What Makes Hi-Performance Portable Extractors ?

[Larry Cobb]

Vacuum Systems:
Vacuum performance has improved greatly in the last couple of years.
The latest fan innovations from U.S. manufacturers have increased both efficiency and actual AirWatt power.
Modern efficient vac motors should have tapered fans for best performance. You can identify these vac motors easily by looking at the bottom of the fan housing. It will be angled with the center higher than the outer edges. Here is an image of a 5.7" Ametek with the fans in blue:

View attachment 3387

A high performance portable should use this technology.
The highest efficiency extractor vac motor using this technology is the 8.4" LMB5A (Efficency = 45%).
Here is a graph showing the efficiency improvements over a couple of years:
View attachment 3388
We are making a high-performance extractor using two of these vac motors. They require more room, so most extractors must use the 5.7" version of these tapered-fan vac motors (our LMB2A).

http://www.cobbcarpet.com/zen/index...earch_in_description=1&keyword=lmb2a+or+lmb5a

Now we can discuss Series vs. Parallel.

With 2-stage vacs that typically have 80 to 100 in. of H2O lift,
they MUST be used in series to develop adequate lift @ the wand.
View attachment 3391

The vertical line orifice is typical of a 12" wand on wet carpet.

With 3-stage vacs that typically have 135 to 145 in. of H2O lift,
you have more latitude. They will perform well in Series or Parallel.

Plumbing of high performance vacs should ideally be 2" diameter to the recovery tank. Some portables have 2" standpipes in the recovery tank (look for these).

One last caveat is to avoid the Chinese vac motors, which are low cost and short life.

Pump Systems

The PumpTec #206 pump with DC motor was a good choice last year. Now, we utilize the new Cat 1XL pump with the strong Ametek DC motor. Ideally, you need ~1.5 GPM spraying @ 300 PSI to get good flushing and extraction of a carpet. (Both of these systems are called 500 PSI systems, but while spraying, you generally only get about 60% of max pressure)

Now a word about grout cleaning pump systems. They are usually designed to deliver 1000 PSI @ ~2GPM. This is fine for grout cleaning, but when used for carpet cleaning, the pump will overheat, and burn plunger seals prematurely. Dual function extractors are difficult to design for this reason.

Wand Design

This is similar to TM design guidelines. Larger angled jets to flow more water and perform better extraction. Teflon glides to aid productivity. Head design is paramount for peak performance and favors a cast metal design with high-flow design (Ti or Bentley).
A 14" wand demands a minimum of two 3-stage tapered-fan vac motors.

Larry

 

[hogjowl]

"High performance" ... relative to what?

 

[Willy P]

This is a direct hook up pump ( You might remember this one Mr C- ya sold ot to me), plenty of oomph for tile, can also be used for carpets.
pimp on a cart. I can just drop a hose in my tank to suck water for the pump or directly to a faucet. -



Now about the extractor pumps. I've found pumptec don't drop as much in pressure as the cats does. When I key the same wand open on ninja number one (cat ) set at 350 the pressure drops to 225. Do the same on ninja number 2 (pumptec) the pressure only goes down to 300.AW20 1101.5 jets. The problem with both pumps is the aluminum construction. The cat does appear to be "dipped".



I've found choking the flow down to a 3 instead of the 6 flow I was using increased impact and not dropping 3200 pounds of pressure when keyed.
Larry, how would you configure three 2 stage vacs? I've tried all in series, 2 in series with the 3rd in parallel, all 3 in parallel and can't decide what works best.


And for all purposes the General (cart) pump is superior to both the pumptec and the cat- except for amp draw.

 

[Larry Cobb]

Willy;

The General you have been using, is a very good plunger pump system.

It must be 5 years old, or even older.

Unfortunately, most portable extractors do not have room for the pump and motor.

On The Cat pump, you need the cam we use, which provides more flow.

That will give you more pressure with your wand.

Depending on the vac lift (assuming 80"),

I would run all three in series.

That would give you the same AirWatts as ONE of the LMB5A vacs @12.5 amps.

Larry

 

[Dolly Llama]

thanks Lar

lemmie ask, were any of the portys in the porty shootout at MFwhatever# in Myteeville "hi-perf" portys?
cause there wasn't a dimes worth of difference in any of them ...as I predicted BTW

yours truly
a mod that needs an education about portys


..L.T.A.

 

[Willy P]

I know I've posted this before, but here's a general shoehorned into an old school ninja body. I ran the tool box vac booster to get some serious suck. Too bad it got burned up in a fire.

vac booster



Body with General lower with baked booster - the 4 two stagers were phenomenal in vacuum. Both units were rendered useless by a fire. That WAS a high performance portable.

