Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: feldon on August 30, 2014, 03:31:18 pm
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Following on from my thread "Machine for Specific job" and couple of you suggested that i used a rotary to low moisture clean the carpet. I did used to have a rotary but sold it, it was a Victory Sprite 15" Standard Speed, which i did find a bit difficult to control sometimes and purchased it with the view to also use on hard floors. I am going to do Kev Martins hardfloor course soon and may by the Klindex Rocky to do hard floors, it can also be used to clean carpets, anyone here use it on carpets on a regular basis?
I have never really done much commercial carpet cleaning apart from a few small jobs, but along with possibly doing regular work at a luxury hotel near me i have also got some small commercial offices to do, i did one the other week and it was only around 700 square feet and used my Floormac and Fusion Clean and had very good results, obviously its too small and light weight to use on larger area's or on a regular basis.
So do i get separate rotary's for hard floors and carpets? or try and get one to do both. Then there is the question of using heat on rotary, i.e DryFusion or Thermodry but they are much more expensive, is heat really necessary or can you get just as good results with a normal rotary?
Any suggestions on which rotary (s) to get?
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Richard, dont get pulled into buying a heated system - the Thermadry is just a Victor with a heater and will do zero for your cleaning results or drying times - i know, i had a Dry Fusion for years.
I have a Premier 15 inch rotary for sale by the way - comes with tank, shampoo brush and drive board. Its twin speed - 150 rpm and 305 rpm and it has the weight to do hard floors as well
I am in Tamworth so not too far :)
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Not heard of the Premier rotary, do you have a link to info on it, what weight is it and how much are you looking for it?
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its a very well made rotary - more heavy duty than the Victor and well respected brand - be around for years - i have both the Victors and Premiere and the Premiere is all round more well balanced but it is more expensive when new so it would be. It is also heavier than the Victor but that's better for hard floors and you want it for both. I would want £180 including all the accessories - it would cost well over £1000 plus VAT new.
pictures attached
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ps - you can call me on 07742030323
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With respect Richard, a 15inch is too small.
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With respect Richard, a 15inch is too small.
It's not what you've got.... It's the way that you use it..... :P :P
;)
;D ;D
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Hector your meant to be one of the LM guru's ;D, what do you use?
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With respect Richard, a 15inch is too small.
It's not what you've got.... It's the way that you use it..... :P :P
;)
;D ;D
However, where commercial carpet cleaning is concerned, size & what you've got, does matter.
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I dont think 15 inch is too small at all - the Dry Fusion is definitely 15 inch and i think the Thermadry is too. I had a 17 inch and it was too big for taking into domestics - 15 inch will do both and with a rotary you cover areas quickly and in and out of spaces in offices without a problem.
The Premiere has the weight to dig down better than Victors and is balanced better than rotaries that have the weight of the motor off centre like the Dry Dusion. The Dry Fusion board is a complete pain too - fluff fills the teeth on it and you have to keep scraping it out to maintain good grip with the pads.
The Premiere also has the feed from the solution tank off centre under the plate for using the shampoo brush when the Victors dont.
I have used LM along with HWE extraction for 10 years - 8 years of that with DF and i can say without doubt you do not benefit from the heated bonnet. The better option would be to save your pennies if you want something more than just a rotary and then go for an Orbot, they will impress but are expensive.
Adrian you say 15 inch is too small - i have used Cimex's and a 15 inch rotary will cover an area quicker than a Cimex because of the way it moves, you just lose time against a Cimex if you are prespraying with the rotary and not with the Cimex. The Cimex weight and brush movement will agitate better than a Victor but to be honest if you are using scrub pads with a rotary and not bonnets or brushes i dont think its far behind the Cimex in performance if at all when you are prespraying and then scrubbing.
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PS Richard - i bought the Premiere off Kev at Tiling Logistics so you maybe best to speak to him about the machine and its suitability - they wouldnt use one if it was no good!!!
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Each to their own I suppose. I started out using a 15inch and moved upto a 17inch. There is no comparison in my humble opinion. As for a 17inch being too big for domestics, we'll have to agree to disagree on that one. My Taski also has a tank and centre feed but I never use it domestics.
Could be domestics are a bit smaller over in Tamworth though :-*
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Hector your meant to be one of the LM guru's ;D, what do you use?
I have both 15 and 17 inch. I rarely do commercials, and to be fair I use the 15 inch most of the time. I do however use 17 inch pads with it...
If I have a large house to do, I use the 17 inch downstairs and the 15 upstairs where there is more maneuvering to do around beds etc.
