Turbo Cat Vacuum

[Lumber Jack]

Has anyone used the Turbo cat vacuum head. The reason I ask is I could put a jet at the back of my filter behind the filter bag itself to wet the fine dust in the hose and not wet the filter bag itself that way it would not clog the filter with mud it would just catch sand hair and larger derbris. I think it would work really well but I don't know how good the Turbo Vac head is maybe a POS.

 

[sweendogg]

Unless you use a vacuum the releif, the turbo head will spin awful fast and alot of people have reported burning through bearings in record time.

I'd suggest an electric style power head that uses the suction only.

 

[Mikey P]

Keep the speed down with a vac relief and you'll get decent results and a moderate life time out of the head. The self pile height adjuster on that head is not so great. Tends to ride on high on low piles/CGD

Crank it up to truckmount induced speeds and you'll melt it in no time.

 

[Larry Cobb]

I agree with David ...

Run the TM at idle speed and it works great.

Vacuum and agitation better than upright.

Larry

 

[Ron Werner]

put a clear tube on it so you can see when you're getting the soil

 

[Zee]

I couldn't finish the first room I started with....without tossing it aside...

I had the TM on idle....

Handle is too short, its too light, its just something I would never spend money on.

 

[Lumber Jack]

Thanks guys keep on posting this is good I realy need all your input like above as it being very light handle too short. Maybe a electric power head wold be good like the ones that came on pull around canister vacs would work good the air flow might help pull more debris out of the carpet and they are a little heavier and maybe a little more durable. I just like the fact that Turbo Cat needs no power.

 

[Dolly Llama]

Vacuum and agitation better than upright.

Larry

bullony

...................................................................................

L-Jack, we've burnt up a couple.
They don't handle anything but very small debris well.
the only advantage to them is the ability to exhaust outside.
Like if you were attempting to rid a carpet of cat/dog dander for an allergy sufferer .
But you know what? you can do that most uprights too.
Just pull the hose off the vac, like you were going to use the on board tools.
stick the TM hose in it's place on upright

BUT...the greatest draw back...why in the world would you use $15 to $20,000+ machine to do the job of a $69 dollar upright?
Not to mention the fuel used..

It doesn't make any $en$e


..L.T.A.

 

[Joe Bristor]

Larry makes good points.
I HOST it first, then vacuuming is fast and more effective.
But if I still had a TM, how long would it take to vacuum, maybe 15-20 minutes for a whole house?
What's that cost versus the time saved not extracting so much mud?
And the benefits of everything going outside. That's reason enuf to do it.
Bet you wouldn't get any argument from the customer.

And we call ourselves cleaners?
Forget the idling & vac relief.
Suck the f'n snot out of that carpet so we really do get all the particulate we possibly can outa there.
I know this... nothing gets up embedded pet hair for me better than a $30 Rug Rat.
Hell, we could roll in a floodsucker and vent it outside.

It gets back to making it heavier and more durable.
Seems somebody woulda done it by now.
So make it already.
Let Ron Werner do some videos to sell it.
Give him some earplugs, a video camera and a nice commission.
Call it the 'Ron Rat.' He'd sell shit out of em.

 

[Larry Cobb]

I couldn't finish the first room I started with....without tossing it aside...

I had the TM on idle....

Handle is too short, its too light, its just something I would never spend money on.

I don't like a short handle either . . .

We fabricate a longer & stronger stainless-steel handle.

Larry

 

[Dolly Llama]

But if I still had a TM, how long would it take to vacuum, maybe 15-20 minutes for a whole house?

takes longer than that to do it "right", Joe.
ask Ron.
some "whole houses" you could blow thru in 20 minutes.
(the ones you could get away with NOT vaccing)

But the ones that "need" it, you won't..."IF" you do it "right"

actually, I spent nearly 15 minutes on ONE room just last Thursday.
I "know" the TurboCat would not of been any faster, nor more aggressive than my Bissel

What's that cost versus the time saved not extracting so much mud?

compared to the Turbo and a good vaccing upright ("good vaccing" doesn't mean expensive)
The upright would actually be faster...BECUZZZZ...no TM vac hose to run thru the house and manage just to vac.
A 40ft, 14ga cord is much easier to deal with

And the benefits of everything going outside. That's reason enuf to do it.

that's the only advantage of the turbo.
and if they made one that wasn't a light duty plastic POS, I'd likely have one on the van for special needs custys.
I might also concede there "might" be some "physiological" advantage in the custy's mind too.
But hell, the truth is, 93.72% of CC'ers don't vac at all....so just bringing in ANY vac is an advantage

I'll disagree again with Larry, they're NOT as good as a Bissel in agitation or pick up.
The vac hole inside the turbine is mighty small..less than a square inch if i recall.
Maybe even smaller...I'm not sure how much "vac" you can get thru that little square opening

YOU'RE the inventor/manufacture, Joe
Build one that will hold up and is designed to utilize and take advantage of the lift and CFM TM's generate .
maybe I'll have another on the van then
Cause the TurboCat ain't it...


