Slow the Flow?

[Lint Basket]

Mike I'm happy to see you come around to a more common sense approach to carpet cleaning. if your a one man show doing mostly residential work, the setup you have is right on the money. I've been using 4 flow for 30 years and getting great results. I'm being told these are different times my friend, I couldn't agree less. If anything the construction of today's carpets can't take a lot of high moisture an high pressure. Cut back the water flow, lower the heat and you won't need the big equipment. Spend more time on the prepping side of the cleaning process. If you pre vac, pre agitate, all you need is a lite rinse. All this is done just fine with a whip hose and small wand. put a small Omni fan in each room and your dry when your done. A side benefit to smaller mounts is they can be a lot quieter and your customer will love that. If there's any body on this board that knows me you know I enjoy the highest end customer base anybody in this business could ever have. From high end homes to 60 million dollar jets, and I didn't get that by soaking my carpets with my so called little stick wand.

P.S work smarter guys and you'll enjoy a lot of years at this and your body will thank you.​

I've been playing with my flow for the last year taking it back down. Switched from 12 flow .02's to 9 flow 01.5's and now 6 flow .01 on my Ti Prochem. I've compared notes with Dave Rampage and Kemp Waterfall. I was surprised that they to had switched back down to .01's. I also ran into Stan a month ago and chatted about it. Stan is a badass.

Also Kemp has removed his extenders and I've jammed mine up as far as they go plus mine are shorter to begin with as I just use the brass female/female to extend with. I'm tempted to remove those too. I saw a picture on facebook from Ben Surde where he had serious jet streaks he could not get rid of. I have no idea what his set-up was? The point is what Stan was saying about the carpet these days being more sensitve.

Curious if others on here have also started slowing the flow and backing off the jet distance?

Sorry if you guys have already covered this to death but I searched and couldn't find to much on the topic.

 

[Chris A]

I've done the same thing over the last few years. Last 2 years running 09 flow. When I got my new rig I kept the stock 06 jetting on the new ti wand and switched my other wand as well. I like the better heat and dry times better than the flush.

 

[Mikey P]

Adapt to the task at hand.

Many if not most regular repeats wont need the firehose treatment.

 

[Kellie Hiler]

I'm not sure what the stock jets are on my Prochem TI wand but it doesn't have the extenders. I don't think it needs them,

 

[Lint Basket]

Here is a wand from the guy I just bought my Truck from. He through it in on the deal along with that worn out hybrid behind it. Look how close those jets are.

 

[Lint Basket]

Mike, you say adapt to the job at hand. Are you swapping jets at the job? I have three wands so I can have my two main ones setup the way I want. I guess I could set the third up with hi flow for the trashed jobs.

 

[Kellie Hiler]

For the trashed jobs I personally use the Rotovac or the Zipper. In fact I barely use my wand but for edging or if I'm just doing a quick one or two rooms.
Even without the extenders, I still get a good flush at 400 PSI.

 

[Mikey P]

No jet swapping..

Tool swapping. 4,7 and 9 flow on board the 370

6, 9, 10 and 12 on the AT


Would an on the fly flow adjust wand be popular with owner ops?

 

[Todd Millar]

Just curious, how do you tell what flow you are using? I would like to figure what I am running and go from there.
I am running a stock 16 inch evolution wand.

 

[jcooper]

Would an on the fly flow adjust wand be popular with owner ops?

I think a dial(or something) for psi would/could be helpful. Going from carpet to stairs, lightly soiled room, area rug, maybe turn it down a little.


There was a guy here that did this to a hoss....

 

[steve_64]

Just close your shut off valve halfway or so to adjust flow and lift or lower your wand to adjust jet position.

 

[jcooper]

Just curious, how do you tell what flow you are using?

Your jets will have numbers on them, first(two or three) numbers are angle of spray, second set of numbers(last two) are flow.

Lest say you have 11002 - it's 110 degrees of spray and 02 flow.

 

[TimM]

View attachment 12199 Here is a wand from the guy I just bought my Truck from. He through it in on the deal along with that worn out hybrid behind it. Look how close those jets are.

That is the same wand I have with those extenders, but with a glide on it they are farther away from the carpet.

 

[Jack Zipper Zerkie]

The other I had a dump to clean just 3 rooms vacant. I started with 2- 110-02 not what I wanted, so more water so changed to 2-110-05 and what a difference the carpets cleaned much nicer and were very dry for the trashed carpets. When the job was finished went back to 2-110-02. jz,

 

[Lance Golden]

@Scott Mckay , I bet if you ask Kemp, He took it back down to 06 after running RO/DI for awhile.
Do you remember why, and how Kemp started the high flow?
plugged jets... Ironically, the higher he went, the cleaner the carpets were getting.
He also cleans with some high pressure.

I am running a 4 jet Westpak TI with a 06 flow no extenders...
When I'm in the mood, I may switch to a 08 flow, with extenders.

