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Question: I called the number on the steam brite site and they referred me to you. My name is John and I live in Austin Texas. For the past few months I have been doing some off and on research about starting up a small cleaning business. I am thinking that I definitely wanna do carpets, upholstery, tile, and air ducts. Maybe not all at first, but eventually specializing in all if not more of those things. My biggest problem is I have never worked in the field before. I'm not familiar with the equipment, and more importantly what to look for in the beginning. I was recommended to possibly start up with a portable unit, then eventually work my way up to a truck mount. I am not against that, but I also would put up the money initially for good equipment, that will last for a few years without any major problems, then to have to upgrade 12 or 18 months down the line. I've done my homework on the Rotovac, which seems like a good system that a lot of people in the business use and get positive results with. I know nothing about trucks mounts. From what to look for in features, to what brands are recommended. I have a budget of around 20,000. For both truck mount, to installation, chemicals, rotovac or any other recommended wands, hoses, and attachments necessary to suit up for a strong beginning. I don't know if this is sufficient or not. I will have to buy a van independently, and I was probably gonna go with a used model hopefully no more than 6-8 years old.
I am really coming to you for advice. You are located close to me so I would like to buy from you. But again I am really lacking the knowledge right now to commit to a truck mount. If you have some time could you please email me back, or give me a call. I would really like to hear if you have any good packages you could put together for me in that price range with installation of course. Im not against used truck mounts either. Thanks for you time. Hope to talk soon.
John
Answer: A lot of the big steps you have already taken. You have a budget and you know you want an electric system.
Please read the article on how to narrow down your portable extractor search located at
The next thing to think about is how portable you really want to be. Leave in the truck, or take inside. Use auto fill and dump or fill and empty with buckets. If you want to use a power wand or prescrub with a floor machine and rinse with a regular wand. If you are planning on using a power wand like rotovac, I would recommend an auto fill/ auto dump machine with lots of vacuum. You have to decide how many power cords are you willing to plug in and if you are just going to use the customers hot water or make your own. Please note that electric heaters require the use of the customers hot water and the electric heaters just boost the hot water and the propane, kerosene, and diesel heaters will heat water aggressively enough to heat water from stark cold to live steam but are not portable. With hundreds of options, I still need your help what direction you think you might want to go. You might also want a system that is Hybrid. Electric, backed up by a generator, runs on 230 volts or 115 volts, can be left in the truck or rolled into the job site.
With long hose runs and a power wand you are differently going to want to use 8 Plus stages of vacuum. (This could be a six stage portable with a vacuum booster)
I notice that you also mention that you want to clean tile floors. This has two schools of thought. Do I purchase a machine with more than 1000 psi and pressure wash the tile, or do I purchase a 500 psi machine that only has the ability to rinse the tile that I have already pre-sprayed and pre-scrubbed? If you go with the 1000 + psi option these pumps are heavy, so do you want the pump shared on the inside of the vacuum housing (all in one machine) or do you want to separate the vacuum system from the pressure system to make it easier to lift in and out of the service truck?
What is a power wand?
Heater options
Maximum hose length I can use?
pressure washing pumps to use with my vacuum auto dump machine
I am really coming to you for advice. You are located close to me so I would like to buy from you. But again I am really lacking the knowledge right now to commit to a truck mount. If you have some time could you please email me back, or give me a call. I would really like to hear if you have any good packages you could put together for me in that price range with installation of course. Im not against used truck mounts either. Thanks for you time. Hope to talk soon.
John
Answer: A lot of the big steps you have already taken. You have a budget and you know you want an electric system.
Please read the article on how to narrow down your portable extractor search located at
The next thing to think about is how portable you really want to be. Leave in the truck, or take inside. Use auto fill and dump or fill and empty with buckets. If you want to use a power wand or prescrub with a floor machine and rinse with a regular wand. If you are planning on using a power wand like rotovac, I would recommend an auto fill/ auto dump machine with lots of vacuum. You have to decide how many power cords are you willing to plug in and if you are just going to use the customers hot water or make your own. Please note that electric heaters require the use of the customers hot water and the electric heaters just boost the hot water and the propane, kerosene, and diesel heaters will heat water aggressively enough to heat water from stark cold to live steam but are not portable. With hundreds of options, I still need your help what direction you think you might want to go. You might also want a system that is Hybrid. Electric, backed up by a generator, runs on 230 volts or 115 volts, can be left in the truck or rolled into the job site.
With long hose runs and a power wand you are differently going to want to use 8 Plus stages of vacuum. (This could be a six stage portable with a vacuum booster)
I notice that you also mention that you want to clean tile floors. This has two schools of thought. Do I purchase a machine with more than 1000 psi and pressure wash the tile, or do I purchase a 500 psi machine that only has the ability to rinse the tile that I have already pre-sprayed and pre-scrubbed? If you go with the 1000 + psi option these pumps are heavy, so do you want the pump shared on the inside of the vacuum housing (all in one machine) or do you want to separate the vacuum system from the pressure system to make it easier to lift in and out of the service truck?
What is a power wand?
Heater options
Maximum hose length I can use?
pressure washing pumps to use with my vacuum auto dump machine