Powerflite VS Eclipse Portable Extractor

[Donald]

Question: Comments: I need your help! I\'ve looked at your forums and am impressed with your knowledge of carpet cleaning. I\'m going to be doing alot of commercial jobs, restaurants, etc. and can only afford a decent portable machine. The two I\'ve basically have narrowed it down to are the powr flite perfect heat model with 400psi and the Eclipse 500psi model by Cleancraft. Any thoughts on which would be the better machine and things I should consider? I haven\'t seen much reviews about either one. Also what is better 2 jets or 3? And last question, in one forum you were mentioning about the psi differences, were you stating with 400 psi there is no need to prespray? Even with olefin carpet?

Thanks!
Alvin

Answer: Because you want to clean restaurants and large commercial jobs, you really will want a machine that is auto fill and auto dump. Nothing waste more time than filling and dumping.
The heater on the Powerflite model does work better than the Eclipse.
But the vacuum motors on Powerflite are only dual two stage.
In restaurant cleaning will require at least 75 ft of hose and this means you will need a machine that has at least 6 stages of vacuum.
The Eclipse is not manufactured by Cleancraft. We also sell this machine for less money than what is advertised on the Cleancraft website. The Eclipse is manufactured by a company called Timbuktoo Mfg.
I find that the Eclipse is the single most difficult machine to repair that any other portable that I have ever sold. For the features, it is also a little more money than some other models.
Why don't you tell me the features you want or like and I will tell you want machines currently offer your configuration. It the configuration does not exist, I will custom build your machine to your specs and still guarantee the lowest price.
At 400 psi you will still need to prespray, but you will not have to rotary scrub near as many carpets as machines with lower pressure.
You do not need a 3 jet floor wand. The water flow is controled by the jet orphis (size of the opening), not the number of jets. The other problem is they 400 and 500 psi Pumptec pumps (205 series) need smaller jets to operate at these higher pressures. You will find that if you tried to use a three jet wand (even with smaller jets) on a 500 psi Pumptec pump, when you squeezed the trigger on the floor wand, the presure will drop way off durring the squeeze. The reason for the idea of more jet is better than two is simply because water pressure and temperature drop off as the water leaves the jet and before it impacts the carpet. Take for example, when you are pressure washing your car at the car wash, spray the water on your hand two feet from the jet orphis and compare this to just a few inches. The water is more concentrated in the spray, the water temp is higher and the pressure is harder. Multi jetted wands have the jets mounted closer to the carpet than single jet or dual jet wands. If you want to use the multi jet advantage, you will need a larger water pump (Pumptec 356 series, cat plunger,...) as well as more suction (8 stage vacuum system or gas powered). The ability to suck the water up, must always be greater than the machines ability to put it on the floor or you will leave the carpet too wet too long.
I do think it is odd how you selected two machines that do not share the same features. How can you compare two machines that do not do the same thing?
Donald

[mickybullets]

donald is 100% correct with all he stated. i own the eclipse and many other of the better portables available today including some powrflite machines.
the perfect heat model in my opinion is not all its cracked up to be. as with all heated porties, doing carpet cleaning, the small capacity of the heater cannot keep up with the water flow using a floor wand. forget about an rx 20 or rotovac
however, doing upholstery is a bit different. the eclipse w/heat is the better of all the porties i have at this.
the only way for any porty to keep up the heat is to not put down solution that fast i.e. do more dry passes.
the alternatives are as follows........
1) if using a machine with auto fill/dump, connect auto fill to hot water source.
2) without auto fill, simply fill tank with hot water not over 140 degrees as anything over 140 will in time cause premature pump failure.
3) use an inline heater of some sort, whether it be electric or propane. propane will produce the most constant heat as will the volcano 6000 and 9000 models.

keep in mind though, when using electric inline heaters along with high powered porties (2 or 3 corded models), you'll encounter huge amp draw. the solution here will be either a portable generator, or an electic power splitter which allows you to safely run off of 220 volt dryer, stove, or air conditioner outlets.

when i do restaurants, i skip using any external heat source and just use hot water from tap. ALWAYS prespray (i use hot water here also), whether it be a restaurant, an office, or a home. it simply makes your work that much easier and it also allows you to zero in on trouble areas.
use a higher ph prespray for restaurants and lower for offices and homes.
there will definately be circumstances where you'll need some type of mechanical pre aggitation. especially the restaurant scenario.
dont forget the importance of vacuuming first.

hope this helps

[k1ke77]

donald is 100% correct with all he stated. i own the eclipse and many other of the better portables available today including some powrflite machines.
the perfect heat model in my opinion is not all its cracked up to be. as with all heated porties, doing carpet cleaning, the small capacity of the heater cannot keep up with the water flow using a floor wand. forget about an rx 20 or rotovac
however, doing upholstery is a bit different. the eclipse w/heat is the better of all the porties i have at this.
the only way for any porty to keep up the heat is to not put down solution that fast i.e. do more dry passes.
the alternatives are as follows........
1) if using a machine with auto fill/dump, connect auto fill to hot water source.
2) without auto fill, simply fill tank with hot water not over 140 degrees as anything over 140 will in time cause premature pump failure.
3) use an inline heater of some sort, whether it be electric or propane. propane will produce the most constant heat as will the volcano 6000 and 9000 models.

keep in mind though, when using electric inline heaters along with high powered porties (2 or 3 corded models), you'll encounter huge amp draw. the solution here will be either a portable generator, or an electic power splitter which allows you to safely run off of 220 volt dryer, stove, or air conditioner outlets.

when i do restaurants, i skip using any external heat source and just use hot water from tap. ALWAYS prespray (i use hot water here also), whether it be a restaurant, an office, or a home. it simply makes your work that much easier and it also allows you to zero in on trouble areas.
use a higher ph prespray for restaurants and lower for offices and homes.
there will definately be circumstances where you'll need some type of mechanical pre aggitation. especially the restaurant scenario.
dont forget the importance of vacuuming first.

hope this helps

Could you elaborate on why you say to forget about the rx-20 or the roto vac ? is it because they are useless? or is it because without a truck mount you will not get the results wanted?

[mickybullets]

no, they're not useless, they are great tools. using them with the heated machines mentioned, the heat never will keep pace with the water flow of those tools.
that's why I said to forget them.
been nearly 9 yrs since I posted that reply.....amazing!