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My rotabrite machine is a 21 inch
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so you still using your heated Taski then Adi - the one that spins at about 1,000 rpm to generate the heat in the carpet!! ;D
i am sure DF & Thermodry and such explored the size before plumping for the 15 inch as the best all rounder, which is of course what the thread was about - a machine that could do it all
17 inch is useable in domestics but the 15 inch is more suited to it, especially in the midget houses over here in Tamworth (including the £1.5million 5 bedroom house i did last week ;) )
of course much of it depends who is hanging off the end of it really!!
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of course much of it depends who is hanging off the end of it really!!
Which is what I said innit?? :P
;D ;D
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so you still using your heated Taski then Adi - the one that spins at about 1,000 rpm to generate the heat in the carpet!! ;D
Err, not quite Jase ;D
The OP was asking about both carpet and hard floor cleaning. Can a 15inch do the job? Yes of course, but so could a tooth brush ;D Will a 17inch get the job done more quickly? Yes, saving you time and giving you more earning potential.
Lets keep it real. Using a rotary is easy. You can do it with one hand. Given the space any rotary machine can be employed in a domestic situation, but I challenge you to use one under beds :D In small area's I'll opt for my Duo or TM4.
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I've never used a 17" rotary apart from Nu-Life hard floor course, my Victor Sprite was 15" and seemed plenty big enough to be fair for both the small commercial's i was doing and hard floors. I stopped using rotary's for doing domestic as found it a pain if furnished and also taking up stairs, so generally use floormac or sebo for domestic.
What i am considering is getting Rocky for hard floors and maybe when the occasion allows on larger commercial carpet and a cheaper and lighter rotary for general LM cleaning for both domestic and commercial.
CleanerCarpets sorry for not getting back to you sooner, i might have to wait a few days before making any decision as my pump head needs replacing on my HWE machine and that will take a big chunk out of what i was ear marking for a rotary.
Hector, you still didn't answer my question or maybe i didnt' phrase it right :) what make and model do you use? :)
Adrian, I don't do much commercial carpet cleaning, just odds and sods now and again but thinking of doing more of this work. I'm not that confident on rotaries, maybe i need to find the right one with the right balance, not yet decided one way or the other on 15" or 17" but when i did have my 15" i used 17" pads and i'm assuming a 15" is easier for a novice rotary user to master. :)
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I've got a spare 15inch board ripped of the porcupine fitting, screwed a 18 inch wooden board to it and glued on some joist metal fitting to grip the bonnets.
I bet you could just buy a 17inch drive board and use that with the smaller rotory
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Richard you can use rocky for both but after a couple of hard floor jobs you'll be ashamed to take it in a nice house to clean carpets because it will be like a decorators radio!
I have a 17 inch for hard floors, a 15 inch for commercials, sometimes use both for commercial, and a 11 inch and floormac for domestics.
I find the 11 inch ideal for domestics but unless it's empty I just prefer to use a CRB.
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So there you go Richard. Just a few answer's for you. Made you decission any easier? ;D
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Your right Mike...I can confirm that my 17 inch Victor drive board fits my 13 inch Victor.
Won't the motors be bigger though on the bigger ones.
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No probs Richard, do your research, have a word with Kev along the way and just let me know if you want to come look!!
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Richard ... my work horse 15inch is an old Taski ranger that cost me £80..
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To answer the question about different machines for carpet and floors I would say that you should try and have seperate machines as soon as financially practical.
Using a machine covered in slurry from cleaning hard floors to clean a carpet doesnt look too good. You also have the problem of wheels being damaged by stripper etc on hard floor jobs that then leave marks on carpets.
The Klindex Rocky is a good machine with a central motor which is good for pad/brush pressure.
The larger the diameter of machine the easier it is to control as it becomes less responsive to your inputs (assuming speed/rpm is same).
We have the 21" Rotabrite machines that Stuart mentioned and use them to train new staff members as they are so lethargic in the way they move. They dont have munch some carpet when it comes to cleaning tho.
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Using a machine covered in slurry from cleaning hard floors to clean a carpet doesnt look too good. You also have the problem of wheels being damaged by stripper etc on hard floor jobs that then leave marks on carpets.
The larger the diameter of machine the easier it is to control as it becomes less responsive to your inputs (assuming speed/rpm is same).
Been doing hard floors and carpets with the same machine for the last few years and have never encountered the problems you raise. I assume most would clean their machine after a job anyway, or am I wrong? Why would anyone use a scrub brush designed for carpets on hard floors? A rotary is multi functional with different fittings for different uses.
Agree with larger machines being easier to handle.
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I assume most would clean their machine after a job anyway, or am I wrong?
When it comes to my guys you are anyway!
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So the orbot sprayborg is advertised for carpets and hard floors but would it look to ropey after a couple of months to take in a customers house to clean the carpets ?
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Every chance
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Little bit like football boots, if you don't clean them they will look like wellington boots haha
David
ps if you can afford a different m/c for each application go for it. If not common sense prevails