Supercharging (!?!) a Prochem Legend.

[Jack May]

I have a Genesis and an Legend. The genesis is in a large box van and I like the smaller van to drive around so I have a Legend in it.

Whenever I do a job from the Genesis I really realise how much I miss having the extra vac and heat.

The Legend is standard XL. I run a PC Quad 11.5" wand that I swapped the 1.5's for 2's on the jets to get an 08 flow.

It used to hold consistant 200-212 with the 06 flow and now it sits 180-200 with the 08 flow (but probably hotter ATW).

I guess the first thing is adding a Kunkle?

Anything I can do to boost the overall performance of the thing? I know I'll not get a Genesis out of it but a bit more might be nice.

Suggestions anyone.

I don't like gas heating so thats out although I do have a Little Giant heater on our FDR rig for heating water for cleaning.

I had a job the other night where I used the Genesis on 4 lengths and only running 2100rpm (middle of a retirement village) and reckon I had more vac and heat than the Legend at twice the noise going full pelt on only 1 length!!!!!

John

 

[Jay D]

Well, I will take a swing at it. Vacuum, 2.5 inch hose is great and is on my list(after Christmas) but for now you can run 2, 50ft sections of 2" hoses to a Y connector and then 1 50 ft section to your wand, that works as good as the 2.5 but takes more setup and tear down time. You can get the Y from Greenie cuz his are the best. If money is no object then just get the 2.5" hose and adapters also from greenie. I don't know what it costs to bring stuff to New Zealand but it can't be cheap. I have a 47 blower and run 2 10' sections from the waste tank to the side door of the van. If I have 75Ft run I will connect the Y at the van and run the 75' into the house. If I am cleaning 100' or more from the van, then I will run the 2 50 ft sections from the side door of the van to the Y and run into the house with the 50' section. NO WHIP HOSE 2" to your wand. I made a Y from PVC plumbing parts but the interior dimension is a smaller then greenies Y connector. Mine works fine but his has a edge in vacuum and it LOOKS better. Heat on the legend? 180-200 is not to bad with that flow.
I don't honestly know how there heating system is setup but the heat and flow you have sounds just fine if you use a good prespray and agitation on nasty carpets. A kunkle valve, I don't have one but I would think from everything I have read and heard Yes Why not add that also. You Owe it to yourself to call Greenie or Lisa to pimp out your ride(Between 8-5Pacific coast time). The Hose Y was the best thing I did to my unit other than the feather light valve I got from greenie for my wand.
Anyway too much said, best of luck to you.

Mister Sir

 

[Jack May]

Unfortunately the tank only has 1x 2" outlet.

Another thing, the majority of my jobs are on 1-2 lengths so I wonder at the feasibility of going either 4 to the door or 2.5" given my location. It's rare for me to have to pull the 3rd length on my work. If I have a job like that, it gets scheduled on the Genesis side for the day.

Will a kunkle help lift heat at all?

Also the releif is set at 14", what height should I get for a kunkle? 14",16" or 18"?

I don't mind calling Greenie but how on earth do I work out time differences so I'm not calling him at 3am?

John

 

[Jack May]

Oh yeah, I've NEVER run a 1.5" whip hose. I've always been 2" stright to the wand and I've always used the PC 11.5" x 1.75" SS QUAD jet.

I actually quite like it as a wand. The Genesis came with Westpac 14x2" and it is also a nice wand but wonder if the extra 2.5" of width maigh compromise the vac of the Legend???? Can anyone comment on that?

John

 

[Greenie]

Hey John, how have ya been?

I can phone you at a time that is convenient, your morning is my evening, so just pick a morning ya wanna chat, and I'll call you, I've got the international thing down so no sweat on dialing codes.

As for the Legend tweaks, the principles are the same as with any unit, in general turn the rpms up, most machines are running at 80% of potential or LESS, so fix that. Sure some Will a argue lifespan, but I'll take more performance today over a tired engine 5 years from now, and this argument doesn't hold water for air cooled engines anyways, they all like to scream, they actually run cooler.

Next add a second 2" hose port to your waste tank, either have it welded, or install a bulkhead threaded fitting, they are not expensive. Now you have twice the breathing room to work with and have removed the single largest bottleneck in the system - the single 1.75" hose port.

