Rotovac Question..is it the real deal?

[BUSY BEE]

I've seen this thing but have no idea what it is, sorry my attention has been focused on other things for the past 5 years. Some "Wizard" dude was at one of my section 8 complexes today, recleaned a job we did 2 weeks ago, told the new tenant (she just moved in) he used his special Rotovac "which makes the carpet fluffy" (it was grounded down olefin BTW) & presprayed with a "bacteria killing" prespray. Told the tenant that we cleaned the carpet with only water and the complex should drop me because "that guy in the yellow van doesn't clean carpets the right way, blah, blah". This gullible nimrod goes in and tells the mgr all this, we got a good laugh out of it. My question: Is this thing as good as this dude says it is on olefins? We presprayed, scrubbed with a 175 RPM with bristles and rinsed it looked good after we finished. I need some ammo on this because I've seen this guy advertising on the bulletin board at the local supermarket in my neighboorhood, you know the corkboard where people put lost dogs, cats, car's for sale, etc..... heh...heh....

 

[Jimbo]

Bill, you did more than 95% of the cleaners in Reno would do...with prescrubbing via a rotary.

I always figure the bs cleaners usually end up with clients that actually believe them...it's a good match!

I've used the Rotovac before...it was the twin head model...I really did not care for it. Some guys say one advantage is they keep a lot of heat on the carpet...I'd rather stick with a rotary agitating my prespray and an effective high flow wand.- Jim in Washoe Valley

 

[BUSY BEE]

Bill, you did more than 95% of the cleaners in Reno would do...with prescrubbing via a rotary.

I always figure the bs cleaners usually end up with clients that actually believe them...it's a good match!

I've used the Rotovac before...it was the twin head model...I really did not care for it. Some guys say one advantage is they keep a lot of heat on the carpet...I'd rather stick with a rotary agitating my prespray and an effective high flow wand.- Jim in Washoe Valley

Hey Jim. Yeah, I believe in prespray, agitation, then HWE, but that's my preference. Thanks for chiming in, I'm sure we'll meet in person soon, have a good one, Bill

 

[rotovacguy]

Even though my user name is Rotovacguy, I can't honestly say I miss my Rotovac other than for doing stairs. I had the optional brush heads, and have to say they worked great on stairs, but that's about it, otherwise I'll take my 17" 175 every time. Bigger cleaning path saves time, and the extra weight gives more agitation.


The thing used a ton of water, and with having only a 1.5" tube and those spinning ports in the heads, I felt it left the carpets way too wet. And it wasn't the fastest thing, either. Perhaps if all you did was smaller residential jobs, it would be fine, but I would think on a larger job, you'd lose your ass. I don't know, maybe there are guys on here that use one for larger jobs and like it, I just couldn't see using one on a large job.

 

[Louis]

I have the rotovac and a 175 and carry both on the truck. The rotovac is a good tool and works better than a wand. It does leave the carpets too wet. I made a spliter and hook my 2" hose at the bottom. it's loud when you lift it up. works great now.

The rotovac does not work well on the olefins. I have the crap in my house. I tried it. I am reminded of where caught the carpet by my wife, and left it wet for way to long.

funny thing is I use the 175 and the glided wand more because I don't like dealing with the cord. Just another tool, the 175 and a good brush is fast, and the rotovac can't run a bonnet over it.

 

[Fred Homan]

Louis, Do you have a picture of that spliter?

 

[Mike Draper]

I have used the RV-360 on some nasty olefin-Berber carpets before and yes, it does clean the hell out of em..............on the other hand, I got rid of it, cuz for all the other carpets a good pre-scrubn and steam clean with the greenhorn is better and more economical. the kid will learn someday when he buys a wand and his profits go up by 100+ dollars an hour.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Bill, I dont know about you but that would piss me off if another company is out there spread lies about the company you built. You going to call the bottom feeder and talk to him? Section 8 housing is rough. Seen some bad shit doing those. Did you find out why he got called out there, wicking?

 

[BUSY BEE]

Bill, I dont know about you but that would piss me off if another company is out there spread lies about the company you built. You going to call the bottom feeder and talk to him? Section 8 housing is rough. Seen some bad shit doing those. Did you find out why he got called out there, wicking?

Hi Brent, Yeah I guess that's why I was kinda irritated about this. This is section 8 you know free housing I have a total of 5 of these, but I do have over 400 large high end condo/turned rentals, I insisted on replacement but mgmt said they get it as is. It was brutal, we scrubed, and rinsed. Of course the cleaners walked in after, but we came back at N/C acid rinsed (2nd trip). Thought everything was fine, I guess the lady moved in to her rent free home (Oh yeah I forgot , they replaced the 3 bedroom carpets with a nylon, completely mismatched). She found the Wizard (is this a franchise?), probably the phone book, and he came in with his Rotovac and made everything brand new, we'll see. I'm not gonna call him, he supposely cleans t/g (no color seal, regrout, etc, the things a real t/g guy would advertise)