What's Saiger's solution line/reel setup?

[Russ T.]

Hey Mark,

Can't imagine how cold it's been for you, plenty cold for me in IA. My solution reel is sticking so bad it's unusable at the moment (nothing to do with the cold, just a piece of junk). I pulled all 100' off and am looking at my options.

How do you set yours up?

Is it different in cold months or same year round?

Live solution reel?

How long is your lead hose?

I'm thinking about possibly ditching the reel all together, like Ofer. Save space. Maybe go to 100-125' of lead. That would reach almost anything I deal with. It would eliminate quick connects and loss of heat associated with them. But it's tough to roll that much up at the end of a job... That's a big draw back.

I'm really wanting to rework my whole setup. The truck was setup by someone else as I bought it used. If I'm going to replace my PITA reel, I'm considering going to a combo reel with electric vac reel. Best price I can find is a grand from Cobb for that. Probably not going to do that as it looks like it's going to be a looooooong Winter.

Anyway, rather than ramble, I thought I'd see what my you guys are using. I'd love to hear from anyone but most specifically those who operate in the Polar Vortex, and better yet solo. I'm determined to get set up a little better to make this a little less painful.

Anyone have a link to that reel manufacturer who posted here a while ago?


The Clean Machine

 

[Jim Martin]

I am not going to get into who not to buy reels from....but...

there is only 2 places I would consider buying a reel and that is Sapphire and interlink.....

I have a sapphire electric vacuum hose reel and a live solution hose reel...

I have 2 reels from interlink that I made live and a custom stand for..........one stacked on top of the other ..out of the way..

 

[Mikey P]

Did I hear that Oxley's buddy, Reel Solutions turned out to be a bust?



I told that dude not to get into bed with Rob...lol

 

[Mikey P]

who makes a better reel than Aerotech?


no one.

 

[Jim Martin]

Unless they can customize there reels to fit a van better....A/T reels are to big for what he needs......

 

[Russ T.]

I'm on the verge of diving in to a huge project. Let's call it Pimp my Van!

After several hundred hours on the Cleanco/Ford, I wrapped it proper!

Now I want the inside to look and function as well as it does outside. I've got my work cut out for me.

It's a standard length van and I've got lots of equipment I'd like to carry.

Those reels are going to drive me to rip the whole truck apart!

I'll be hiring someone by Spring and I want a much neater (and more efficient) setup to be working from.


The Clean Machine

 

[Russ T.]

who makes a better reel than Aerotech?


no one.

They are made for a big box though Mike, right?


The Clean Machine

 

[Able 1]

I'm on the verge of diving in to a huge project. Let's call it Pimp my Van!

After several hundred hours on the Cleanco/Ford, I wrapped it proper!

Now I want the inside to look and function as well as it does outside. I've got my work cut out for me.

It's a standard length van and I've got lots of equipment I'd like to carry.

Those reels are going to drive me to rip the whole truck apart!

I'll be hiring someone by Spring and I want a much neater (and more efficient) setup to be working from.


The Clean Machine

Try to make it so you can reach most if not all things you use everyday without getting in the van.. I use a Cox reel and have it mounted on top of my TM. A friend in the area put a motor on his reel, and it works slick!

 

[Jim Martin]

to be honest with you.....I do not know why they are not building set ups like this...it is so easy to work out of...both reels on the left are live..top is fresh water and the bottom is APO...on the right..the vacuum reel is electric and the solution reel is also live.....

 

[Mark Saiger]

The Butler reel of course is all I have used. Let me see if my brother has an extra from a van take out a friend of his did.

Easy to rebuild as needed and easy to mount. I carry 150 all the time live on my one van with the new skinny hose that Butler has and in the other van, we are running 200 feet of the regular hose from Butler.

I am not sure, but I think a brand new reel from Butler is around $500 (that was a few years ago when I checked once)

But let me check out with my brother and a friend of his and see what we might have that is any good.

Couple videos where you can see the hose reel





Also, my opinion for us cold weather cleaners....want the hose on a reel and no exposed connectors. Connectors are a place where we have the potential to freeze up....

And wrapping cold hose is a major pain in the rear!



A pic of the inside of the van



they also use the same reel and just change out the connectors, on their ceiling mounted live water hose

 

[Mark Saiger]

Some more pics I found

 

[BradFenstermaker]

Russ check Northern Tool for a temporary replacement. I was very happy with the 1 inmy Vortex that I added. Look online for more models and ship to store.

 

[Dan]

The Butler or Sapphire are both great reels.

 

[Russ T.]

I really think I want to switch reels to discharge out the back.

Also my fresh tank is mounted on the drivers side making the load ride really heavy on that side. I think I need a fresh tank mounted in the center.

I want a flat floor, that's easy to keep clean and nice and stable/rigid.

I'll take some pics tomorrow of how it's set up now and maybe start a new thread. You guys are a huge help to me!


The Clean Machine

 

[Dan]

I was never a fan of working out the back.

 

[Russ T.]

to be honest with you.....I do not know why they are not building set ups like this...it is so easy to work out of...both reels on the left are live..top is fresh water and the bottom is APO...on the right..the vacuum reel is electric and the solution reel is also live.....

What do you think about this Jim?

http://www.cobbcarpet.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=72&products_id=1282

To come out the back. I don't have an APO so these 3 reels would be all I'd need.


The Clean Machine

 

[Nate The Great]

I was never a fan of working out the back.

Liquor in the front, poker in the rear.......


Chavez on Nate The Great's Computer.....

 

[Jim Martin]

What do you think about this Jim?

http://www.cobbcarpet.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=72&products_id=1282

To come out the back. I don't have an APO so these 3 reels would be all I'd need.


The Clean Machine

I don't like those at all...when you put the 2 reels on the side of the vacuum reel they stick out way to far and you lost a lot of room....
neither are live reels and the vacuum reel is not electric......

If you are only needing 2 live reels....I would do this set up......and make one fresh water and one solution line...I can show you how to make this pretty cheap...and it is very space saving because it does not stick out the much.....

then if you put an electric vacuum reel on the other side...you can shove it way back out of your way and use a hand held push button to reel it up...with the fresh tank on the drivers side....then you would want a tall thin vacuum reel.....

 

[Steve Lawrence]

I have Butler pressure reels and the best thing about our set-up is we put a male nipple on the plumbing at the top of the sight gauge on the water tank which makes it very easy to preheat your pressure hose by just attaching your reel hose fitting to the male nipple and running the unit a couple minutes. Gets the hose nice and hot allowing for leisurely set-ups on the coldest days.

 

[Desk Jockey]

$1,000.00

Not worth the extra expense of motorized in my opinion. That's an expensive extravagance that's probably not going to give you the value for what it costs.

 

[GCCLee]

not the best