[cleanability]

Why dont the porty machines have a drain tap on the solution tank to empty unused solution rather than sucking out into dirty tank. Well I've had a Extracta Excel, a Alltec Pro Plus and now a Ninja and no sign of one. Even thinking of putting one on myself. Seems pretty basic to me so why isnt there one?

Chris

[matt jones]

I think thats a good point mate quite strange really why it hasn't been done?
matt

[Mike Osbourne]

Chris,

Great minds. I have a Ninja and wondered that. I thought there might be a reason why so havn't put one on. Can take me at least 5 mins to pump then vac out solution.

Mike

[HQCS (John Kastrian)]

Often wondered that myself,probably down to cost.
It would add at least 10 bob to the price of a machine.
john

[Steve Chapman]

wondered the same with my extracta, was told by extracta not to suck out solution with hose as the heat or steam could damage the vacs quite badly or at best shorten their life

used to just end up symphoning the remaining liquid out :

regards
steve

[cleanability]

Mike !    While on the subject of the Ninja. Mine is 5 months old. When I empty the solution tank with the vac hose ( being careful to not fully emerse end in, so only water is sucked up) at the end when its sucking whats left in the vac hose I get alot of steam out of vac exhaust. Dont sound right to me. Do you think its a fault. Its always done it. It only happens like i said right at the end of sucking out the solution tank

Chris

[Mike Osbourne]

Never had that, but have a silencer on. Try to turn off the heat as soon as you've finished cleaning.

Also when drained run vac I & II with the lid off for a couple of minutes to dry the vacs. Also remember to start up and shut down on Vac II.

[derikraven]

it's really not a good idea to suck out excess water from the solution tank, there's a good chance you can do serious damage to the vac motor. The best way to empty is to attatch a piece of hose to the solution outlet and pump the water into the waste tank. You can use the clean water to rinse any debris out of the waste tank.

[John Kelly]

If I remember rightly the Extracta machines have a male fitting screwed into the top of the waste tank. The idea is to fit your solution hose onto this and pump it out. You can also unscrew it and use the flow to wash out the waste tank.
Manufacturers try to fit as few fittings as possible. Every hole drilled weakens the structure.

[rs_cleancare]

There is one good point about sucking the excess water out is that it will keep your hoses nice and clean inside so you wont have an horrible smelling hoses.

How i do it is to use one vac motor and little bits at a time whilst im packing up.
Never need to replace vac motor in 2 half years on my machine. I better go and touch some wood...

Rob.

[Mike Osbourne]

The procedure Derek Ashby showed me was to pump out as much as possible and the last bit you vac out angling the hose end so you maintain a high input of air.

Got my biggest job to date on Monday only wish I had more heat, pressure, suction and less fannying about. 

Worked out Ashby's mods to my ninja to TM it come in at over £2k so I will be pumping and sucking for some time, and then I've still got to empty the solution tank.

[rambly]

Chris,

Great minds. I have a Ninja and wondered that. I thought there might be a reason why so havn't put one on. Can take me at least 5 mins to pump then vac out solution.

Mike

Mike

If it takes 5 minutes to pump out the unused rinse solution the perhaps you are overfilling/wasting chems. I usually end up with about 3 -5 litres and find this useful to clean out the waste tank between jobs. I made up a dipstick (no not me) with 5 litre increments and with experience seem to be able fill enough for each job.

[the red carpet]

Just leave it in there for your next job, why would you wanna chuck away unused cleaning chems

[cleaning co]

hi mike what were the mods ?

[rambly]

Just leave it in there for your next job, why would you wanna chuck away unused cleaning chems

I lay mine on its back in the van.

[Ian Gourlay]

I am surprised equipment suppliers do not have an accessory to perform this task correctly in their catalogue.

After all the idea is to sell you add on's etc

[calmore]

Wondered the same myself and had contemplated fitting a tap myself. (I'd also wondered about fitting a pipe between the solution and dirty tanks with a tap in the middle.)

I think the reason is that by sucking solution into the dirty tank you are flushing the hoses and helping keep eveything clean. If you didn't do this then the hoses/waste tank would tend to become encrusted with dirt.

[Bill Robinson]

the guy at extracta told me to half imerse the hose and let it suck all the solution into the waste tank.

[Kinver_Clean]

At the end of the day I always suck the water into the waste tank, using this to rinse everything out, if there is a bit left I take that to the next job. I rarely have more than five litres left and then run the vacs with the lid open to dry things out. The motors have been in for 3 yrs now and no trouble yet.

As has been said one more hole to leak and split.

Trevor

[Mike Osbourne]

I'd say it takes 5 mins for me to pump out a 5ltr bucket using the pump and vac up dregs. This equates to about 1/2 teaspoon of powder.

Did the biggest job in a day yesterday 9-6pm and just wondering what I can buy to best boost the Ninja. Custy was v. happy, spent ages though on draft marks.

Steamate £700 no thanks!

400psi possibly how much do ashby's charge to fit

Booster vac?

powerbrush.


Just doing domestic work and mainly well off custys with beige wool carpets!