Making a Hard Surface Portable

[randyb4269]

I am a new member to this forum and after reading the past threads, I believe this is the best overall forum for portable extracting contrators. I have been a carpet and tile/grout cleaning contractor for 6 years and started with a used truckmount. My account base is almost entirely restaurant tile & grout. However, recently the old 1983 Hydramster Pto dual wand truck mount died.

Now with that stated, I want to build my own portable hard surface protable. I want to start with at least 2ea 2 stage vac motors in series or maybe 4 ea 2 stage 2 in series and in parallel. What are the best ametek vac motors for the money, I would like to pull 75' to 100' of 2" vac hose. Secondly, I want to use one of my Little Giant 120,000 Btu high pressure heaters in the portable setup. My next question what type of electrical pressure washer pump can I use. I need to run the pressurized water through the Little Giant. Is the Water Otter from Pump-Tec my best option or can I use any electric pressure washer with 1200 to 1500 psi. Does the water otter have any special features that I do not know about??

Finally, since I clean restaurants, can I purchase the 220 volt converter and have another plug put on not the dryer plug. Obviously, the restaurants have several 220 volts outlets but I think the plug would be different. Thanks in advance for your help!!!

Randy

[Donald]

Electric Truckmount carpet cleaning system

The Goliath Extractor uses four 2 stage vacuum motors. These are set up as two in series, the other two in series and then both pair in parallel. This provides the best performance.

http://www.steam-brite.com/store/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=goliath

This will operate 150 ft of 2" vacuum hose with a 10 ft 1-1/2" leader with ease.

May favorite cold pressure washer is the Brite Star 2000

http://www.steam-brite.com/store/brite-star-electric-pressure-washer-p-4902.html

You can feed 140 degree water through it. (normal hot tap water)
It cost less than the Water Otter but has a more reliable "Cat" brand water pump and does not experience the same level pressure drop off as the PumpTec 356 series (aka "water otter") It is not un-common for the PumpTec to go from 1200 psi not squeezing the trigger to 720 psi in use pressure) That is a 40% drop in pressure. The Cat Pump holds is ground much better plus it can produce 2000 psi instead of 1200. The Cat pump is a pressure washing rig so it is nodesigneded to be used in carpet cleaning, but is OK for tile cleaning. What I am talking about is the number of times you squeeze the valve trigger per job. Tile cleaning you hold the trigger down most of the time (like pressure washing) and carpet cleaning you squeeze and let go every few seconds. The water otter has a better carpet cleaning pressure regulator on it. My pick it the PumpTec 356 for mostly carpet cleaning and the BriteStar for mostly tile cleaning.
Please keep in mind that most little giant water heaters are only designed for 600 psi unless you purchased the 1000 psi thick wall model. You best bet for heating is the BriteStar 4000 psi heater because you can go all the way to 4000 psi instead of 600/1000 psi like propane. http://www.steam-brite.com/store/bri...er-p-4937.html

There are 5 different 220 volt head that are primarily used for our industry. So yes, we can make what ever you need. You need to purchase our $10 volt meter, take the voltage test between each leg of current, provide a photo of the outlet and we can make if for you.

http://www.steam-brite.com/store/voltage-meter-mulitester-p-6259.html

[randyb4269]

hard Surface Portable

Donald,

Thanks for your quick response! First of all if I can run 150' of 2" vac hose with 4 ea vac motors (in series then in parallel), the ametck vac motor that I should purchase, am I looking for more lift or CFM, I think there needs to be balance???

Secondly, I do have 2 Little Giant High Pressure LP Heaters, I have always run them with my old truckmount at 1000psi and according to Little Giant I can run them at 1300psi. If I understand correctly, the Brite Star 2000 is a normal cold water pressure washer and the Brite Star 4000 is I think a hot box that heats up the pressurized water coming from the Brite Star 2000, am I correct? If this is the case, could I not just use a 1700 to 2000 psi hot water pressure? While I do mostly restaurant tile & grout, on occassion I do a restaurant that has tile & carpet. If I can purchase and use a hot water pressure washer that has enough adjustable in the unloader valve, could I use it for both. I understand that with tile & grout that I always have the trigger pulled, whereas with carpet I make a wet pass and at least one dry pass. Can I use a hot water presssure washer to clean carpet (assuming that I can get the pressure down to acceptable levels) and not screw up the pressure washer??

Again, thanks in advance for your help!!

Randy

[Donald]

pressure washers for tile cleaning

I like the balance of both high CFM and inches of lift. It does not mater what vacuum motors you select. What you are looking for is amp draw. For easy of mounting a 2" cone on the bottom of each vacuum motor, I like the Domel brand. This allows for the largest clearance of bottom to blade to allow you to both glue and rivit the cones to the bottom of the vacuum motors. Any model of four two stage vacuum motors will work well. Almost any pair of dual 2 stage vacuum motors will run on a 15 amp breaker.

The BriteStar 2000 psi pressure washer is a pressure washer only and does not heat the water. The BriteStar 4000 psi burner is only a burner and does not pressurize the water. If you already own high pressure little giant systems, do not even consider the burner system. Please use what you already own. You could purchase a combination pressure washer and burner system to do both, but you need to purchase a pressure washer that does not have an electronic shut off. Many pressure washers "unload" then turn themselves off when you let go of the cleaning lance. They then turn on again when you squeeze the trigger. This electronic device would burn up very quickly on a carpet cleaning job. Just think, during a pressure washing job the unit might turn off 3 times and a capet cleaning job might turn off 300 times. This is an example of what I was trying to explain before. Pressure washing units need to be used. If you wanted to purchase an all in one unit, I like the Mitho pressure washer. It really is too small to really be a pressure washer, but makes a great carpet cleaning and tile cleaning pump and heater system. This unit runs all the time and does not have the electronics to "turn itself off." The burner lights with all tools and attachments over 450 psi. The pump is small so the pressure on a spinner tool is about 750 (what video). http://www.steam-brite.com/store/eag...ng-p-7763.html

[randyb4269]

Additional Vac Motor Info

Thanks for the past feedback! However, I still don't quite understand portable vac motors, in terms of which setup is better. Making the following assumptions: I would use 2" x 90' of vac hose with a 1.5" x 10' whip, I clean all commercial mostly tile & grout but some carpet.

Now to the question on electric vac motors. Taking into account the above statements and not worring about the number of electrical cords, which of the following would be better?

1) 4 each 2 stage vac motors, 2 in series & then an additonal 2 in series and then in parallel, assuming using a lamb 2 stage lets say 102 cfm, 97" of water lift and 351 air watts.

OR

2) 2 each 3 stage vac motors, ran in parallel, assuming using a lamb 3 stage lets say 104 cfm, 137" of water lift and 530 air watts.

Thanks in advance for your help!!

Randy