Now, pick your poison, how ever you want to do it you want bigger hose to the door, either 2 -2" hoses off the tank to the door of the truck, and then a mounted 2.5" Y or 2 hoses 50' off the truck and a free standing Y on the ground where you step down to a single hose to the wand. All of the above will unleash the full potential of the vacuum system.

While you are at it, tighten your vacuum spring relief a little, it won't "need" to open as often since you will be helping the system to breath better through your wand.
Blowers are damaged by HEAT, as long as you are moving air through them sufficiently you will not have any heat issues, if the blower manufacturers knew about glides they would be mandatory on all carpet rigs. lol

Stay with your higher flow on your wand, we clean fiber not gages, so don't give the gage too much attention. btw: turning up the rpms will give more heat, fuel burned = btus = more net heat.

 

[RichardnTn]

You can increase you rpms and get more vac. Instead of running max rpms though, up it a few hundred and change the size pulleys on the vac...I think the Legend runs around 2800 rpm (can't remember) if you could go to 3000 and drop the pulley size an inch....should help tremendously..if you use a kunkle, I would use a 14". Too, upping the rpms just a few hundred doesn't overdrive the pump (1750 rpms) Best to you, RichardR

 

[Greenie]

You have to watch horsepower to blower ratios when swapping pulleys out, unless your turn the rpms up enough to actually get another horse or two, you won't be able to sustain the additional lift. If you find you have to really crank the motor to get the net hp transfer, replace the pump pulley with a larger one to keep rpms in check.

 

[RichardnTn]

Your exactly right and too much restriction via a kunkle valve just adds to that demand for more power... I don't think the Legend I had was set at 14", I believe it something more like 12" Thanks for the additional clarification....RichardR

 

[Greenie]

That restriction could be through a kunkle or a stock spring relief, either way, if a guy desires more vacuum at the wand, at some point he is gonna turn up the lift and needs to feed that with more horses.

As far as I can tell, the only reason more Mfgs. didn't set their units at higher lift levels is, no one could move the wand. A fair understanding.

 

[Jack May]

ok, here's a quick update.

I have added another new 2.5" port into the lid of the waste tank.

I've replaced hoses 2 & 3 with 2.5" and so I have my 'house' hose at 2" and then any extras if needed are 2.5".

That in itself has made it a totally different beast!!!!!

I have also upgraded from the standard 11.5" quad PC wand to a 14x2" CMP.

I'm still running a holed GG and higher flow at 7.5 (I was at 8) but this won't hold too much heat so 10 is totally out of the question.

I'd like to tighten up the standard spring relief and then I might lift the revs slightly to see if I can increase heat a tad more.

I personally don't like gas but I do have a 2HT little giant on my fire damage rig for heating water that I could use if I needed it for a specific job that the Genesis couldn't get to.

John

 

[Greenie]

ProChem is known to run those conservatively, increasing the revs/rpms will make a big improvement in vacuum and a small improvement in heat. Just Check your high pressure pump pulley ratios to make sure it's within Mfg. specs, the pumps tend to run slow as well so you probably have some room here as it stands.

All things being equal, I'd rather have 190 and higher flow than 210 and lower flow.

 

[Numero Uno]

As far as I can tell, the only reason more Mfg. didn't set their units at higher lift levels is, no one could move the wand. A fair understanding.


So true and now with the advent of glide technology,maybe they might rethink this issue...

 

[Jimbo]

Hey John...I would agree with Greenie take on those mods...I added one more on my Nissan-engined 800A Prochem that I learned from the Feehans...I added an electric fan for the cooling system...of course removed the mechanical fan as it is always cooling...it is controlled by an adjustable thermostat...it save the heat for the cleaning process...then when the coolant hits ite upper limit...the fan kicks on to take over the engine cooling process.

With the addition of the Kunkle valve, the fan mods turn the Prochem into a much better performing machine. It seems that the Kunkle added 10 or 15 degrees by itself...due to the increased load on the engine. Jim

 

[Jack May]

Burp...

Here ya go Chad.

John

 

[Chads]

thanks john