Sanitaire as a rug beater

[Mikey P]

Both my local rug care studio's use Sanitaire type vacuums to do their dusting

Neither like the aggressiveness of the Badger type dusters.

Both shop go through those crappy belts at an alarming rate.


I wonder if the Kirby with it's flat and much more durable belt belt wouldn't be a better option.

 

[hogjowl]

Considering it's the new board darling this week, I can't help but think it is.

 

[TomKing]

We have used a sanitare for the last 2 years we are still on the same belt.

We just got a badger for our large rugs.

 

[Mikey P]

Same belt..

Not possible Tom, it's not spinning guaranteed.

I'm going to suggest you replace it tomorrow.

Lol.. no wonder you wanted a bager..

Realize that the brush roll will spin when you lift it off the carpet but stall right away when layer back in the rug..

 

[rhyde]

We go through 3 belts a week at most ..maybe?

The real issue is the drive nut drive pulley , it wears down and the belt stretches and there's not enough contact/pressure between the belt and the drive nut
resulting in slippage, friction and reduced belt life we replace the drive pulley nut as needed 4-6 months.

 

[roro]

http://markoinc.com/nilfiskadvance1.html
Before we got a Badger we used similar to these but ours are an older model.
We found that they set up a more of a vibration in the rug than the Windsor or Karcher uprights we have on the vans.

Built like the proverbial brick outhouse they are 20+ years old and still go well.
The only maintenance they have had is an empty of the dustbag and a clean of the filters with compressed air.

roro

 

[Torrey Express]

Same as Tom, we have had the same belt on our sanitare for Atleast a year. Maybe it's not in hours of use a day like them though. More like a few hours a week.

 

[Mikey P]

I can guarantee you both that the brush roll aint spinning unless you set it so high that it's not in contact with the rug.


lordy...


and you call yourselves Gurus...

 

[Torrey Express]

I can guarantee you both that the brush roll aint spinning unless you set it so high that it's not in contact with the rug.


lordy...


and you call yourselves Gurus...

I can't speak for Tom, but I'm no guru.

As far as the sanitare I'll confirm tomorrow with a quick video. But I'd notice if it weren't spinning.
Got a link to the vacuum your speaking if being a better choice?

I tried a Kirby but the suction was too much for rugs so you had to detach the bag. Either way there's a lot of ways to slice this one.

What do you use mike? Do you have the rug grids? I think those are equally as important.

 

[Shane Deubell]

I can guarantee you both that the brush roll aint spinning unless you set it so high that it's not in contact with the rug.


lordy...


and you call yourselves Gurus...

 

[Mikey P]

unless you have an invisible rug I'm not sure how you'll video your stalled brush.

The Sanitaire is great for dusting but you have to change the belt very often. I'm going to guess at least every 15 rugs with the best OEM belts available.


The great suction alone will fool many into thinking they are sucking up what they should be.


Put your palm over the spinning brush tomorrow and you'll see just how little pressure it takes to stop it. Sure it's spinning when you tilt it back to check, but once it his the pile...game over.

 

[Torrey Express]

unless you have an invisible rug I'm not sure how you'll video your stalled brush.

The Sanitaire is great for dusting but you have to change the belt very often. I'm going to guess at least every 15 rugs with the best OEM belts available.


The great suction alone will fool many into thinking they are sucking up what they should be.


Put your palm over the spinning brush tomorrow and you'll see just how little pressure it takes to stop it. Sure it's spinning when you tilt it back to check, but once it his the pile...game over.

I will look into this. The science behind what your saying is sound.
I would think it wouldn't be vibrating though. Can't wait to test it tomorrow!

I have 10 rugs to clean in que and my wife is about to go into labor any day... I got a lot to do fast!

 

[TomKing]

Thanks for the advice. I will have it checked this week.
I thought only the guys with their own BB where the gurus

 

[Torrey Express]

Thanks for the advice. I will have it checked this week.
I thought only the guys with their own BB where the gurus

Lol.
I think anyone who calls themselves a guru is dork and anyone thinks their a guru needs to get to work.
The real world is were we make our money, the online world is a great place for education and support for me.
The collective group makes singular "guru".

 

[Desk Jockey]

Agreed.

Guru's are the guys trying to sell you a package......I've got a package.....I don't need another one!

 

[Mikey P]

cant wait to hear back from the Indy today boys about their belts...lol


back in the day I sold 150 of those Sanitaires to repeat customers....I saw them using the original belt for years never having a clue

that it stopped spinning on contact.

