Rotovac 360i brush head design flaws

[Loren Egland]

I picked up a used brush head at the annual Prolone swap meet in Sacramento. I thought I might like it on some of the polyester and olefin carpet. But am very disappointed in the design compared to my quad head.

As you can see in the picture of these two cleaning heads side by side, the jet location on the quad is right in the center of the vacuum pick up port as it spins around during the cleaning operation and can thus pick up the water from the entire width of the spray.

The brush head has its jets set further in toward the center hub and so as the head spins only about half the spray width is picked up by the vacuum port. The water from the other half of the spray width doesn’t get extracted immediately but just wets the carpet in that area because the water is not being extracted at all. If you want to hold the Rotovac in on spot, the area near the center axis just keeps soaking the carpet. That’s problem number one.

Problem number two is that the brush bristles themselves interfere with the spray width. You get no cleaning spray on the outside couple inches, so there is no getting close to anything due to the decreased width from brush interference. The cleaning path in side to side motion is probably closer to 8 inches than the 12 or so inches of the quad head. With the jet placement and brush spray interference, you may only be getting one inch or so of spray and extraction in the spin path.

Now I’m sure someone will tell me to just keep the machine moving and it will be fine. However, I would like to fix these design flaws. Have any of you tried to make a couple changes in the brush head?

My thinking is to change the jet location to the same position as my quad head. But the brush is in the way. Perhaps a scissors could cut a path in the bristles for the jets to lay in. I would think that would work but I haven’t tried it. Honestly I can’t imagine why the brush head was designed the way it is rather than the way I am suggesting.

 

[Papa John]

use it and get back to us... The BH kicks butt and provides the deepest cleaning.

remember, you are moving the thing side to side so that all the fibers from all directions get cleaned and wet. its cleaning in 360 degrees.

 

[Mikey P]

It works great, don't be a dork.

 

[hogjowl]

Too late

 

[Matt Middleton]

Those flaws and other design issues are what made us look to the Trex. Never looked back

 

[Mikey P]

Loren have you you used it a dozen times yet or are you speculating?

 

[Andy]

Don't listen to these guys. I agree with you, the cleaning path on the brush head is actually smaller than its size because of the placements of the jets. Use a pair of channel locks and remove some tufts of the brush that interfere with the jets, a 21/2 inch nipple places the jet right in the middle. If you pull out the right ones the bristles will lay over longer nap carpets to achieve a greater spray pattern.

 

[Mikey P]

Ok, I trust Loren, I'll modify mine...

 

[Rob Grady]

I am not a big fan of the brush head (s) because of their inherent traits of cross contamination. I received a brush head with the 360xl that I got by auction on this site. I have used it enough to understand what Loren is suggesting .
Mine is the Teflon glided head, that I have modified to alleviate spray interference, but it is a real pain to remove built up crud front the bristles.

 

[FB7777]

The only issue I have the the Rotovac 360i is that the 1 or 2 of the jets seem to clog often

I have a water filter in my garage and the Butler is new.

Matt and I are coming to the conclusion that our rat nasty weapons of choice are either the ole reliable RX20 or CRB / Devastator combo

 

[Rob Grady]

This is what I have scalped so far. I'll probably continue further. Two of the four jets have been removed and plugged, one short/one long arm.

 

[hogjowl]

Y’all are geniuses

 

[Mikey P]

Ok..

I ended up taking out too many gifts but no I know exactly which have to go to fit the brushless 3 jet manifold




Ink dots indicate Tufts that should have stayed

 

[Loren Egland]

Those flaws and other design issues are what made us look to the Trex. Never looked back

Thanks for mentioning the T-Rex. I looked at their website as I recall a brush head.

As you can see, Mytee figured out where the bristles should go so as not to interfere with the spray pattern.

Another thing you will notice is that the vacuum slot is longer and able to immediately pick up any spray from the jets. More on that later.

 

[Loren Egland]

Loren have you you used it a dozen times yet or are you speculating?

Probably only used it 5 or 6 times, enough to figure out what is going on.

 

[Loren Egland]

Don't listen to these guys. I agree with you, the cleaning path on the brush head is actually smaller than its size because of the placements of the jets. Use a pair of channel locks and remove some tufts of the brush that interfere with the jets, a 21/2 inch nipple places the jet right in the middle. If you pull out the right ones the bristles will lay over longer nap carpets to achieve a greater spray pattern.

That’s a good idea. I was thinking clipping the bristles. I figured some of you would have your thinking hats on. Is why I brought this subject to the board.

 

[Loren Egland]

This is what I have scalped so far. I'll probably continue further. Two of the four jets have been removed and plugged, one short/one long arm.

View attachment 93694

My 360i Quad head came with two short and two long nipples like you have pictured. I immediately replaced the two short ones with longer length to match the other two jet positions. The 2 short and 2 long design would work nicely if the vacuum slots were longer to pick up all the spray when spinning, like the vacuum slot on the T-Rex.

 

[SamIam]

We’re talking flood jets right?

 

[Loren Egland]

Ok..

I ended up taking out too many gifts but no I know exactly which have to go to fit the brushless 3 jet manifold
View attachment 93696

View attachment 93695

Ink dots indicate Tufts that should have stayed
View attachment 93697

View attachment 93698

Thanks for these pictures. It helps. Hope it works well for you.

I think I would prefer the jets be placed closer to the swoop side of the vacuum ports so the spray would be picked up sooner in each revolution. It looks like you may have changed the jet position from what you started with as the jets looked like they were previously more centered between the vacuum slots. If anything, rather than the jets center spaced, I would have cheated closer to the swoop side of the slot.



Rotovac has been all over the place with their jet placements. It shouldn’t be that hard to figure out.

The Hoss, as I recall, played around with their spray bars. Some bars were full length and others were not. I think too much flow may have been the issue?

Mytee seems to have good jet to vacuum port placement, and the Junior looks good from the bottom, but it’s about 10 pounds or so heavier than the 360i quad, and I don’t believe the Junior has a telescoping arm. Being able to shorten and lower the arm is very desirable for using it on steps.

 

[Mikey P]

and it's a mighty...

 

[Loren Egland]

Trying to decide jet placement. What do you think?

 

[Mikey P]

Now I know what a full 12" feels like...

-Danny on Satan's Phablet

 

[Mikey P]

 

[Trip Moses]

Now I know what a full 12" feels like...

-Danny on Satan's Phablet

View attachment 93727

That’s what she said.

@Cleanworks on @The Lurk ’s phone


@

 

[Loren Egland]

Well I spent some time this afternoon on the brush head. This is the progression:


I left one row of bristles on the outside. The quad head with the jets centered between vacuum ports will give a slight overspray so I thought leaving some tufts at the outer ring would eliminate that. As you can see from the pictures, the other quad head cannot overspray due to the jets positioning inside the right angle vac slot. I tried to do the same with the tri-head but the jets would not be positioned correctly to work.

I’m looking forward to trying it out. I feel I will finally get some good use out of the brush head.

 

[Cleanworks]

That’s what she said.

@Cleanworks on @The Lurk ’s phone


@

The truth hurts.

 

[Johnny]

Why no Brush head for HOSS?

 

[hogjowl]

Doesn’t Sapphire make the Hoss?

 

[Johnny]

Doesn’t Sapphire make the Hoss?

Sapphire.

 

[Trip Moses]

Why no Brush head for HOSS?

It may be too heavy for brushes. Just a guess.