..L.T.A.

 

[The Great Oz]

The Turbo Cats work fine, but are a little more delicate than I'd like.

I did talk to a manufacturer several years ago about building a heavy-duty model, and said if he could make a unit with metal where it counted I'd be willing to pay as much as $300 for it. The following year he told me that he would have to sell them for $250 to be able to distribute and make a profit, and so far no one else would agree to pay that much for truckmount vacuum.

I guess that's why nobody makes a durable one.

 

[Joe Bristor]

yep, that makes sense Bryan.
when the avg bdcc can buy a $69 vacuum why blow $300?
Still, it has potential. I could see it solving lots of problems like airbornes, getting closer to walls and farther under things and working out all that embedded hair. It's a product that needs to be.
Look for it soon at your supplier's.

 

[Nate The Great]

If you're gonna go through the trouble of building a perfect TM vacuum, why not put a 2" port on the Host type machine? Since it digs deeper, it should pull more out. Just thinking outside the box.

 

[Lumber Jack]

We maybe on to something a truck mount vac would be very powerful and I could put a clear tube on it that I can get from my plastic lady she has in stoke

 

[Joe Bristor]

"Just pull the hose off the vac, like you were going to use the on board tools.
stick the TM hose in it's place on upright"

Now that's an idea Larry.
You got a picture?

 

[Dolly Llama]

"Just pull the hose off the vac, like you were going to use the on board tools.
stick the TM hose in it's place on upright"

Now that's an idea Larry.
You got a picture?

nah.

you can picture it though...most uprights that have an on-board tool capacity have a hose that connects to the tube from the vac head (where the roll brush is) .
Just put the TM hose vac cuff over that tube.
a 1.5" cuff is better than a 2", but there's still plenty excess vac with a TM that the lift will be more than enough.

the 1.5 works even though it's not a tight fit, cause you need some vac relief.
If it was tight to the tube, the vac is so great it can actually suck the vac right to the carpet and stall the roll brush.

That's what would happen with the TurboCat if the vac hole inside the unit wasn't so choked down

It seems a simple, yet "TM proof" turbo wouldn't be tremendously difficult to design.
No debris should go thru the turbine fan..all it would do is power the roll brush .
Now you can open up the head so it can utilize the lift and CFM of TMs.
Essentially, a roll brush and vac chamber body that funnels everything to the vac hose/tube


There will never be a "mass" market for a quality turbo...just like there's really no mass market for the TurboCat...It was intended for "home owner" use with central vac systems, no?
and never was a "professional" tool


..L.T.A.

 

[sweendogg]

Like someone pointed out, get a pile lifter style brush roll that can DIG, and while you are at it, design a canister filter that would collect the dry soil with out having to use a dust downer.

Now if you ran that style of truckmount vac, and didn't need the solution hose ran to the dust downer, you could run a two man crew where one guy pre vacs, the other guy could prespray, vac guy doubles bac and prescrubs and then the other guy starts wanding. Sounds like a good deal to me.

And I bet a super vac using the suction of the truckmount and I wouldn't have had to spend an hour vaccing basement, pulling out 8-10 lbs of kitty litter out of the frieze with my bagless. (The stuff just kept coming!!)

 

[Able 1]

I agree with Larry... A pos bissel will be better then a rug rat cause when you run it you can also edge with the bissel. I don't use my tm to vac. much, but in a pinch.. What ever it takes.

 

[Dolly Llama]

There you go, Joe

Kieth provided the pic!

Thanks Kieth

..L.T.A.

 

[Joe Bristor]

Ok, so you're still plugged in too?

 

[Able 1]

Yup... Can't beat it really I had my TM running full out, and you could tell the brush motor was stressing because of all the vac.. It was kind of cool, but still don't think it's worth running your TM to vac..

