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Prochem Cheyenne 3

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squeaky:
On paper this looks a good machine and good value,
does anyone have/or used one of these machines ? and if so a bit of info would be appreciated.

mark

Dynafoam:
Mark,

I bought one of these to get the case for an own-build but played with it first.

The build quality was very good and the performance was all that could be expected from a twin-vac machine with a 100psi pump. the casing is extreamly rugged an the long diagonal from the handle to the front caster wheels make for good leverage (casters on metal step at back of van, rear wheels on ground, lift handle to load).

Other 'incidental' plus points are thet the hose connections are both at the top-front and the discharge at the rear. The overall physical balance is very good and the case hinges open for easy access to major components, and this can be done with the solution tank full. I have replaced motor brushes outside a cusomers' house without moveing the machine and the only disconnections being the vac hose and mains plug.

From the design point of view, the biggest failing with this and many other porties, is ventilation. In order to fit a fan, due to double-skinning on most of the case, the only option is to remove the metal plate that carries the mixer valve etc. for the heat exchanger and fabricate a replacement with a fan. If an external heat exchanger is to be used (eg Ashbys' Steamate) the loss of these parts is immaterial.

Another, less crucial, failing is that the hot exhaust from the vac units is directed at the pump, causing it to run hotter. This is easily overcome with a simple deflector plate.

Before this critique spurns a flood of posts from Cheyenne owners, saying it's the best machine ever, I should say that I got into cleaning as a result of designing machines in the mid-sixties and therefore my view of any machine will differ from the average rug-suckers'.

You could do much worse than buy one of these ( or for an extra £1000 you could go for a Recoil 3HP)

John.

Mike Halliday:
John the Cheyanne design must have changed since you looked at it ;)

The vac exhaust points down expelling the air out of the metal grill not towards the pump. as for ventalation I think the cheyannes is excellent because the full floor is a mesh grill which allows lots of air to curculate.

I think the biggest design flaw with the Cheyanne is having the vacs in series I changed my to parrall and found they lasted longer. I also had to remove the plastic ball out of the filter as it kept getting sucked up and cutting off the vacuum ( which says to me the vacs where pulling harder as this never happened when in series).

if anyone has the cheyanne, when a vac motor goes replace it with a 2 stage vac ( putting the 2 stage first inline) this works out cheaper and stops the 2nd vac taking more heat) the performance is'nt noticebly reduced.

Mike

rob_s:
Hi All,
     I've just sold my Cheyenne. I found it to be a fairly good machine, had the power etc. But the inline water heater was a bit temeramental and it was difficult to clean out the waste tank.
    I've been looking at the Alltec Advantage to replace it. 2x 145mm 3 stage vac,135 psi pump ,3kw heater and splits into two for ease of movement.

 Regards   rob -s

 P.s, also a second-hand CFR PRO 400

Dynafoam:
Hi Mike,

Maybe they have moved the pump - the one I looked at (about 4 years ago old) had the pump on the metal grill but directly under the vac exhaust.

On the ventilation issue the main concern was when the motors are swiched off (hot soak condition), being mounted at the top and with only ventilation at the base, they were sitting in hot air with no active cooling.

As you probably know, most motor failures due to coil-burn ocurr during the hot soak period. As I wrote, this is far from uncommon on HWE machines.

I have had to weight the shut-off ball on many machines to reduce sensitivity.

John.

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