean carpets. I hope this helps.

John

 

[Dolly Llama]

lift is adjustable on TMs and is only limited by;
1.) a waste tank's ability to handle the vacuum without imploding
2.) a positive displacement blower's rated specs.
Actually, a blower can go well beyond it's rated max specs, but continual use beyond specs can shorten it's life

That's not the same with electric centrifugal fan vac motors.
The reach peak lift, then "blow by" occurs .

Now for the lift vs vac thingie which can be a never ending circle.

because....

cap off the end of the hose and you've created max lift.
but there is NO CFM now.
Uncap the hose and you have MAX CFM, but minimal lift

Now see why it can be an endless circle?

as John mentioned, they both have to work together in some kind of balance for practical use.

as eluded to already,
as far as porty with same specs as mid to lg size TMs, it ain't gonna happen.
Yes, one could be made, but as a practical matter, power requirements would be excessive.
I also suspect "portability" would go out the window too


..L.T.A.

 

[Walt]

I've used the best portables and the best truck mounts out there. Really there is no comparison with dry times. A portable doesn't cut it for production cleaning or great dry times. Forget what the manufacturers are saying as regards to CFM and Lift - try it for yourself. I think you will come to the same conclusion.

That all stated. A crappy TM at 150 feet probably isn't as good as a great portable at 15 feet. Either way both are terrible for production and dry times.

Get the good TM if you can swing it.

 

[Greenie]

Mike,
I must have had this conversation with a hundred guys, the internet can be a tool as well as a hinderance, too much info can hold you back.

Just get a professional machine from a reputable and knowledgable dealer, if he knows his stuff he can expalin to you the pros and cons of one feature or spec. over another, there is no perfect machine, just the machine that is right for you as in the machine that meets your needs.

You also have to be realistic, it cracks me up when guys talk about features that would require 4 cords to power in the "perfect" machine.

Just get something with a balance of airflow and waterlift, get 2" plumbing if you can, run 2" hose to a 2" wand if you can swing it, vacuum is important, but balance that with a good pump, cause if you aren't rinsing carpet, you are just misting it, which is responsible for half of the reputation porties have, well that and people pushing them beyond their capabilities. Aren't too many elec. heaters that can heat 1gpm

And finally....use common sense, if it sounds too good to be true, it is, and if something looks a bit fishy in it's claims...it is.

 

[steve frasier]

A crappy TM at 150 feet probably isn't as good as a great portable at 15 feet. Either way both are terrible for production and dry times.

could not have said it any better

 

[Desk Jockey]

A good portable when new, has pretty good suction but as the vacuum blowers wear you don't notice it dropping off, yet it is.

You won't get that same kind of drop off with a TM.

I consider Portables necessary evils, they are needed in our industry, (we own 6-7 ourselves) on the occasions when setting up a TM is not the best choice for distance or security.

We use them more for upholstery, gota have them but don't like them! :wink:

 

[B&BGaryC]

We use them more for upholstery, gota have them but don't like them! :wink:

As far as upholstery goes, I'm just a C.U.T., and spend way too long cleaning junk upholstery for way too much money. (I just can't do the $59.99 15 min sofa clean.) However, I think a portable is perfect for upholstery. My machine screams and whines and begs for me to hook a wand up while I'm doing upholstery, and I have to open up the breathers on the upholstery tool, turn the heat down and turn down the RPMs on the motor... I figure if I had a portable I wouldn't have to waste the gas, and I wouldn't have to govern the machine down so much. From what I understand upholstery is never a "need a bigger hammer problem" and always a need proper chemistry and technique problem.

But like I said, I'm just a Certified Upholstery Technician who is too much of a weenie to take chances on even the most bullet-proof of fibers. I will break out the foaming pre-spray and horse-hair brush, towel off, extract, towel off, protect etc. etc. for a herculon. (Okay, I've been really mean to herculon in the past, but you get the point...)

 

[CleanEvo]

I started with a portable thinking that I could build a business with that... I was going no where and spent waaaaay to much time on all my jobs. What a waste of time!

Then I got a truckmount, now my business is going somewhere.

The customers that you want, the ones that are willing to pay, get their carpets cleaned often and refer you to other like minded people... they EXPECT a truck mount.