For the most part, I still run with the machine set to 800 PSI

I carry complete sets from 01's to up to 03's

 

[Lint Basket]

For the trashed jobs I personally use the Rotovac or the Zipper. In fact I barely use my wand but for edging or if I'm just doing a quick one or two rooms.
Even without the extenders, I still get a good flush at 400 PSI.

Kellie, Yeah I run the rotovac or CRB too on trashed and then Wand it out. The CRB could still use higher flow extraction from the wand. I always wand after Rotovac too, I turn the pressure to 400 and only rinse lightly in areas that need it.

Basically my regular clientele that are maintenance only (clean carpet type people) do I wand only clean for. I guess thats where the low flow shines. I like your settings Mike.

 

[GeneMiller]

No matter what pressure or flow your running your still leaving the carpet full of junk. Be it dirt or the pre-treater of your choice. It will dry faster with less and may even look good, but it will never be as clean as it could be. dont kid yourself, you aren't rinsing all your free rinsing prespray out.

 

[Desk Jockey]

View attachment 12199 Here is a wand from the guy I just bought my Truck from. He through it in on the deal along with that worn out hybrid behind it. Look how close those jets are.

Shit that's just asking for a beating.

 

[Lint Basket]

Lance, I remember Kemp always clogging up and went bigger flow. I just switched to DI water myself 2 weeks ago. I likey so far. Washed my cars today and they have never looked so clean, just let it drip dry. I have cleaned two Travertine jobs with the DI water too. So nice and the water seems to dry alot faster too.

 

[Cleanworks]

I always like a 6 flow on my tm. If I need more or less cleaning solution, I just speed up or slow down the wand. I generally use a 4 flow on my portable, mainly because that where I get optimal heat. I find with a 4 flow on the tm, if I have to lay down the wand for a few minutes, it takes too long to get my heat back up. Especially, if you are pre scrubbing, a 6 flow will enable you to move through the job a lot faster.

 

[Lint Basket]

Gene, I roto in and wand out. There is nothing left.... My wand is just a DI rince and groom the carpet dry step.

 

[Lint Basket]

If I'm maintenance cleaning/wand only. I still feel the pressure, flow, and heat is very suffecient running .01's. Especially where one or 2 passes may not really phase the backing of the carpet. Basically how many passes does it take to soak the backing? Each flow and pressure would vary right?

Pressure is funny to. I run 100' or 150' sections on residential. Compared to some who may run 200'-250' sections. Our pressure will not be the same at the wand as the truck. I like 500 psi with my short hose runs and it maintains good heat with shorter hose runs as well.

 

[Able 1]

I was thinking of going from 9 to 12 flow(plenty of heat with my Apex).. I think you actually get more pile distortion with lower flow because of the impact on the carpet. I have never had any streaking issues with 9 or 12 flow with long extentions(streaking is usually due to clogged jets). I usually run at 400 psi and get great dry times.

I ran 6 flow when I got a new TI wand but I noticed it would take a LOT more passes to flush out fels. That got me thinking if I want to leave my custy's carpet with less chemicals in their carpet the higher flow is a must..

 

[BIG WOOD]

I run an 8 flow on my 4jet wand. I've played with the flow down from a 4 up to my current 8. It's true, that the lower the flow, the lower psi you need to prevent streaks. Because if you run 01 jets at 600 psi, the water is so much sharper than 02 jets, it will cause streaks.

 

[GeneMiller]

Gene, I roto in and wand out. There is nothing left.... My wand is just a DI rince and groom the carpet dry step.

thats right along with my more water is better. your getting the carpet cleaner than most but trust me you still aren't getting it all. you could cut a section of carpet out of the traffic pattern and dunk it in water and still see residue from your prespray along with some dirt. the next time its garbage day and you see some carpet stop and get some. test it for your self. its a real eye opener.

 

[hogjowl]

How long before some unknown future poster tells us he's improved his cleaning by increasing his flow?

Let's go ahead and name him Mikey2 in advance.

 

[Mikey P]

Bizzaromikey sounds so much better.



High flow was the answer to not having an RE..




Hurry up Tom....

 

[Chris A]

thats right along with my more water is better. your getting the carpet cleaner than most but trust me you still aren't getting it all. you could cut a section of carpet out of the traffic pattern and dunk it in water and still see residue from your prespray along with some dirt. the next time its garbage day and you see some carpet stop and get some. test it for your self. its a real eye opener.

So in other words as long as it looks good and dries soft who gives a shit? That's my motto

 

[TConway]

Bizzaromikey sounds so much better.



High flow was the answer to not having an RE..




Hurry up Tom....

I am doing my best Mike. The wand is coming along fine but it is taking more time than expected. There is so much more involved. I can say this when it is ready I think it is gonna really gonna make a huge statement. We are really working hard to make a awesome wand.
The new head design flows a ton of air, our glides are gonna be pretty freaking awesome.
I am really working hard to make this wand the best it can be, address as many of the things we want in a tool we use everyday.

 

[TConway]

Here is a teaser of what we are working