[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Guys

I don't currently do any LM - I am trying to decide between an Oreck and a NEW rotary (£350 or £700)

This is on the basis that I want a machine for post-bonneting and some hard floor scrubbing.

Is the Oreck versatile enough or should I go the whole hog a get a rotary ?

[jasonl]

Recon rotary from Sheffield is all you need.

[Mike Halliday]

which oreck? the little one? its only good for scrubbing, too small & light for bonnet cleaning.

buy a 17inch rotory.

[Paul Simpson]

Have both but if I had the choice of one or the other would go with the bigger rotary for bonneting. I'd go with 15" rather than 17" - more manageable. 

[Len Gribble]

Steve

I paid £20quid for mine Numatic made me £10k in first year ok had to buy base plate 17” and bonnets, next one £200quid = £3k but came with a tank and brush as for floor subbing with a skirt/buffing cant beat my truvox

[Dean Wilson]

Restormate have a great bonnet cleaning starting kit for £695.   As well as a Numatic you get a the tank, drive plate, etc, etc.   This will do so much more than an Oreck.

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Dean - that was what I was looking at (£700)

Len - yes, but you are such a market trader 

[Dean Wilson]

My local competitor (who luckily enough is also a very good mate) got one of those kits from Restormate and I was checking it over yesterday.   It really is a superb kit for the cash Steve.    Although I've an (old) Chemstractor and a Dry Fusion, I'm very tempted to pick up one of these kits, as I want a newer looking machine, purely just from a custy perception point when doing rotary jobs in homes. Both my Chemstractor and DF are bit beaten up.

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

I'm tempted Dean, especially as it's from my preferred supplier.

[clinton]

Its always good to have a clean rotary machine as to an old batered looking one,spec if you are going to use it on domestics...

[Dean Wilson]

Absolutely.  On commercial work after the quote and job spec there's never anyone around observing the work, but on domestics it's a far better perception for the customer to see nice new looknig equipment. Don't get me wrong, my rotaries aren't THAT bad LOL.  The DF machines are easy to keep looking good because the red areas can be reprayed easily.  The Chemstracter is harder to keep fresh.

But the machine that JK is selling is very smart. It's a basic no frills rotary but with everything you need to get good results.  I wouldn't use it with ACTIVATOR because there's no heat but if I get one (tempted to order today) it'll be for cleaning using 'Fusion Clean' which has the same eficacy when used with hot or cold water.

[C A Payne]

steve... if your interested, i've got a victor contract floor machine for sale, 17" 180 rpm in good condition, comes with drive board..... 2 boxes of hard floor pads (blue & red ones).... some floor cleaning products..... £325- the lot....

[robert meldrum]

The Victors are pretty much bomb proof.........I've an old 25 year old one that still runs.

Steve

The Oreck is a " toy " compared to the bigger 15" or 17" machines ..........you can lift the Oreck with one finger, something you won't do with the bigger machines and it's only 11"

[Joe H]

I wouldn't use it with ACTIVATOR because there's no heat but if I get one (tempted to order today) it'll be for cleaning using 'Fusion Clean' which has the same eficacy when used with hot or cold water.

Restormate on holiday for this coming week so your order wont get processed straight away.

[Len Gribble]

Steve

Forgot you have seen my truvox in action and thanks for the compliment and my 20quid one looks brand new

Isn’t oreck an op machine?   Restormate price ant bad would swap the brush for a drive board and purchase a skirt (even low speed causes splashes)

[clinton]

I too would go for the jk package or a victor as they are as said above just run n run

[justin brown]

i have an oreck for light agitation and a numatic npr1515 for bonnet/ agitation. The numatic is absoultely amazing, done a showroom last week covered in oil and coffee, use power burst prespray and started agitation with a brush, and then went on to my oreck ....both proved hard work. i then got the numatic out and all the marks went instantly............paid for the machine in one job.....most impressive piece of equipment i have used to date!!

[Neil Williams]

Excuse my ignorance but what's the difference between the orek and the numatic?

[happy mondays]

Excuse my ignorance but what's the difference between the orek and the numatic?

As in weight.. about 25 kilos as a rough guess.

[jasonl]

An oreck gyrates, a numatic/buffer spins.

[happy mondays]

An oreck gyrates, a numatic/buffer spins.

The defenition of gyrate is the same as spin isnt it? never seen an oreck in action though, just know they are very light and only about 12" wide, is it not a rotary action then? what do you mean

[Mark_Jubb]

An Oreck moves the pad the same way as an orbital sander works (turns in an eliptical movement, so you get rotational and side to side movement) It is however a lightweight peice of kit, great for agitating small areas or stairs, but I would not want to try and do a LM clean of a substantial area with one. As was said early, you can virtually pick up an Oreck with one finger (if you've got strong fingers)

[robert meldrum]

The Oreck was brought out some years ago as a light domestic use machine. It's an orbital machine which works like an orbital sander, they also have a genuine commercial machine.
A number of posters on here have found it to be a useful machine for stairs and for aggitating smallish areas.  