 

[ruff]

Larry, to answer your question this is what makes a high performance portable for carpet cleaning (not tile). And I'll expand it to what makes a really good portable:

• Variable 1-500 psi pump (that does not unscrew itself (due to vibrations) when adjusted to the low pressure and lasts.
• two three stage high efficiency vacuums that last.
• Two cords that will work without too much circuit breakers jumping. 1 cord to 20 amps other cord to 15 amps.
• Circuit locator.
• 2" opening for vacuum hose.
• Interior design that allows cooling and prolongs life of componenets.
• Smart interior design where electrical connections, pump and motors will not become wet when the portable starts leaking (and it will.)
• Not very loud (if possible without compromising too much other features.)
• Good wheels for ease of moving.
• Ability to load easily into van (back wheels)
• Due to the fact that portable get bounced around, if possible, the ability of components and fittings to withstand some shocks.
• A top that is flat to allow adding a box or a tray on top (that can be rigidly attached) to allow room to carry extra equipment in one trip
• Ability to hook wand to machine so it can all be transported.
• Ease of service and access to components. Preferably ease of repair by technician.
• Good quality parts starting from non iron parts that rust, better fittings, latches etc. all the way to the quality of all components.
• Heater that can be added without compromising inner structure or ability to add a heater that can be attached to machine and easy to lug around. Possibly third cord.
• For some (the ability to add dump out, automatic fill etc. Though I find it to be true that the more features the more there is to go wrong.
• Since there does not seem to be an agreement as to motors parallel versus series, the ability to do both.
• A reasonable price (does not mean the cheapest, just reasonable.)

And a smart manufacturer that does not save on the silly stuff.


.

 

[GCCLee]

Im just lookin for a sucking good one : )

I want it to shake and growl when it gets stuck to the floor! 500ps's fine

 

[Larry Cobb]

Larry, to answer your question this is what makes a high performance portable for carpet cleaning (not tile). And I'll expand it to what makes a really good portable:

• Variable 500 psi pump (that does not unscrew itself (due to vibrations) when adjusted to the low pressure and lasts. - Cat 1XP
• two three stage high efficiency vacuums that last. - LMB5A Vacs
• Two cords that will work without too much circuit breakers jumping. 1 cord to 20 amps other cord to 15 amps. - All Hi-Perf Portables we build
• Circuit locator. - All Mytee 2-Cord Extractors.
• 2" opening for vacuum hose. - All Mytee Extractors.
• Interior design that allows cooling and prolongs life of components. - Actual 100CFM Cooling Fan
• Smart interior design where electrical connections, pump and motors will not become wet when the portable starts leaking (and it will.)
• Not very loud (if possible without compromising too much other features.)View attachment 3393

• Good wheels for ease of moving.

View attachment 3394 Ability to load easily into van (back wheels) See Photo to left.

• Due to the fact that portable get bounced around, if possible, the ability of components and fittings to withstand some shocks.
• A top that is flat to allow adding a box or a tray on top (that can be rigidly attached) to allow room to carry extra equipment in one trip

View attachment 3392

• Ability to hook wand to machine so it can all be transported. See Photo above.
• Ease of service and access to components. Preferably ease of repair by technician.
• Good quality parts starting from non iron parts that rust, better fittings, latches etc. all the way to the quality of all components.
• Heater that can be added without compromising inner structure or ability to add a heater that can be attached to machine and easy to lug around. Possibly third cord. - Separate Inline Heater
• For some (the ability to add dump out, automatic fill etc. Though I find it to be true that the more features the more there is to go wrong.
• Since there does not seem to be an agreement as to motors parallel versus series, the ability to do both. - Explanation above
• A reasonable price (does not mean the cheapest, just reasonable.)

And a smart manufacturer that does not save on the silly stuff.

Larry

 

[GCCLee]

Larry,
Please prepare and debut your closest model to the EDIC Galaxy 500 for battle review.
Heated and Cold : )

They say good shit comes outta Texas : )

Around here We say if if Weren't Fur TN there Wouldn't B No Texas so....

What is the water retention capability of the units?
60
70
80
90%

If it puts a gallon down, whats it really suck back up?

 

[Larry Cobb]

Larry,
Please prepare and debut your closest model to the EDIC Galaxy 500 for battle review.
Heated and Cold : )

They say good shit comes outta Texas : )

Around here We say if if Weren't Fur TN there Wouldn't B No Texas so....

What is the water retention capability of the units?
60
70
80
90%

If it puts a gallon down, whats it really suck back up?

80% recovery rate on commercial carpet.

Are you talking about a 4 Gallon Recovery portable ?

Larry

 

[GCCLee]

80% recovery rate on commercial carpet.

Are you talking about a 4 Gallon Recovery portable ?

Larry

80 isnt good enough! Thats standard industry jibber jabber.

4 gal, i aint cleaning stuffed animals sir.

 

[Desk Jockey]

80% so if you use 100 gallons on the job.....you leave 20-gallons in the carpet???

Yeeeouch!

sounds like Semipro work to me

 

[Spurlington]

4 gal, i aint cleaning stuffed animals sir.

That's sofa king funny !!

80% so if you use 100 gallons on the job.....you leave 20-gallons in the carpet???

Yeeeouch!

sounds like Semipro work to me

That seems close - the carpet is gonna absorb and retain a good percentage of the moisture and the steam that evaporates takes a percentage away .. oh and gotta consider pant leg absorption due to the leaky drippy wand valve - so I'm thinking recovering 80% sounds pretty good

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Hard to quantify accurately.

For example, should recover nearly 100% off a hard surface. Thus it's really as much the surface as the machine.