 

[steve g]

if someone made an all metal turbo cat, I think they would sell a ton of them. they just don't work for serious use. vac up a penny or other things metal and you will grenade the turbine housing. also YOU WILL want to crank the truckmount up to really vac the place, its just too tempting you will think it will be ok if I go half throttle on just this one job, then you hit a nail or a penny and the party is over quickly. if you like the idea of the turbo cat you can always get a central vac power head that turns the brush roll with a separate motor you will have a cord but it will vac like crazy and last alot longer. BTW a turbo cat will vac the hell out of the carpet when you run the truckmount at full throttle however it might last 2 jobs doing so.

 

[Ron Werner]

that would be a real PITA to vacuum with a 2" hose attached, even a 1" hose. Its one thing to vac with the wand or something like a wand but it sure doesn't make it easy going through the house twice with the vac hose.

Some houses you can vacuum in 30 min, some rooms require 30 min. Anyone can whip through a room with a super-duper vac in 5 min and it looks fine, its another thing to go into that same room and find there is a canister of soil STILL there to be removed. I've seen it too many times to assume a carpet doesn't need much vacuuming because it "looks" like it doesn't.

 

[tmdry]

Sell it and get an upright pro(not walmart) vac.

You can buy $500-$800 dollar pro vacs on ebay for half the cost, brand spanking new.

It doesn't matter how fast your beater bar runs if it's powered thru your TM(even if you set it at idle), if you have a room or house that is filthy you will still have to run the beater bar slow. The Turbo Vac does not have an uph tool, so now you can't do stairs or crevices. I sold my Turbo vac which i never used, get a real PRO vac, not a POS BISSELL like people state here and there...once you've used a real pro vac, you will NEVER have to go thru the disposable POS CLOGGING cheapo vacs ever again.

Just do it right the first time.

 

[sweendogg]

You don't get it do ya! :roll: Most of the people who end up with the POS bissels as you so kindly put it have had the 800 dollar vacuums,, some of us have had the 1200 dollar vacuums, and the sad state of fact is the pos bissels tend to out perform these vacuums, and we are talking the 46 dollar versions. Now yes models like the Cleartrak and the newer Sanitaire bagless perform just as well and present a professional appearnace, If I had to use your Pro vacuum with bags, or even our kirby with bags, I'd of gone through 3 bags on the last job and thats if I could tell where the soil was coming up. One area where the customer used carpet fresh powder almost filled the canister and you couldn't here anything coming in... but I could see it. And lets talk about how badly that would have wicked up if I had not gotton it all out.

If you are threatened by the guy who spent even one tenth the money on the vacuum that performs better jsut say so.. and FYI, if you have a person who doesn't vacuum, has pets, and never had their carpets cleaned... the residue and crap that would gunk up the 800 dollar vacuum would make it smell to high heavens, the guy who has a 46 dollar bissel can choose to leave it at the house he cleaned and add the total for replacement to the bill.

 

[Joe Bristor]

Please don't let this go to a 'my vac is better than yours' thread.
Let's stay focused on Turbo Cat concept please.

the ...nails & pennies...
can't this be handled with a steel mesh screen before the turbine?

the '...PITA with 2" hose' is a deal killer too.
so we design a head& tube with Bissell type agitation/suction OK?

"...a canister of soil STILL there to be removed"
that's why you'll be the poster child Ron, 'last grain of sand' spokesman.
Still, don't you want the power of a turbine somehow?

What other problems are there to overcome?

 

[Lumber Jack]

Ok guys I had magnet that I bought that you put on the front of vac. I don't have now because my vac is 100 cheapo but it worked great for nails n metal stuff.
The Devastator filter would be the catch can. You wouldn't plug it up so we need to come up with a vacuum head that can take the power of tm. It sounds like a good idea to pull all stuff outside I think this would impress the right customers,and maybe get higher clientel?

 

[sweendogg]

I agree to pulling the crap outside as long as we can get away with a dry filter/ canister/ bag to grab without the need for a dust downer.. And I'd suggest a peek a hose clear tube so we can see what is being pulled out.

 

[Nate The Great]

Ok guys I had magnet that I bought that you put on the front of vac. I don't have now because my vac is 100 cheapo but it worked great for nails n metal stuff.
The Devastator filter would be the catch can. You wouldn't plug it up so we need to come up with a vacuum head that can take the power of tm. It sounds like a good idea to pull all stuff outside I think this would impress the right customers,and maybe get higher clientel?

http://www.powr-flite.com/product/mc5+v ... y=ourPicks

I concur. They would really excel in commercial work.