Beaten to the punch

[happy mondays]

Thanks. I see what you mean now by the elliptipical movement.  Very light bit of kit though, big difference from something 30ish kilos eh, not good for lm cleaning, ok for light aggitation on carpets.

[Joe H]

Whilst the Oreck is light in weigh - about 10kg, it being about 12" dia head also means its weight is distributed over a much smaller area.
A 15" machine will weigh more and a 17" even more, but the area is going to be greater so the weight is spread over that greater area.
The Oreck is still considered to be light though - having said that I dont think I could lift it with one finger.
I now have an Oreck Orbiter and find it very useful on stairs and smaller areas or even large bedrooms up a flight of stairs.    Where more serious agitation is needed and the area is large or free from furniture I prefer to use my CarpetGard crb (Flexi5 ).

In the US oscillating pad machines (ie Oreck Orbiter type) are used a great deal with great results - many examples are on youtube. They are generally a lot larger head then the Oreck Orbiter ie 20", even seem on youtube 2 working together side by side.

[jasonl]

An oreck gyrates, a numatic/buffer spins.

The defenition of gyrate is the same as spin isnt it? never seen an oreck in action though, just know they are very light and only about 12" wide, is it not a rotary action then? what do you mean

Gyrating is like the action someone with a  hoola hoop would do, rotate is what a wheel does.

[Joe H]

Jason
Do you get swirl patterns with your rotary or have you a technique to share with us.

[robert meldrum]

Joe

Let's be clear ........... the little Oreck will aggitate quite well with brush attachments and pull out loads of cut pile from carpets in the process, but being only 11" in diameter and very light simply does NOT compare to any commercial size / weight machine. Ok for stairs and small areas although I have used one with pads and chrystalising foam with success but it overheated fairly quickly which suggested to me that it was being overloaded.

I experimented with the Oreck years ago when looking at " dry clean " possibilities and found it to work well with pads and various chemicals. At the same time I had a Klanz machine with little white pads and found it outperformed the Oreck considerably. This was like a Cimex with two, rather than three rotating heads. I also had a small "towel " machine sent over from the US to try but found it to be too light.

Unfortunately the Klanz was never marketed properly and is no longer available.

I considered importing a 12" orbiter for stairs but reckoned the retail price would be too high at around £500.

[jasonl]

Jason
Do you get swirl patterns with your rotary or have you a technique to share with us.

Yes there are swirl marks on some carpets , some customers like them,  normally though I rake the carpet to set the pile.

[robert meldrum]

Another good point about whether to leave the carpet or rake it.............I hated pile rakes from the first time I tried them, but being concerned that some might be unhappy with the swirls I started to use a " yard brush " Not a heavy duty brush but one with long bristles which are pliable rather than stiff............only cost a couple of pounds, but does the job well and it's much easier to use .

[john aitken]

Guys

I don't currently do any LM - I am trying to decide between an Oreck and a NEW rotary (£350 or £700)

This is on the basis that I want a machine for post-bonneting and some hard floor scrubbing.

Is the Oreck versatile enough or should I go the whole hog a get a rotary ?

hi steve whats LM

[Aquakleen Restoration Services]

Low Moisture

[john aitken]

Low Moisture

cheers sky now i know

[Aquakleen Restoration Services]

No problem John, your in my neck of the woods. Always willing to help!

[Paul Simpson]

Rather than start a new topic thought I'd ask this question here.

Been offered a Victor pro 15 at a good price, looks almost new. Says high speed on it but checking the specs on Google its only 300 rpm.
I know about the recommendations speeds for bonnet cleaning but did I see previously mentioned (by Jason I think) saying faster speed machines could be used with no problems?

Thanks
Paul

[jasonl]

Should be ok , mine is at 380 rpm , my spare is at 450 rpm , you will be fine with that.

[Paul Simpson]

Nice one, cheers Jason.

Next question is - need some new bonnets pads where's the best place to get them balancing quality & price.

[Dean Wilson]

Most Rotary manufacturers will not recommend over about 200rpm for carpet bonnet cleaning use. However, you can safely go a lot faster than this with little risk.  The Dry Fusion machines for example run at 290rpm.  I personally wouldn't go over 400rpm. The best options for a rotary are twin speed models (eg... 150/300), you can then use the faster speed on 'safe' synthetic carpets and slow things down if you're concerned or cleaning wool.

[carpetworx]

Just get a Cimex, nuff said.