 

[Shane Deubell]

What model are you guys using for rugs?

http://www.sanitairevac.com/Cleaning-Products/Upright/

 

[Steve Lawrence]

Seems to me that if the roller isn't spinning the belt would burn and disintegrate very quickly with an obvious rubber smell.

Proper roll spinning requires that the height be adjusted properly for the carpet/rug you are vacuuming. The brush should just barely touch the fibers to allow the roll to spin--adjusted too low and the brushes will bog the thing down and burn out your belt in a heartbeat.

BTW Kirby and Sanitaire belts are not interchangeable.

 

[Shane Deubell]

If you are talking about these things, they suck. The belt and where you put it is round/smooth.
So when it stretches a little bit it has nothing to grab onto and slips.

 

[Mikey P]

Any of the 7 amp versions are fine...you decide how you want to capture the dirt

 

[rhyde]

we use the sc886

 

[Torrey Express]

cant wait to hear back from the Indy today boys about their belts...lol


back in the day I sold 150 of those Sanitaires to repeat customers....I saw them using the original belt for years never having a clue

that it stopped spinning on contact.

Mike, I just checked. It is spinning and strong.

I took a piece of rubber and bore down on it way harder than any rug or carpet would and it pulled right through no problem.

I'm not trying to be contradictory or anything. I'm actually glad I read this so I can check it from time to time. And I do think we did change it once over the couple years we've had it.
Again though, we aren't running it all day like some big time guys. Just a few hours a week.

 

[Mikey P]

so lets say 2 hours a week at 48 weeks.. 100 plus hours..

You would be the first janitor in history to get that much life from one POS Sanitaire belt..

send that thing off to the Smithsonian asap.

 

[Torrey Express]

so lets say 2 hours a week at 48 weeks.. 100 plus hours..

You would be the first janitor in history to get that much life from one POS Sanitaire belt..

send that thing off to the Smithsonian asap.

Maybe it's a Indiana thing...

Just talked to tom and he agrees his is turning fine.. Ask him.

How many hours are normal for nor to burn out?

 

[Mikey P]

hours?

no clue...thick stiff piles will stretch, split or bust a belt in well under 5000 ft, some times under 100 feet.


Are you only vacuuming the backs?

 

[Torrey Express]

hours?

no clue...thick stiff piles will stretch, split or bust a belt in well under 5000 ft, some times under 100 feet.


Are you only vacuuming the backs?

Actually this may be the missing link here in our conversation. We are are only vibrating the back so rugs with it. I'm not using it for it's vacuuming purposes almost all.
Those things suck for vacuuming.
But we replaced the brushes with two more metal lobes and only use it on backs of rugs for vibration/beatings.

 

[Mikey P]

there you go, no resistance.

I just asked my two shops what they go through,

The one man/pit shop gets 30 rugs out of one belt.
The four man/pit shop goes through 800 to 1000 belts per year. A (thick) Sarouk rug may need up to 12 belts just to get the job done. They are very in tune with the vibration frequency and like to keep it consistent at what they feel is the best/fastest speed.

 

[Torrey Express]

there you go, no resistance.

I just asked my two shops what they go through,

The one man/pit shop gets 30 rugs out of one belt.
The four man/pit shop goes through 800 to 1000 belts per year. A (thick) Sarouk rug may need up to 12 belts just to get the job done. They are very in tune with the vibration frequency and like to keep it consistent at what they feel is the best/fastest speed.

Wow that's nuts.

Has Lisa ever commented on this?

I am glad to see so many other use this tool also for dusting. I thought I just havnt ponied up the jack for a full badger style. Maybe I'm not missing much?

 

[Shane Deubell]

Who's On First?

What's On Second.

 

[LisaWagnerCRS]

I am in my vacuum store every other month, grab about 7 belts (they are cheap). We are using the Sanitaires front and back, but mostly on the back. We use the QuickKleens, the narrow ones (the wider ones do not vibrate as much). We do not have the brushes in them, and we use a concave VGI brush, the brushes replaced with metal inserts - this is a rug beater head.

I think the other dusting machines are fine, some a bit too aggressive in my opinion, but this just works for us. Of course we are getting rugs in regularly so we do not have the impacted soil problem that many do.

It's kind of a non-issue though - ANY dusting is better than no dusting at all… but claims that heavy dusting gets 98+% of the dirt out are simply untrue. If the soil is greasy, if the rug has ever been surface cleaned, it won't matter how much you beat the damn thing - it's not coming out until you wash that puppy and scrub it out.

Lisa